Altered by Mother had a mountain to climb at Folks on the Rocks. The band earlier than them, teen exhausting rockers Cows Go Moo, closed their set with a canopy of RATM’s “Killing within the Identify Of” that had the opening-night crowd on the Canadian North Beer Backyard Stage going udderly wild in onesie cow costumes.
After that barnburning show, it took Altered by Mother just a few songs to heat the group again up. Even their wrestling-style entrance, full with bicep kissing and muscle poses, wasn’t fairly sufficient to coax onlookers out of their shells.
With singer-bassist Gina Kennedy strutting in hotpants, and singer-guitarist Devon Lougheed barely resembling Garth from Wayne’s World (one thing he identified in a humorous anecdote a couple of tactless German man), the Toronto trio ripped by means of a sequence of catchy pop rock bops. They drew on turn-of-the-millennium alt radio à la Lillix, Weezer, Len, blink-182 and Lindsay Lohan’s band from Freaky Friday — however anybody searching for the right sonic reference level want look no additional than ABM’s anti-work anthem “As If” and its namedrop of “Teenage Dirtbag.”
That track had the group considerably warmed up by the center of the set — however the tipping level got here with “Sucking on a Lemon,” a comical dance rocker that got here full with synchronized choreography and completely hysterical pseudo-rapping. Deeply unserious in one of the simplest ways, it was not possible to not be charmed, and the group discovered a renewed burst of power.
From that time on, ABM did not let up. The hooky single “OK OK” was clearly acquainted to the festivalgoers singing alongside on the entrance, and even the introspective ballad “Ready on a Signal That is Already There” saved the vibe up.
Within the remaining moments, ABM pulled off one remaining trick: Lougheed walked off the stage onto a picnic desk, and from there hopped over the barricade and into the pit. Holding his lemon-print guitar aloft, he walked by means of the group, and finally ripped a guitar solo whereas hamming it up atop a picnic desk on the reverse finish of the beer backyard. Thank goodness for his wi-fi guitar system.
It was fully ridiculous and enjoyable as hell, and ABM rode triumphantly into the sundown. Simply kidding — it was solely 9:30 p.m. and the Yellowknife solar was nonetheless shining vibrant.
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