Metal Sludge Rolls through Toronto....Funny

We did a review over at Dixie Tucker! as well (www.dixietucker.com). You know, even my husband, who isn't a big 80's rock fan had a blast, so I guess this chart reviewer is just too cool to have fun. Here's our review in full and there's a few pictures on the website:

Metal Sludge Extravaganza!

Who:
Faster Pussycat
Enuff Z'Nuff
Pretty Boy Floyd and
Crash Kelly
Where: The 360, Toronto
When: Saturday, June 28th, 2003

The only package tour this summer worth seeing, the Metal Sludge Extravaganza, rolled into the land of SARS on Saturday night for nearly five hours of 1989 all over again. Featuring a line up of near forgotten 80's bands, local talent, and a guest appearance by Darrell Dwarf to give away "Sludge Swag" (in lieu of porn star Kendra Jade who pussed out at the last minute) , the nameless faces at Metal Sludge just might be onto something. After all, despite the seeming unhipness of such a gathering, The 360 was the only place to be on the Queen west strip.

The four band bill got kicked off by Toronto up-and-comers Crash Kelly. With a new line-up in tow, Crash Kelly's set sounded meatier and rocked harder than in previous incarnations. With the stage presence of new bassist Trip Phoenix and Kelly increasingly growing into the frontman role, it's not surprising most of the crowd who came early made their way to the stage - and stayed.

Rock and Roll outlaws Pretty Boy Floyd followed with a thunderous take over and played surprisingly better than expected. Loud, showy, and ruckus, it was LA rock straight from the book. PBF and their master of ceremonies Steve "Sex" Summers led the crowd through synchronised hand clapping, sing along ballads and general partying down. Demerit points though for bitching at the sound guy mid-set. Bad boy, Steve "Sex" Summers.

Chip Z'Nuff likes pot. Which is a good thing - his band's been through a lot and he probably needs the mellow. Being the only original member of Chicago's only claim to glam rock fame, Enuff Z'Nuff, he had a hard night ahead of him to win the audience's faith.

Luckily replacement singer/guitarist Monaco is both a maestro on the six string and Donnie Vie's vocal doppelganger. Other than the visual assault of two redheads, the original singer wasn't really missed, and you can't say that about too many scab vocalists. That the Chicago trio is musically advanced (check out Z'nuff's Hamer - while most bassists can barely handle four strings, his has eight.) allowed them to catch a buzz from the music alone. If one band enjoys simply playing, this is it. And it's that kind of groove that eased them through the slower yet sexy "She Wants More" before capping off the show with "Fly High Michelle" and "High On a New Thing"

Complete camo-netting and suspended army lanterns, Faster Pussycat brought their doomsday machine to the Sludgeaholics. With a harder edge to their music than in their heyday, they still played to the largest and most enthusiastic crowd of any of the bands on the bill.

A set that included both old and new Pussycat material as well as songs form frontman Taime Downe's side project, The Newlydeads, what began as a polished theatre of presentation quickly relaxed into an informal gathering for both band and audience.

A great show by any standards, Faster Pussycat has no need to rely on nostalgia pity to entertain - even those who weren't die hard fans had a good time either from the music or the conversational stance that made rogue roadie Thomas and the price of Taime's ass everybody's concern.

Going a few songs longer than usual, Downe seemed especially choked up over the rockin' Toronto crowd who ate up everything his band dished out, even breaking out the Bics for the emotional hit "House Of Pain". As has become custom to the Pussycat revue, a cover of Betty Blowtorch's "Shut Up and Fuck" whipped the crowd into a frenzy before closing the night with the original rock-rap "Babylon."

As if we needed anymore evidence, the Metal Sludge Extravaganza proves that there is a need for rock and roll with big balls and easy times. And that there's an audience for it. Kitsch aside, all of the bands on this bill made an effort to be with the times - most had evolved their music and though there were a few in the audience, not a single poodle cut was seen on stage. It was worth going for Faster Pussycat's sublimely occult set alone, but tripping down memory lane with the rest of the audience - and not being the only one enjoying it - was truly priceless.