Never a dull moment at a Fucked Up show. Vocalist Damian Abraham was in the pit, cialis on the balcony, atop the bar and sliding down the railings as the rest of the band bludgeoned a willing crowd with their anthemic brand of hardcore on a rainy Thursday the 13th at The Sinclair. Fucked Up are a Toronto-based sextet with an ambitious, widescreen take on a genre that specializes in 90-second blasts of aggression. The band is all about big ideas, from their proggy, Zodiac-inspired 12” series to their rock opera third record David Comes to Life (which was supplemented by an LP of songs by fictional bands from the fictional town where said album takes place, all played by Fucked Up). Their thunderous performances capture that ambitious spirit and distill it into one of the most reliably entertaining live shows around.
The perpetually shirtless (and occasionally pants-less) Abraham is a major component of the band’s magnetism on stage. He’s one of the best frontmen in rock, punk or otherwise. Few performers match his level of crowd engagement, which involved singing from just about everywhere in the venue that the microphone cord would reach, staying on stage during the encore break to chat about records and granting sweaty hugs and photo ops for mobs of fans immediately after the final song. Abraham’s bellowed vocals were strangely difficult to hear over the PA at times, but audience members shouting back most of the lyrics filled in the gaps. The crowd was a bit smaller than expected (partly due to the Black Flag show across town, I suspect), but the response was still lively. The number of successfully executed stage dives was actually rather impressive, given the Sinclair’s weirdly towering stage height.
It would be unfair to hand the credit for Fucked Up’s killer performances entirely over to Abraham though. Most of the band’s recorded output employs more guitar tracks than guitarists that could fit on a stage, but the trio of Mike Haliechuk, Josh Zucker and Ben Cook managed to recreate those dense tones remarkably well. Their six-string assault was anchored by the rhythm section of bassist Sandy Miranda and drummer Jonah Falco. The band complemented Abraham on stage perfectly, matching him step-for-step in pounding intensity but also offering a counterpoint to his guttural shouts in the form of hooky melodies and harmonized backup vocals. The result was an explosive set that effectively showcased how Fucked Up continue to warp the hardcore template into their own engrossing creation.
Opening sets from Chicago’s Twin Peaks and Scotland’s Paws filled out the evening nicely. Twin Peaks are a self-proclaimed ‘heavy pop’ band presumably named after the David Lynch TV show, and they brought a kinetic energy to their punchy songs. Paws, who played Great Scott during their first U.S. tour just a few months back, returned with new songs and a slightly rawer sound. Their instantly likeable noise-pop seemed to win over a skeptical crowd with ease, once more demonstrating that they’re a band to keep an eye on in the coming months.
