Dead Messenger + The Heavy Hands – Divan Orange – Thursday, May 27th, 2010

The night started off a little slow, with most of the crowd hanging in back of the orange hued Divan Orange, doing their own thing, while sipping away at their Molson lights and St Ambroise ales. When The Heavy Hands first hit the stage about an hour and a half later than scheduled (it wouldn’t be a real rock show if it started on time, right?), you could see the instant migration of people coming closer and closer to the stage, as if the band was luring their pray in for battle. Now, being able to lure in a crowd, no matter how big or small, is a very fundamental sign that these rabble-rousers know how to put on a performance. These boys are definitely your straight up R n R band, with grungy songs about cousins, prostitutes and mardi gras, complete with electrifying guitar solos, what more could you really ask for from a rock band? Not to mention they were promoting a thong exchange – if you give them yours, they’ll give you one of theirs – true rocker etiquette. Before you knew it, the now mobile and tipsy crowd got totally into the songs being showcased. I was just waiting for them to break out into Spiderbait’s version of Black Betty, but alas, their tunes were just as hardcore, and left the crowd head banging.

After a pause filled with attempts of flinging one of The Heavy Hand’s thongs onto the ceiling fan (which failed miserably after a number of attempts), the main act of the night was up. Montreal’s own Dead Messenger hit the stage, and almost instantaneously people were on their feet, shaking their booties, flinging their arms, and just getting on down to the tunes being showcased. What better way to start off the swing of summer than with this Montreal foursome putting out tunes with 70s influence mixed with old fashioned carefree rock n roll? With a broken guitar string by the time they finished off their first song “Let Me Go Home”, these psychedelic rockers spent the rest of the night spewing out songs from their latest album, Love Is The Only Weapon. They stuck to the best of the album, playing the catchy “Dog In My Pocket”, and “Nothing will Happen”. These guys have clearly marked the grounds for stirring up some roudy, yet trippy, summer tunes.

The night was spent dancing and head banging away, filled with sweat, beer, solid tunes, and, of course, thongs. By the by, an all round rocking, fun filled show. – Sarah Touyz

Dead Messenger

The Heavy Hands

Photography by Sean Mundy

Tags: 2010, Canada, Concert, Cosmonaut Productions, Dead Messenger, Divan Orange, May 27, Montreal, quebec, Review, Sarah Touyz, Sean Mundy, The Heavy Hands