It was a hot, hairy sweat-drenched night on Hamilton’s Hess Street as Doors Taco Joint and Metal Bar squeezed in music fanatics ready to rock the fuck out on a Thursday night. 2022 shows that audiences are prepared for entertainment, and entertainers are more than willing to entertain. Two years of repressed social energy is helping live music explode back to life.

It seems like people need to dance their asses off. People need to laugh, and even anti-social folks need to find their space to click with like-minded people. And hell, many people who claim to be anti-social, aren’t.

However, nobody claimed to be anti-social at that sweaty Sept. 8 concert, where the heat generated by the power of the bands caused enough humidity to cause disorder with the inner workings of this reporter’s camera. The lens was dripping with the crowd’s perspiration. The crowd, like audiences in cities across Southern Ontario, was happy to be back enjoying music and the company of friends.

Hamilton’s Pity Case opened the evening with a few verses of Son House’s “Grinning in Your Face” before crashing into their heavy heaving set. They brought some sass to the room and got the people bashing and popping.

On the eve of the release of their 12” EP, YOU EMBVRRVSS ME, on Cursed Blessings Records, MVLL CRIMES brought what Woodstein Media is willing to stake its reputation on calling the most exciting music to come out of London, Southern Ontario, Ontario, Canada or across this planet in the last five years, if not ever.

Before the set, lead vocalist Jillian Clair avoided load-in by chatting about the new EP, music, zines, the need for people with punk roots in municipal politics, working for a municipality, the music community and a lot more so be on the lookout for a feature from that which will appear on Wood-stein.ca and MoshPitNation.com.

Deck Piss brought the night to a thunderous end with their powerful assault of speedy punk with a metal edge. The crowd absorbed it and happily gave the energy back, dancing and thumping, bashing and crashing quite giddily. Concerts are fun again, and the new wave of bands creates sounds as intriguing or better than what you grew up listening to, so give them a chance. You might be surprised by what you hear.

Concerts were always fun, but it seemed like people were beginning to take them for granted before COVID-19 forced them to lose them for a few years. Now, music fanatics are excited to show their love for live music, and the atmosphere is transcendent.

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