Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Pkew Pkew Pkew, No Bro, Eamon McGrath - Horseshoe Tavern Jan.10 '20

Pkew Pkew Pkew

The reason for the night came onto the stage like a hometown crowd should - to cries of joy. It wasn't some intense, outpouring or anything - they did play this exact venue less than a year ago - but the ovation from the full, but not sold out house was strong. Similarly, the set was very enjoyable and appreciated but they are not setting new highs with their small-town Ontario tales of drinking, skating, and hanging out. The crowd did get into it and by third song, I Wanna See a Wolf, I was compelled to join the fray. To our credit we moshed the entire way through, enjoying strong tracks like Asshole Pandemic and 65 Nickels, with an incredible amount of body surfing too. There were 3 or 4 people going up at a go, one of whom decided to test the strength of the plumbing pipe that runs across the ceiling; fortunately for us all it held. Near the end there was a song or two not from either of their album releases which didn't quite get as much love as the well known tunes. After 45 minutes of short, ripping songs they waved goodbye, with their perpetually grinning bassist departing last. But in the preorchestrated world of concerts, even without much of a roar (more of an expectant pause), they returned to the stage gushing their thanks to us. They did a couple, finishing with Glory Days, which was the correct call if you ask me, and sent us out into the early morning hours sweaty and happy.

NOBRO
Man, or should I saw "Woman!" - what a treat this was. This four-piece, using secondary percussion including bongos and electronic drums were stellar. They also had a great guitarist though the singer was stronger with vocals, naturally, they all did some instrument swapping along the way. Even as the second band on the bill, after a snoozy (good snoozy) opening from Eamon these gals got the pit moving so kudos to that. For the finale they really decided to kick out the jams. One to watch, I'm glad I got to catch them on their way up.

Eamon McGrath
Accompanied by another fellow, also playing acoustic guitar they went through a solid folk set that even had the filling-in crowd respectfully quiet. A standout display of songsmanship was seen on especially on Guts.

Barasso 
Warming the way jsut before PPP! this four-piece, all-male francophone band played some bludgeoning punk rock. It wasn't bad but was all a little samey (I hit the john). At one point they bantered, in English, "we're singing in French but you don't care do you? It doesn't matter."

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