Walking into the Fairmount Theatre, I had a crazy thought. Although I’ve seen thousands of acts live, this would only be the second band I’ve seen from a galaxy far, far away. Shout out to our galactic conquerors in Gwar. Walking in, it was clear that this was a sausage fest of the highest order. Gentlemen… and a few ladies, it’s time to simultaneously nerd and rock out.
First up was Double Experience, a nerd rock outfit out of Ottawa. What qualifies as nerd rock? No, they’re not a Weezer cover band; they just sing a lot of songs inspired by video games. Even their name signifies a bonus you can get in a lot of RPGs. They opened the show with a high-energy set that sounds a lot like Americanized versions of anime soundtracks. They were definitely able to get the crowd into the vibe of the evening.
Our second act was Powerglove, who hit the stage to tickle our member berries. While the openers were inspired by video games, Powerglove just straight-up applies a metal veneer to video game and cartoon classics. They came out swinging with the Tetris and X-Men themes (cartoon X-Men, obviously), like we were all kids again, playing Game Boy in front of the TV. If the audio wasn’t enough to bring you back in time, the giant background screen added visuals from the source material to complete the experience.
For the Smash Bros. theme, drummer Basil Silver invited the pit to recreate a battle from the iconic game, and the crowd was happy to oblige. Now, I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t aware that I needed, at least once in my life, to be in a crowd while a guitarist chanted “Who you gonna call?” over the Ghostbusters riff, but damn it if I didn’t turn 10 again, yelling “Ghostbusters!” with the rest of the crowd. I also got a huge kick out of watching the crowd Mario-jump their way into a circle pit for the Mario theme.
This whole set was just pure fun, and the audience was a huge part of that. For any band that feeds off of crowd participation, Montreal never disappoints. The amount of power fists in the air to close off the set with Pokémon’s iconic “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” and the Power Rangers theme, which was performed with Carlos from Immortal Guardian, was quite impressive.
Honestly, at the end of this, I wished everyone could have just sat down on the floor and enjoyed a full bowl of sugary cereal together to complete these Saturday morning vibes.
Next up, it was time to experience the power of the dark side. We must appreciate the fact that, with the rising costs of touring, Galactic Empire still made it to our humble city from a galaxy far, far away. I don’t know what kind of fuel economy a star destroyer gets, but I’m sure it’s not a cheap trip.
As they hit the stage, it was clear that the Empire’s might would be fully on display. There was no standing on ceremony. They kicked things off with the Star Wars theme, the Force Theme, and the Imperial March, making it clear they hadn’t come here on a simple fact-finding mission, but were here to melt the faces of those loyal to the Empire.
We got a moment of levity when they covered the infamous Cantina Band, dancing around the stage. The crowd interactions were obviously pre-recorded skits, which I’ll admit took a little bit out of the experience. I understand that the masks they wear can make the mic difficult to use, but considering the amount of engineers that work in the Empire, I feel like somebody could have figured this out. Live interaction makes the live experience better.
A crowd favourite was the Mandalorian theme. Yet another testament to the power of cuteness, which is strong in the Baby Yoda.
Apparently, the Empire imports a lot of Earth movies to their galaxy because the band treated us to themes from Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Indiana Jones got the crowd particularly riled up.
The band left the stage but forgot to shut off their comms as we listened to them argue about whether or not there would be an encore. As they realized that they had left them on and we all heard them, they felt obliged to come back out. As soon as we heard the choir singing the iconic vocals from Duel of the Fates, the crowd lost their minds. Guitarist Dark Vader used his Force powers to split the crowd, opening up the pit for a Wall of Death that just turned into a circle pit.
At the end of the night, it was clear that the Empire cares about its people. It wants to keep us fed with tasty metal riffs and watch us have a good time. What else could you ask for in benevolent dictators? Long live the Empire!
Review – Richard Brunette
Photos – Ryan Rumpel
