Alcest + MONO + Kaelan Mikla @ Beanfield Theatre▪

French outfit Alcest have spent years getting lumped into weird subgenre debates – are they post-metal, blackgaze, or something else entirely? Saturday night at Montreal’s Beanfield Theatre, they made a compelling case for forgetting the labels altogether. Their first North American show since 2018 was a reminder of why they’ve built such a devoted following despite never quite fitting into any tidy musical box.

The night kicked off with Iceland’s Kaelan Mikla, who quickly dispelled any notions that they were merely there to kill time before the headliner. The trio crafted cold, synth-driven atmospheres that felt like the soundtrack to some abandoned northern ritual. Singing exclusively in Icelandic, the vocalist moved through the machine-made fog like she was leading a séance rather than performing a set. By their final song, they’d managed to convert a room full of metal fans into unexpected admirers of their darkwave spell-casting.

After a quick gear changeover, Japan’s MONO took control and shifted the energy entirely. Twenty years into their career, these post-rock veterans know exactly how to build tension without saying a word. What’s striking about MONO live isn’t just their technical skill – it’s how physically connected they seem to their instruments. When their bassist switched to piano mid-song, or when their guitarist bowed his strings instead of picking them, it never felt like showing off – just musicians completely absorbed in creating something bigger than themselves.

The crowd had grown pleasantly subdued by the time Alcest emerged through the fog. Surrounded by dried flowers with a colour-changing moon as their backdrop, they looked more like they’d wandered out of an enchanted forest than stepped off a tour bus. Opening with “Komorebi” from their latest album, they immediately pulled the room into their world – one where brutal metal screams and gossamer melodies somehow make perfect sense together.

Watching frontman Neige switch between whisper-soft vocals and full-throated screams is like witnessing someone speak in two different languages without missing a beat. His guitar work follows the same pattern – delicate one moment, furiously distorted the next. Behind him, drummer Winterhalter never overplays his hand, knowing exactly when to unleash and when to hang back.

The band rarely spoke between songs, letting the shifts in lighting and mood carry the narrative. During “Sapphire,” as the stage turned a deep ocean blue, the already-quiet crowd grew even more still. Metal shows typically bring moshing or headbanging, but Alcest inspires something closer to collective meditation. Throughout the room, people swayed with eyes closed – not exactly common at a show with blast beats and screaming.

Their setlist dug deep into their catalogue, balancing new material with old favorites like “Écailles de lune” and “Souvenirs d’un autre monde.” These older tracks felt freshly reinvigorated rather than obligatory nods to the past. The mix was impressively clear, allowing all the layered textures to breathe without losing the essential heaviness.

Between songs, any communication was brief and warm, delivered in French with genuine appreciation for the enthusiastic response. No long-winded stories or forced banter – just music and the occasional grateful acknowledgment.

Kudos to the lighting designer, too, for adding such a rich, cinematic ambience to the performance. The use of colour and haze perfectly mirrored the emotional arcs of the set—golden hues warming the stage during tender moments, cold blues and greens emerging during more haunting passages. At times, the lighting felt like a character of its own, subtly guiding the audience through the dreamlike world Alcest creates. It elevated the show from a great concert to a truly immersive experience.

After briefly leaving the stage following “Oiseaux de proie,” they returned for an encore featuring “Autre temps” and “L’Adieu” – the latter feeling particularly fitting as a closer. When the final notes faded out, nobody rushed for the exits. The crowd lingered, as if not quite ready to break whatever spell had been cast over the previous two hours.

What makes Alcest worth experiencing live isn’t technical showing-off or rock star posturing, but something much harder to define. They’ve found a way to make extremely heavy music feel weightless, to make screaming feel meditative rather than aggressive. By blending the harshness of black metal with the dreamy textures of shoegaze, they’ve created something that appeals to people who might otherwise want nothing to do with extreme metal.