Legendary Montreal promoters Blue Skies Turn Black are usually a good distance away from mainstream pop culture, so it’s quite a shock to see a big line of primarily teenage girls outside the venue by the time doors open for tonight’s debut Montreal show by Alexander Morgan Stephens, a.k.a. Strawberry Guy. My wife confirms that he has a song that’s popular on TikTok, and suddenly it all makes sense. It’s not the crowd I expected to see for sure; I’m suddenly a little worried that tonight is gonna be one of these scream-fests you get with a Bell Centre pop act.
Alexander is quick to extinguish any possibility of that as soon as he arrives on stage. It’s a minimal setup for sure, with just a stool and a keyboard in the middle of the large Fairmount stage with an arty floral backdrop, and once the cheers die down, he whispers into his mic, “this is gonna be a chill zen concert, maybe the quietest you’ve ever been to.” He’s not wrong; a Justin Bieber show this most certainly isn’t. Credit to the crowd tonight; you can hear a pin drop while he plays his 13-song set stripped down to just keyboard and vocals, and the only sound pollution you can really hear is the tap of the credit card readers at the bar, or the hissing of cans being opened. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Alexander: “you guys are a nice quiet audience!” It’s a relaxed atmosphere for sure; one guy even brought his toddler to watch, up on his shoulders!
For a first show, he seems to have a developed quite an affinity for Montreal already. Tonight’s show is actually a rescheduled date on account of illness taking down the first attempt, and Alexander mentions, “I was here for a week as a tourist before that gig got cancelled; I loved it!” The “J’adore Montreal” tee he’s wearing upon return for the encore is a dead giveaway too! He carries an air of awkwardness during much of his stage banter, and he talks a lot throughout, though it’s not a sign of nerves. He tells us, “I’m relaxed, this is the second night of the tour, I’ve never talked so much rubbish!”
The music is incredibly stripped down from the Mac Demarco-esque electronica chillwave you hear on record. It’s mostly piano, though on Believing, it sounds a lot more like harp/harpsichord. At one point, Alexander jokes about the pace of the show: “OK we’re gonna take things up a bit, there’s gonna be mosh pits!” There aren’t, obviously; Sun Outside My Window is only slightly more upbeat than As We Bloom, which immediately preceded it. The song ends super abruptly too, catching out the crowd who stand in silence for a few seconds before the applause rings out. Alexander jokes “that’s it, gotcha!” as they do.
After taking a polaroid or two of the crowd, a minimal rendition of TikTok favourite Mrs Magic closes out the hour with a sea of phones in the air. “Such a chill way to spend a Friday night,” notes Alexander mid-set; he’s not wrong! A great debut show in Montreal, and hopefully the first of many!
Setlist
- F Song
- When Morning Comes
- Without You
- A Better Man
- What Would I Do?
- Intermission
- I’ll Be There
- As We Bloom
- Sun Outside My Window
- Believing
- Birch Tree
- You Are Not Alone
- Mrs Magic
Review & photos – Simon Williams
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