Metal, Mayhem and a Surprisingly Good Night at TCU Place
words and pics by Scott Roos
There are probably more obvious places to stage a heavy metal show in Saskatoon than TCU Place. The home of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra isn’t exactly the first building that comes to mind when someone says “circle pit.” It has more of a “please take your seats and silence your cellphones” reputation than a “somebody just crowd-surfed over three rows of people” one. But on Friday night, Aug. 14, TCU Place made a pretty convincing argument that metal doesn’t necessarily need a giant arena or a grimy club to get properly nasty.
With England’s Malevolence opening for veteran groove masters Machine Head and Massachusetts metalcore veterans Killswitch Engage, the venue had itself a surprisingly rowdy evening. The pit area was smaller than what you’d find at SaskTel Centre, and certainly more compact than the glorious anything-goes floor at Coors Events Centre, but the atmosphere more than made up for the real estate. The sound was tight, the lighting was excellent and security handled the inevitable parade of crowd surfers with professionalism. Nobody seemed particularly interested in turning the evening into a live-action insurance claim, which was appreciated.
Malevolence got things moving with a short, sharp set that lasted somewhere around half an hour. The Sheffield band brought plenty of energy without wasting much time getting to the point. A small pit opened up during their set, giving the floor a taste of what was coming later. There’s something wonderfully efficient about a good metalcore opener. No lengthy philosophical introduction. No need to explain the meaning of life. Just tune low, hit hard and let the breakdown do the talking. Malevolence did exactly that.
Machine Head, meanwhile, arrived with the weight and confidence of a band that has been doing this for more than three decades. Robb Flynn remains the heart of the operation, and he was an excellent frontman throughout the set. There was plenty of movement onstage, plenty of interaction with the crowd and more than enough material for the audience to scream along with. By the time “Davidian” rolled around, the TCU crowd was essentially doing half the vocal work.
Machine Head’s set also highlighted something that sometimes gets lost when talking about heavy music: these guys can actually groove. Yes, they can be heavy as hell. Yes, there are moments when the guitars sound like they're attempting to physically rearrange the building. But Machine Head also understands dynamics. The heavier sections hit harder because the band knows when to pull back. “Is There Anybody Out There?” was a particularly good example, creating some breathing room before the inevitable return to the heavy stuff.
Finally, Killswitch Engage showed up and basically decided subtlety was for somebody else.
Holy shit. It’s probably worth admitting here that metalcore has never been my favourite branch of the heavy metal family tree. This unique brand of almost what you could call “Millennial metal” can sometimes feel like a heavy music genre discovered therapy. There's lots of screaming, plenty of breakdowns and an almost suspicious commitment to emotional honesty. But Killswitch Engage made a very strong case for the genre on Friday night.
Jesse Leach was phenomenal. His stage presence was completely locked in, and he spent plenty of time getting away from the safety of the microphone stand and closer to the audience. At one point, he went directly into the crowd, which brought the connection between band and audience to another level.
The rest of the band was equally energetic, but Adam Dutkiewicz deserves special mention for seemingly treating the stage like it owed him money. The guitarist pranced, danced, strutted and occasionally sprinted across the stage like a man being chased by an invisible deadline. It was impossible not to watch him.
And the audience responded. The pit during Killswitch Engage was absolutely batshit.
There was an astonishing amount of crowd surfing, with bodies moving over the pit seemingly every few seconds. People were singing, shouting, headbanging and generally throwing themselves into the experience with the kind of enthusiasm that suggested nobody had come to TCU Place to sit quietly and contemplate the finer points of symphonic orchestration. Which, considering the building's usual clientele, was probably a refreshing change.
Killswitch Engage also demonstrated why the band has endured. Beneath all the screams, breakdowns and guitar heroics are strong melodies and memorable songs. “The End of Heartache,” “My Curse,” “Rose of Sharyn” and “My Last Serenade” have the kind of hooks that stick around long after the amplifiers have stopped shaking the room. And that's ultimately what made Friday night work.
Malevolence started things off with plenty of bite, proving you don’t need an hour onstage to leave a dent. Machine Head supplied the old-school weight, groove and experience. Killswitch Engage delivered the polished, highly combustible combination of melody, heaviness and theatricality. Three very different flavours of heavy music, all served in a building that probably spends more time worrying about concertos than circle pits.
TCU Place may not be the first venue that springs to mind for a proper metal show, but on Friday night it proved that heavy music can make itself at home just about anywhere. Even the symphony hall.
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