By Nick Laugher, Staff Contributor
Grade: A+
Taking the stage under the sputtering glow of stage lights and the rabid breath of the flannel clad masses, Plants and Animals cast a spell of belligerence that remained cemented in the air until the door closed. The Haligonian-cum-Montrealers drew a handsome and hyped crowd that filled the Paragon to the brim, anxiously rocking back and forth, awaiting their heroes.
Opening the show was Dave Macleod, a longtime friend and collaborator of Plants and Animals. His three-piece tossed the crowd a personalized brand of upbeat, melodic indie-rock as he dazzled with a humble and honest charm. The drumming was worth taking a second look at. If you looked close enough you might have realized that under the black wig and toque, under the pillow-stuffed-up-the-t-shirt was Matthew “Woody” Woodley, of Plants and Animals. After setting the bar with fast-paced dance beats and head-bobbing sing-alongs, Macleod abdicated his throne and made way for beasts and botanicals.
More animal than plant, the band blew onto the stage in a maelstrom of cheering and wasted no time as they plowed through the song “Tom Cruise” with a supple and sultry vibe that shook and twirled around the bearded faces and doe-skinned torsos littering the room. The trio was noticeably elated. The audience stood in awe one moment only to explode in a cascade of reckless dancing due to the energy exuded from the sweat pouring off their heroes’ faces in the next. Both crowd and band took no mercy.
Balancing their set with an ample mixture of crowd pleasing favourites, obscure oldies and even tossing us all a bone with some of their recent masterpieces, the band was a ball of kinetic cacophony. New compositions from their forthcoming sophomore LP La La Land such as “Mama et Papa” and the current single “Bye Bye Bye” rang through the rafters like My Bloody Valentine on a week long binge of amphetamines and LSD with no hint of any inspiration from N-Sync.
Tearing into the musical entity known as “Faerie Dance”, the trio proceeded to blow the minds of the eager and mindful crowd. Aware of, yet entirely disregarding reality, they propelled the song to an entirely alien realm of beauty and chaos. Feeding off the audience and eagerly craving their chants and sing-alongs to fill out the epic, singer Warren Spicer tapped into Halifax’s sense of community and collaboration to flush out the vast and terrifying intricacies of the crowd favorite as he howled with sincerity and stunning aptness: “We’re living in the wild life!”
Like a blur they had run through the set. They flew off and right back on to the stage after a raucous melee of “P and A!” chants. They arrived back on the scene, donning fake hair paired with the all too real arsenal of a final, seething face-melter, unleashing an unrivaled, incendiary force of psychedelic, jarring and jangly guitars supplemented by tribal rhythms as their final blow. After the bone crushing power of the riffs had faded from the collective ears, leaving only a persistent ringing, the crowd reluctantly cleared out; weary and worn, but still aching for more.
Recent Comments