Having just reviewed Parcels at Place Bell last week and reminisced about their tiny debut at Theatre Fairmount in 2019, I can’t help but wonder if New Zealand’s Balu Brigada are on a similar trajectory right now. Tonight’s show sold out long ago, the first one to do so on their tour, which makes sense when you realize they are playing Beanfield- and MTelus-sized rooms everywhere else around North America; we truly are blessed to be in such a tiny room with them tonight. It’s an unmissable show in my calendar; when I don’t hear anything about media accreditation all day, I don’t hesitate to drop $140 on a pair of StubHub tickets when they pop up. Thankfully, the accreditation eventually comes through around the same time as the doors open, and I am able to sell my extra tickets outside within five minutes to a couple who had showed up speculatively, just in case, and are as thrilled to get in as I am! I take a $40 loss on those StubHub tickets, but whatever, I’m happy they go to a good home!
Wow, that’s a wordy intro, hope you’re still with me.
The evening kicks off with Harper Finn, who just so happens to be the touring keyboardist for Balu Brigada (and son of Tim Finn from Crowded House!). Sporting a particularly cool Galaxie 500 tee, Harper is a bundle of energy throughout his 30 minutes, flailing arms in a manner reminiscent of ’80s Morrissey on “Dance Away These Days,” missing only the flowers! With just a drummer on stage with him, who is also the touring drummer for tonight’s headliner, Harper declares, “We are warming ourselves up for Balu Brigada too!”
Most of the music (besides the drums) is a pre-recorded backing track, though Harper does bust out the electric guitar on a couple of songs like “Where Did She Go,” which mixes up the sound nicely. The synth-pop “Satellite” is starting to get some heavy rotation on alternative radio right now and closes the set to a flurry of cheers from the packed-out room.
And then it’s time for the main event. Masterminds of Balu Brigada, brothers Pierre and Henry Beasley, announce midway through the set that they’ve been doing this for 12 years but only just released their first album Portal this year. Pierre is visibly joyful at the turnout: “This is amazing, we sold out our first [headline] show in Montreal!” Having opened for Twenty One Pilots on their last trip here, it’s understandable why they have such a following already, and musically the 21P influences are obvious, especially on “Politix” and mammoth set closer “So Cold,” which my wife also points out sounds very Hard-Fi too; spot on, I think.
Prior to “The Question,” the band implores the crowd: “Get your phone lights out!” That old trick from the Bell Centre brought to the tiny Fairmount is a sight to behold, the room suddenly lit up more than the houselights could ever manage, and looks epic as Pierre shreds a solo and Henry does some high jumps (not sure why, but it looks pretty cool too). After a quick break for “jazz tuning and bad French talking” (their verdict, not mine), the metronomic drums and strums of “2good” lead to a raucous “What Do We Ever Really Know” that sees all four of the band bust out some choreographed dance moves that look a lot like dabs. The crowd responds with arms up and a massive pogo at the outro chorus.
The moody “4:25” and “OH! Not Again” slow things down a little, which serves to make the dirty Justice synth intro of “Backseat” even more resonant, in parallel with the dim red lights. An unsurprisingly enormous singalong is orchestrated into a massive jump-along for that extended outro. It’s absolutely unreal; I can already see the biggest pit jumping around at one of the Osheaga main stages next summer to this (fingers crossed). A cover of “Oblivion” by Grimes is impressive too, the keys matching up nicely to the original but the drums adding plenty of meat to the sound, while “But I Do” has a distinctly Killers vibe.
After previously declaring this show to be his favourite of the tour, Pierre greets the customary olé olé olé chants that summon them back to the stage for an encore by effusing, “Was that a chant?! You guys are scooping up all the cool points!” A shorter version of “Find a Way” melts into “Could You Not” to close out the 75-minute show, with Pierre singing a chunk of the song down on the floor with the adoring crowd.
It’s an epic show from start to finish for sure, and all of us who made it inside feel pretty blessed; there’s no way we are seeing them in a room like this again!
Review – Simon Williams
Photos – Andres Amaya
