Giant Rooks @ Beanfield Theatre

Oh, Montreal, there are many reasons to love you, but your weather is certainly not one of them, especially this summer. What a disappointment it has been so far! My wife gives me that puzzled “what-on-earth-are-you-thinking?!” look as I head out the door into yet another rainstorm for the evening, slipping and sliding my way downtown as the clouds above flicker like strobe lights that I expect to see inside tonight’s show.

The reason for braving this chaos? The long-awaited return of Giant Rooks. “Who?!” I hear you cry. Well, truth be told, I hadn’t even heard of them the last time they played in our city either. However, when the announcement for tonight’s show was made shortly after their visit in May 2022, during a time when live gigs were just starting up again after COVID, I was so starved for new music that I found myself listening to any band that announced a tour. To my delight, I was impressed with what I heard. Heck, even their choice of cover songs was pretty original; Suzanne Vega and Nelly Furtado?! Count me in!

The German 5-piece band took the stage to a chorus of screams, much like when I saw Wallows or Declan McKenna, so without even seeing the floor section from my seat on the balcony, I could already tell it was probably primarily filled with teenage girls. But there’s no issue with that – the enthusiasm and volume with which that demographic sings along to a concert are second to none, guaranteeing a killer atmosphere! And indeed, as frontman Frederik Rabe began pounding away at the single drum at the center stage and singing the opening words of “Bedroom Exile,” the audience participation was deafening and seemed to grow louder with every passing song. Even their new song “Somebody Like You,” which isn’t officially released for another 7 days, was sung along word-perfectly as if it were already a set classic! The stage transformed into a dim red hue for the thunderous “Heat Up,” transitioning to a massive singalong, and later turned blue during “Morning Blue.” The strobe breakdown on “Bright Lies” brought the thunderstorm indoors as Frederik flailed around the stage, declaring, “Ophelia, I leave my broken bones in the desert!”

After a couple of postponements, the band was genuinely thrilled to finally be back. “Thanks for holding onto your tickets; we had to reschedule it twice, but today it sold out!” Their love for Montreal was apparent too; at the start of the set, Frederik declared, “No kidding, this is our favourite place to go in North America; we’re so excited to be here; let’s have a great time!” The crowd was more than willing to go along with that!

For a band with only one full-length studio album to their name (2020’s “Rookery”), it’s incredible how polished their live show is. Guitarist Finn Schwieters delivered a stadium rock solo at the end of “For You” with such confidence that you’d think he’d been doing this for decades; Luca Göttner effortlessly ignited “Very Soon” with a funky bassline. The latter segued into a cover of Tom’s Diner midway through, maintaining the funk vibe throughout and giving it a whole new dimension compared to the lo-fi version you’ve probably heard on Spotify. The singalong practically blew the roof off Theatre Beanfield; even the plus-ones in attendance tonight could sing along to that chorus!

One of the set highlights was “What I Know Is All Quicksand,” with just Fred, his guitar, and keyboardist Jonathan Wischniowski creating an intimate campfire vibe on the suddenly darkened stage. Fred then strolled the stage, singing unmic’d all the while. And just in case things were getting a little too laid-back, Fred jumped into the crowd completely, jumping around with the pit during “Wild Stare” a few songs later before closing out the main set with the stunning “Mia & Keira (Days to Come),” which had a similar desperate, frantic pace to “Red Eyes” by The War On Drugs. “Watershed” closed out the stellar 85-minute set in an uplifting manner, with Fred holding his mic into the crowd for one last massive singalong. As the band left the stage, Fred picked up his guitar one last time and ran through the chorus with the crowd. He had given his review a few songs earlier: “Our last show at Bar Le Ritz was the best show of that tour; this was even better, honestly one of my favourite shows ever!” The cheers that accompanied him as he left the stage for good suggested that more than a few felt the same way!

Setlist:

  1. Bedroom Exile
  2. Heat Up
  3. 100 mg
  4. Bright Lies
  5. For You
  6. Very Soon You’ll See / Tom’s Diner (Suzanne Vega cover)
  7. New Estate
  8. What I Know Is All Quicksand
  9. Somebody Like You
  10. Morning Blue
  11. Wild Stare
  12. Mia & Keira (Days to Come)

Encore:

  1. Misinterpretations
  2. Watershed

Review & photos – Simon Williams

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