Fucked Up @ Loving Touch, May 2, 2015
“I just want to say, thanks to everyone here for coming out tonight and deciding that live music is more important than a boxing match. That means so much to me.”
Those were the first words said by Fucked Up’s iconic vocalist and frontman Damian Abraham as he graced the stage at The Loving Touch during the last night of the Metro Times Blowout. The set was their second show at Loving Touch in the past year, and given the raucous live attitude the band has shown in the past – did not disappoint in the slightest.
The band opened with the opening cut from last year’s Glass Boys, Echo Boomer and the crowd immediately launched into a mosh pit towards the front of the stage.
Abraham kept a wild stage presence as expected, jumping into the crowd and running around, hopping onto nearby tables and never missing a beat while the band, comprising of bassist Sandy Miranda, drummer Jonah Falco and guitarists Ben Cook, Josh Zucker and Mike Haliechuk – played with precision, as if Abraham had never left the stage. Cook and Miranda shared backup vocalist duties and harmonization for Abraham’s guttural delivery, mirroring the double part harmonies found on the band’s albums.
While that was only the first track of the set, the band continued to play a mixture of tracks from their discography, several from 2011’s critically acclaimed fan favorite David Comes to Life such as The Other Shoe and Queen of Hearts as well as selections from last year’s Glass Boys, their breakthrough album The Chemistry of Common Life and several from the band’s many seven-inch singles, including live staples Police and I Hate Summer.
On record, Fucked Up represent a sound that encompasses everything progressive and punk – two words that would seem to never go together, live they represent a great time. They could play for hours and this reviewer would never bore of them. Everyone in the band plays at 100% and they put on such a fantastic live show as a result.
If the band is the control keeping the music in check and the band consistently on track, Damian is the chaotic character threatening to disrupt the balance, but instead he’s having fun and making sure everyone in the crowd is having just as good of a time as he is. Inbetween tracks he continued to make conversation with the crowd on his wide variety of interests: drug policies, police, pro wrestling, the ongoing Mayweather-Pacquio fight and record collecting among other subjects.
The crowd stayed energetic as people began to file out of the venue throughout the set. As opposed to the band’s last show in July at the same venue which was a sold out show and had very little room to breathe during the band’s performance. Despite the lesser turnout, Fucked Up rocked out as if the venue was sold out regardless.
As the band left the stage, Abraham placated the crowd by remarking “Don’t worry, we’re just going to deliberate whether or not we’ll be coming back for an encore”, only to return after a few minutes saying that “we decided”, as the band ran back on stage to play one last song as an encore as the crowd rebuilt itself back into a mosh pit. Afterwards, Abraham stayed on stage and provided a vocal-only cover of a Detroit-area hardcore band Earth Mover before ending the set proper.
Damien stayed on the floor after the set chatting with fans and taking photos, where this writer snagged a quick picture with the man, the myth, the legend. Yes, he grabbed on to my beard and gave me a hug afterwards. It was well worth it.
Despite the dithering crowd, Fucked Up’s second show in a year was another short burst of hardcore energy and well worth the price of admission.
eyes/ears/appendages 