Pit Report: Billy Talent

     OK, so like I said last night, I know Billy Talent isn't a metal band. Punk at times, maybe, but not metal. And I know, even if you don't, that I wasn't in the pit last night with all the tweens, so I guess technically I can't call this a bona fide Pit Report. But who cares? I haven't been to a show in a while, and my buddy works at the venue so we got comp tickets, so you're just going to have to hear about it. Questions? Good.



     First up was Indian Handcrafts, a guitar/drum duo from Barrie vaguely reminiscent of The White Stripes or Tweak Bird, the duo that opened for Tool when I saw them back in 2009 (I had to look both Indian Handcrafts and Tweak Bird up when I got home just to reassure myself they weren't the same band). These guys had a jam band feel, with lots of scalar, Rage Against the Machine-ish riffs, but they were rocking enough. This was definitely an instance, however, of me definitely feeling for Indian Handcrafts, since it can't ever be easy playing to an undersized crowd of people who either don't know who you are or don't care.

     The second band of the undercard was Ottawa-based Hollerado, a staple of local indie and alternative radio. They're not necessarily my cup of tea -- very poppy and jangly -- but they're performance was energetic, and their songs are both hooky and quirky, so I can see the appeal.

     Next up was Sum 41. Yes, you read that right, Canadian pop-punk mainstays Sum 41. I've seen Sum 41 live. And it wasn't even the original line-up, since all around coolest band member Dave "Brownsound" Baksh  left a few years ago. Now, these guys really aren't my cup of tea, and I'm the right age that they got big when I was in high school, so I grew up with them not being my cup of tea, but my buddy Craig and I had a good time trying to pick which songs they'd have in their setlist and in what order, so it wasn't a wash.

     Headliners Billy Talent are, however, more my style, and they put on a solid show. Billy Talent started getting bigger around the end of my high school career, so once again I've been at least familiar with their stuff for a long time, and last night was a reminder of how deep their catalogue is. They're touring on Dead Silence, their fifth album as a band and fourth under the moniker Billy Talent, and each of the four BT records has produced three or four singles, so they played quite a few tunes that we knew, including yesterday's Song of the Day, which is one of my favourites.

     The only thing that was too bad was that it was maybe a half capacity crowd. I read in the paper this morning (yes, the physical media newspaper... gasp!) that the crowd was around 3000, which I suppose might be accurate given that the venue probably has a way of counting, but I still don't know if I believe it, because from where I was sitting, it looked pretty dead. Good on Billy Talent and Company for stopping in Kingston, but crowds like that aren't going to keep us on the tour circuit.