So, they day finally came. May 19, Alkaline Trio playing their first club show in Canada in a long while (they did play Warped last year though). I was really excited to see them, as they are my favourite band right now.

Okay, so the venue was the Guvernment, which is this dance sort of hall with the stage in the corner. The most striking thing about entering the venue was that you had to walk through the merch line to get to the actual playing area. The line wrapped around a wall or two and took about 30 minutes to get to the front. The trio have definitely picked up a fan or two.

So I missed Closet Monster, the opening band. I entered halfway into the set of Pitch Black from California. I'm unfamiliar with this band but I really wasn't a fan. The singers screech sounded pretty much like a crow. It was this sort of Halloweeny hardcore that licked some serious balls. They threw in some synth organs to be even more cheesy. They played some songs to an unresponsive audience for about a half hour? Felt like two though.

Next up was My Chemical Romance, who I have heard a little of but not much. These guys had some fans in TO as the crowd were pretty responsive. I was impressed with their set. The band had a shitload of energy, playing some hardcore screamo sort of tunes. Their bassist was as stiff as a rock, but one of their guitarists rocked out so well. His shaggy hair was constantly in motion, running around the stage and leaning on his bandmates. At one point I think he leaned on the other guitarist so hard that they fell down. The singing was pretty tight too. I think I'll check this band out.

Next up was Alkaline. They took the stage to some creepy opera music stuff and a shit load of cheering. They pretty much wore the same get up as on Conan last week, Matt even wore the same tie. Anyways, the set was really tight. The band exploded with 'We've Had Enough' and ended up playing about 6 songs from the new album (which rocks, by the way). Derek's drumming was really awesome I thought. His fills were on time and he played really well. Both Matt and Dan's singing were great, they both sounded pretty similar to the CDs. I always hate when you go to a show and the singer sounds really different. Anyways, the band didn't really talk much. I wouldn't say that they were in a bad mood but just not in a really fun mood. The set comprised of a great mix of new and old, playing a few tracks from each album. They took a couple requests in a pseudo-encore and played Clavicle, My Friend Peter and surprisingly Sundials. They closed with Private Eye. A couple people were pissed cause they didn't play She Took Him To The Lake or Radio, but if I were them, I would be tired of playing those songs. All in all, the show was really worth going, getting to see Alkaline play a solid set and MY Chemical Romance tear shit up. This is the start of the tour so I recommend you go see it!