March 5, 2026
Rise Against hit the stage at Montreal’s L’Olympia for their first of two shows
Spring is finally in the air, as Rise Against bring their angst filled political punk rock to Montreal for a pair of back to back shows at L’Olympia theatre.
With all that has happened around the globe in the past week or so, two wars breaking out – one of which that seems to be growing daily, and pulling in more and more nations into its strife, and with the potential to perhaps become the biggest global conflict since the second World War ended, then perhaps it is apropos that a band such as Rise Against take the stage
See Also: The Offspring at Canadian Tire Centre, Ottawa
While I pondered, beer in hand, at what Tim McIlrath, the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Rise Against might have to say tonight, given his lyrical content on subjects that are very akin with the Middle Eastern conflict that is unfolding in front of our eyes while we snuggled here, packed into this beautiful theatre safe from any potential falling bombs, the nights opening acts walked out onto the stage, eager to set the tone for tonight’s entertainment and perhaps distraction.
Koyo
New York’s Koyo are a fairly new act in the world of punk rock, having formed in the year 2020 as a sort of supergroup of hardcore bands including SeeYouSpaceCowboy, with vocalist Joey Chiaramonte hailing from the band Typecaste.
Apparently, tonight marked three years to the day since Koyo were last in Montreal, when they ventured in from Long Island with Bayside. That’s straight from the horses mouth, as the saying goes.
Unfortunately, Koyo suffered from a microphone that kept breaking up and from some of the worst mixing board work I have heard in some time. From several different spots in the room, which I moved to while checking to see if I had just stepped into a black hole or something, I noticed that the guitars were practically non-existent while the bass guitar was far, far too loud. All I could hear, and I did query this with some folks I knew in the crowd that had been watching from other spots, was the bass and the snare drum.
Koyo have but one studio album under their belts so far, 2023’s Would You Miss It? – with a second record on the horizon, from which two tracks of tonight’s set appeared to have come from. One being a single that was recently released and the other is a track that will be coming out this coming Tuesday, called What I’m Worth. They also a compilation album comprised of EP’s available as well. The new album, Barely Here, is due to see the light of day this coming May 8th.
Destroy Boys
Just over a decade in, Destroy Boys have already enjoyed success by way of nominations for awards at the 25th Sacramento Area Music Awards in the categories “New Artist”, “Punk/post-punk” and “Teen”. Tonight was my first time seeing them live and I had been looking forward to their set most of the week (and to photograph their set, but you know… not bitter about that at all or anything.)
Tonight though, they suffered from the same awful soundboard issues that had plagued Koyo only to a slightly lesser extent, leading me to believe that whomever was working the sound board wasn’t very experienced with punk rock. I assume it was the same person working the console for both of the opening bands and I was crossing my fingers hoping that person wasn’t in charge of the sound for Rise Against.
Maybe its for that reason that I found myself growing less and less interested in Destroy Boys. I hadn’t heard them prior tonight and there wasn’t much that made me want to hear anything by them after tonight. However, in the name of fairness, I’ll give them a listen in YouTube or something at some point, and see if that changes my mind at all.
To me, based on a small sampling – as in tonight’s live set, I found that Destroy boys sound like if Courtney Barnett sang for Savages – which is an intriguing sound, but I found myself lacking interest in their set. Again, not to repeat myself, but there is a chance that stems from how poorly they sounded tonight.
Rise Against
In the moments before Rise Against took to the stage, I found myself thinking back to the first time I saw Rise Against live. I can’t remember the exact year, but I do recall it being on the Vans Warped Tour that had played at Montreal’s Parc Jean Drapeau, and I had heard them for the first time that day. It was an early set, and very few people had bothered to check them out. Myself, I was mesmerized, enough so to wander over to their merch tent a little later in the day where I bought the compact disc of their newest record, Siren Song Of The Counter Culture, from Tim McIlrath himself who was alone in their tent. We chatted a bit and I went on my way to enjoy the rest of the day. Thinking back, its pretty cool to see how far they’ve come since then.
Tonight though, wasn’t to be anywhere near as intimate as that hot summers day way back in the early-2000s – quite the contrary. This was a big space and it was jammed to the gills, like tomorrow night will be too, and these days you’d be beyond lucky to find McIlrath slingin’ albums at the merch table. Times change and things, like bands, like people, evolve.
I felt an instant feeling of relief sweep over me, when Rise Against began to play and the guitars were auditable and the bass was down where it should have been all night.
By the time Give It All and Satellite were played, two and three songs in respectfully, the audience were crowd surfing and singing loudly along with McIlrath. Having seen shows in multiple cities over the years, I can attest that there truly is no audience like that found here in Montreal. The bands all know it. Every other city knows, and yeah, we know it too.
Tonight, Montreal was in for treats like Rise Against’ new track, Prize Fighter, which will be on their upcoming new record – and deep cuts such as Far From Perfect – which the band claimed not to have played in at least nine years. Then again, they joked that this was the first time they’d ever played Prize Fighter live too, and that we all had internet access upon which to check into that. (Upon journalistic research, we can attest that that… was a lie).
“This is what its like to be an American in 2026” said McIlrath, before Rise Against began to play I Don’t Want To Be Here Anymore, which I personally thought was a pretty pointless thing to say. But what do I know. I’m as much left-wing as I am right-wing, which is to say I am hardline… right down the middle. I don’t want to hear about it. Anyway! Let’s continue on.
Rise Against danced about their discography, pulling out tracks like Wolves, the title track to the album Wolves. (See what I did there? Wasn’t that dreadful!) as well as Wait For Me and another deep cut in Hairline Fracture. These would earn the band their first serenading of the classic Ole Ole Ole song that we are known to break out to show happiness and appreciation – normally at Habs games, but also at concerts too.
Hero Of War then Swing Life Away brought McIlrath into the spotlight, as he pulled out an acoustic guitar for the moment. That lead into the encore break – because everyone knows these days that the encore is a given, and not reserved for special occasions anymore. Sort of how everyone is expected to tip a certain percentage when that sort of thing used to be based on how good teh service had been. Don’t get me started on that, or I’ll rant your ears off.
Once more, the crowd sang their Ole Ole Ole’s until Rise Against re-emerged onto the stage.
Savior was next, then Prayer For The Refugee and a wonderful set came to its curtain call.
Thinking back to that first time seeing Rise Against again now that the night had wrapped up, and to all the other times inbetween then and now, and a feeling of nostalgia washed over me. One that I wasn’t expected. Since that first show, I had been a fan, of the band, of McIirath’s lyrics and point of view – and of his voice and the way he uses it. And standing there, I realized, the more things change the more they stay the same – and how much there is to be appreciative of – and how quickly, easily and senselessly it could all come toppling down.
In these times of uncertainty; be good to the ones around you. You don’t have to agree with them, or even like them, but it costs nothing to remain kind.
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>> Lord Of The Lost at Beanfield Théâtre, Montreal
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Rise Against will again be joined by Destroy Boys and Koyo tomorrow night, on this same stage, for their second show – a sold out concert at that.
Modern Free Press were not granted a photo pass for tonight’s show, and have unfortunately had to rely on cell phone photos to go with this text. We don’t like it, any more than you men… but that is the way they want it, and well, they’ll get it.
