Who isn’t ready to throw ass on a Tuesday at MTELUS in Montréal? As I headed to the photo pit for Sofi Tukker, I heard multiple gay men lamenting the fact that their ex-boyfriend and their ex-boyfriend’s ex-boyfriend were there too, and I knew I was in the right place.
It’s admittedly been a long time since I was at a show where the majority of the audience was taller than me. As a 5’9” lesbian, I am often the tallest person on the barricade when I’m not working. I’m not ashamed to admit that, in this crowd, I was on my tiptoes, hustling around trying to find a good spot to stand.
The overall vibe of the Sofi Tukker concert was a more intimate, interactive, and multilingual version of Troye Sivan and Charli XCX’s Sweat Tour. I also found it significantly more courteous, since the Sweat Tour involved such an egregious amount of poppers in the air that you couldn’t escape them. However, both shows excelled at creating a fantastically gay party atmosphere, and I was definitely sweating by the end of both.
The stage itself looked like a particularly extravagant DIY cat tree met a children’s jungle gym, with lasers, rainbow lights, and fake grass. The platforms and structures ended up supporting their team of dancers and the two members of Sofi Tukker as they ran around, dancing and engaging with the crowd.
One of the biggest highlights of the night was an ass-throwing tutorial from Sophie Hawley-Weld and Tucker Halpern’s Brazilian choreographer. He kept his ass-throwing steps very basic, but I still had to stifle a laugh as I watched several obviously drunk and directionally challenged gay men attempt to follow the tutorial (which required at least three feet of room) while packed into MTELUS like sardines. I think if they were given the amount of room they needed, they would have been much more successful in their endeavours.
After the tutorial, Sofi Tukker brought one of their friends and two sisters from the audience onstage to join them in dancing to “Throw Some Ass.” Although Tucker had plenty of time to get in on the fun, Sophie mocked him for having the opportunity to shake ass and not showing his ass, so in response, he mooned the crowd to thunderous applause and screaming.
In addition to iconic ass-throwing and showing, there were also moments of bittersweetness and calm. For “Sacrifice,” Sofi Tukker, plus their four dancers, hosted a candlelight dinner for six on stage while performing.
The encore was a pleasant surprise, with an acoustic set of “Brazilian Soul,” accompanied by everyone’s flashlights, followed by “Drinkee,” where they used every last second they had on the stage.
I’d also like to shout out Jacaré and Sofi Tukker for working hard to reduce the stigma around the LGBT community, especially around lesbians, and for their substantial charity partnerships. Also, incredible props to their tech team for coordinating the lights and lasers perfectly, and to their dance team for getting everyone dancing and singing along. As someone who doesn’t speak a word of Portuguese, you just had to enjoy the vibes and let them wash over you.
The contrasting sounds of Sophie’s lilting and soft vocals to Tucker’s rich and reverberating low-pitched voice complement each other perfectly. I wouldn’t describe the concert as wholesome, but I definitely left with a lighter heart and stronger legs!
“Give the old man a heart attack, Free your mind when you throw it back” – Sofi Tukker, “Throw Some Ass.”
Setlist
- Bread
- Best Friend
- Summer in New York
- Spiral
- Original Sin
- Throw Some Ass
- Goddess in Disguise
- Hey Homie
- Perfect Someone
- Jacaré
- Emergency
- TROMPA (Sofi Tukker & Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano cover)
- Swing
- Batshit
- Woof
- White Lotus
- Sacrifice
- Purple Hat
Encore
- Brazilian Soul (The Knocks cover)
- Drinkee
Review & photos – Ashtyn Turner
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