There was a time when The Crystal Method, along with The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk were the be all and end all of electronic music. By the time The Prodigy’s “The Fat Of The Land” and The Crystal Method’s “Vegas” albums had been released – pretty much anywhere you’d go, you’d hear a track off of one of those records. When I heard that a tour stop had been planned for Montreal – I was excited! At a venue I hadn’t heard of, too – this was going to be epic!
Then this new club turned out to be the replacement for the defunct Underworld – one of the worst venue’s in town. I began wondering if I was excited over some form of tribute DJ set, but no, it appeared to be the real deal. I arrived shortly before the nine o’clock start time on the flyer, to find five people sat around the place, with a house DJ at the deck. An hour went by, with the house DJ still going at it. Time stalled. Slowly a few more souls wondered in to wait with me. Then a few more. At roughly a quarter to eleven, the guy sitting next to me got up and headed to the stage – he was the guy I had been waiting for.
Scott Kirkland began playing and at the summit of the first track, took to the microphone to announce that his long time partner, Ken Jordan, “had retired to Cuba” – leaving Kirkland as the sole member of the former duo. By this time, the floor was filling up, albeit with space to walk fairly freely about the dance floor. The intimacy of the show was perhaps the greatest aspect of the night – never did I think I’d be able to lean against a speaker and watch Scott Kirkland do his thing. I was as close as I would have been to the barkeep had I perched myself and ordered up a drink.
Kirkland seemed to be enjoying himself, and his enthusiasm was contagious, as his fist pumps were getting the crowd hootin’ and hollerin’ and dance moves were beginning to spill out of the shoes of those around me. A pair of lovely ladies had some fine routines to show off at the front of the gathering, let me tell you. Kirkland was winning over the small crowd in front of him more and more. Then came “Trip Like I Do” – and the cheers began. During the latter portion of the track, Kirkland slipped in the vocals of Filter frontman, Richard Patrick, taken for the Spawn soundtrack. Again came the cheers. There was a medley of The Prodigy tracks as well as portions of the Tron Legacy soundtrack, as performed by Daft Punk.
This was truly something unique to have witnessed, but around midnight, many, myself included began heading to the exit. Not because we weren’t having fun, but because it was a weekday and the metro system would soon be closing for the night. Why on earth did this gig start so late? On a Thursday night, none the less. What I took away from this night, was a rekindling of old memories from a time when “Vegas” was the soundtrack of practically everybody I knew that owned a car.
Written and photographed by Kieron Yates
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