The Temper Trap – The Cabaret JPR – Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
What was surprising upon first entering the venue was how little people had showed up for the announced 8:00 PM start time. Danish alternative rock band The Kissaway Trail didn’t seem to care however, as they took the stage promptly at 8:10 PM and began to win over the small group of people near the front of the stage. It didn’t take long before the venue had doubled in attendance, and doubled in energy as the band did a really good job in getting everyone amped up. Overall it was a good performance albeit a little long (but perhaps it only felt that way due to the anticipation of the main act). The highlight however, was without a doubt the cover they did of Neil Young’s “Philadelphia”, which was simply amazing.
It took a little while for The Temper Trap‘s roadies to make sure every instrument on the stage was tuned to perfection, but when a stage-hand in a suit gave the ol’ flashlight flicker and the house lights faded to black, the crowd simply went nuts. Yet the volume managed to still increase some when the band finally emerged onto the stage, with lead singer and guitarist Dougie Mandagi the last to come out to a huge round of applause. The band started off with a short instrumental piece before launching into “Rest” and that’s when it became clear that even though this was the band’s first show in Montreal, the audience was full of devoted Temper Trap fans. They managed to sing along to pretty much every song for the rest of the night, the loudest of course came when the band played mega-hit “Sweet Disposition”. You know an audience is into a show when they start a clap mid-song without any spurring on by the band. That was exactly what happened during the epic “Down River”, as everyone in attendance began to excitedly clap along.
The band’s performance was flawless. They sounded pretty much exactly as they do on record, baring a few differences in Mandagi’s vocal modulation, which can sometimes be a bad thing, but not on this night. Since the band only has one album under their belt (the critically acclaimed Conditions) they stuck to the songs from the album for the duration of the set. For the encore however, the band played a brand new track that had Mandagi playing an acoustic guitar. The song was definitely very different than anything on the album and perhaps is a sign of things to come, but only time will tell. They finished the show with “Science of Fear” and then bid the Montreal audience goodnight by saying, “This was our first time in Montreal and hope it won’t be the last”. I think it’s safe to say that Montreal feels the same way. – Greg Lozoff
The Temper Trap
The Kissaway Trail
Photography by Kenneth Suss
