On the brink of Montreal’s biggest snowstorm of the season, Peach Pit made their final stop of their Canadian tour, supporting the release of their latest album Magpie. So we made our way through the crunching snow and a sea of dad hats to listen to some indie tunes from the Vancouver-based band.
Supporting Peach Pit was the all-female alt-rock Babe Corner (also from Vancouver), known for their melodic vocals and dreamy synths. Their sound, which is a bit similar to The Beaches or Phoebe Bridgers, was the perfect first course for the fans that packed MTelus more than an hour before Peach Pit was even scheduled to go on stage.
Their set included some of their most popular songs like ‘I’m Like You‘ from their latest E.P. or ‘Cigarettes‘. But the clear highlight came on their next to last song, where Chris Vanderkooy (lead guitarist from Peach Pit) jumped on stage with them to play ‘They Don’t Love You (Like I Do).’
At 9:10 the background music stopped and a pool of blue light flooded the stage while Peach Pit slowly walked in. Their frontman Neil Smith jumped to the front-centre and stood there, arms in the air, basking in the roar of a packed MTelus for a moment, then grabbed his Danelectro guitar and we were off to the races. Starting the night with a cover of ‘War Pigs‘ from the legendary Black Sabbath, the west coast natives made their return to Montreal for the first time since 2017, to a very different kind of venue, with a very different crowd size.
The last time Peach Pit played in Montreal was in 2017. They played in The Bog, an underground venue that Smith pointed out felt literally like someone’s 2-bedroom apartment. Back then, the room was absolutely packed and he admitted that at the time he thought: “I think this is it guys. We’re gonna die tonight.” So, coming back on Saturday to more than 2000 people packing one of the city’s most important venues, singing every word of their songs was absolutely not lost on him.
During their set, the band played a nice blend of their most popular hits from their 4 released albums like ‘Alrighty Aphrodite’, ‘Shampoo Bottles’ and ‘Give Up Baby Go’. Throughout the show, Smith interacted with the crowd constantly, talking about things like his sobriety, the reasons why he decided to become sober, old bachelor party stories and admitting how people here in Montreal are built differently than the west coast.
After a 16-song set, Peach Pit walked off stage for a minute, then returned for their encore with an acoustic version of ‘Peach Pit,’ before finishing a night filled with upbeat alt-rock with the slow-paced crowd favourite ‘Tommy’s Party.’
On Saturday, Peach Pit brought, to a currently buried-in-snow Montreal, the type of energy we all needed before bunkering down for a blizzard. Continuing the up-trend of live music in the city after a quiet start to the year.
While we go home and brace for the winter storm, they go on a short break before heading to a very different landscape, Australia, to continue their world tour.
Review & Photo – Andres Amaya
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