September 17, 2024
The wait for Lord Of The Lost to finally arrive on North American soil is over, as Lord Of The Lost and Julien-K reach the midway point of their current tour. Montreal will great Lord Of The Lost for their first every Canadian gig a day before Toronto gets to experience them for the first time.
With the end of summer officially just days away – despite abnormally high temperatures for this time of year, Germany’s Lord Of The Lost – and Julien-K, both showed up to turn up the heat an extra notch.
See Also: Deep Purple at Bell Center, Montreal
For as long as I’ve been coming to the Beanfield Theatre – or the Corona Theatre as it was known for a century prior to the name chance a few years ago, I have never seen such a long line-up for the merch stands as I did tonight. Testament to how highly anticipated this gig has been and to how rabid Montrealer’s are for their music. I’d wager that both bands did quite well on shirt sales this evening.
Julien-K
With all the noise of late about Linkin Park’s return, replacing the late Chester Bennington with Emily Armstrong – another project that Bennington was once apart of, albeit briefly, stepped out onto the stage of the Beanfield Theatre tonight. Julien-K; a trio that also consists of two former members of Orgy – Amir Derakh and Ryan Shuck.
Quite contrary to the style that would seem be coming up once the stage was handed over to Lord Of The Lost – Julien-K came out with a high-energy set that both sounded and looked great. Shuck and Derakh looked as if they had just left Montreal’s world famous fetish weekend in time to make this show, and the aesthetic brilliantly balances with their electronic industrial brand of music.
Through the fog of the smoke machine, the ever-growing crowd was in constant movement. Dancing and swaying to the beat and generally having a great time. Julien-K are a fun band to bare witness too, and their nine track set seemed practically perfect for this evening.
Opening with Futura and dancing their way into fan favorites such as All That Glitters, Your Tears Mean Nothing, Undo Everything and Stronger Without You I found myself fully emerged in their sound and enjoying their set – for the most part. (Read on)
At several times, I noticed guitarist Derakh making gestures that either were – or weren’t far off being Nazi salutes. Given his costume, which I understand is fetish garb, made me feel slightly uncomfortable throughout what was otherwise a great performance. Honestly, I hope I got this whole segment wrong and that I missed something. I’m not so sure that is the case, however. Even if this was something meant as a type of cosplay, it still isn’t something that should be done. (I’d like to hear what Derakh has to say about this.)
Shuck spoke to the crowd to thank them for their continued support throughout his career – from Orgy all the way to Julien-K – and mentioned that Orgy’s final show had been live streamed across the internet, from right here in Montreal, and as he put it, was the best show that Orgy had ever played during his tenure. Of course, Orgy still play to this day and are currently on tour across the USA now and will be headed to Australia in October. The only original member of the current incarnation of Orgy is Jay Gordon, who chose to ditch Shuck and Derakh and everyone else that was part of the band, and carry on with a fresh cast.
Coming into the show knowing that Julien-K consisted of two former members of the band Orgy aside, I wasn’t expecting them to pull out the song their former band was best known for – Blue Monday, which of course is a New Order cover. Which then makes this Julien-K playing a cover of Orgy playing a cover of New Order and this is now getting confusing. I try not to peek at setlists from prior shows so that things like this do remain a mystery – and was glad to have witnessed the band play Blue Monday here tonight… on a Tuesday.
Lord Of The Lost
Lord Of The Lost created a massive wall of sound that was honestly quite impressive for the Beanfield Theatre. Guitarist Pi Stoffers sure knows how to work up a crowd, while vocalist Chris Harms completes the onstage energy with a performance that is symbiotic to that of Stoffers.
Kicking off with The Curtain Falls, which is a song title just begging to be used as an opening track (as was the sets final number! Read on). Then into The Future Of A Past Life and Dry The Rain. As the opening notes to Loreley began, the floor erupted with cheer and the already energetic audience amped up their dancing ten fold. Suddenly, the floorboards were shaking under all the jumping and carrying on that was taking place – and it was a glorious sight to behold.
Fan favorites like Born With A Broken Heart, Die Tomorrow, Forevermore and Drag Me to Hell kept the party-like atmosphere flowing, and despite having more than two decades worth of material to pull from, Lord Of The Lost still found room to play two cover tracks. Unstoppable by Sia and Shock To The System by Billy Idol. I’ll tell you – these guys really know how to control a room.
Prior to playing Blood For Blood, Harms asked a favor from the crowd; he requested that everyone in the venue perform, as he called it, a one-man circle pit. Basically, what this means is each person jumps on spot and rotates slightly with each jump, with the ideal being to meet those around you and generally have a good time while making a complete and utter tit of yourself. Of course I participated, as did practically everyone in my vicinity.
This seemed to go down a treat although I did fear that some of the more well lubricated throats about me might get dizzy and perhaps vomit so I thought it would be wise to leave the madness for a safer spot against the wall. Turns out I may have over-thought this scenario as nary any vomit could be found. Thankfully.
Harms spoke on several occasions to an audience that were more interested in cheering the band on that actually listening, while others amusingly hushed them to hear what the vocalist had to say. Harms spoke about it being an honor to finally play Canada – especially Montreal, naturally, and that this was now the fortieth country that Lord Of The Lost had played. Said that this was a place they had long wanted to play and that Lord Of The Lost would certainly return to play Montreal again and hinted that they would be back sooner than later.
While the band seemed jovial to be playing here – the reaction of many in attendance was equally as emotional. Several people in the front row were crying tears of joy as Lord Of The Lost walked out onto the stage and that sentiment never dissipated as the show wore on. Clearly, the band has a solid fanbase here that have long awaited this moment.
Harms also mentioned how surprised he and Lord Of The Lost were to see so many people show up on a Tuesday night considering the band had never before played Montreal. I suppose he was unaware that Montreal is a mecca for all types of music but especially the heavy stuff.
Read More:
>> Deep Purple at Bell Center, Montreal
>> Cage The Elephant at Bell Center, Montreal
>> Billy Idol at Bell Center, Montreal
Harms is quite comical at times – for example, after explaining that the band wouldn’t be leaving the stage following Blood & Glitter, only to return for an encore, and that the band instead would just stay on stage and announce this was their final song of the evening. Of course, people began shouting out song names that they wished to hear, only to have Harms respond by saying that Lord Of The Lost had already pre-selected the nights final number, but suggested everyone year out a song title in unison and that some might get the song they desired.
Anyone that yelled One Last Song got their wish, while the rest didn’t. I thought this was a novel and apropos response to something that has certainly lost its meaning. The encore. An encore was originally meant to show an artist that they had been particularly brilliant on any given night, and that the crowd wanted more. Today, it is more fanfare than anything else. Something expected and taken as granted to the point that people will be annoyed if the band doesn’t play an encore.
What a bunch of entitled shits we have all collectively become.
