Date: May 26, 2011
City: Toronto,ON
Venue: Opera House
Rating: 4/5
If you like your rock n’ roll immersed in grimy filth, the Opera House was the place to be Thursday night. Devoid of pretentiousness, South African rockers Seether skillfully adhered to a back-to-basics sort of rock. Loud and ferociously abrasive, the jam-packed audience was sonically assaulted from the very first guitar riff.
Though the set was a mere 13 songs with no encore, Seether accomplished what they set out to do; entertain a crowd foaming with rabid intensity. From the opener “Gasoline” to closer “Remedy”, the raucous crowd passionately embraced the essence of what a rock n’ roll gathering should be. With total disregard for personal safety, multitudes of bodies were repeatedly propelled above the outstretched hands of the frenzied audience with careless abandon.
Feeding off this energy was a band who simply wanted to rock. Talk is cheap, and Seether barely said more than ten words throughout the entire evening. But who desires words when a guitar, a bass and a drum kit have the ability to express so much more.
Crisp-sounding and tight throughout every song, Seether performed many of their hits including “Broken” (acoustically), “Fine Again” and new single, “Country Song”. Having also been largely inspired by Nirvana over their career, the band even covered the grunge-rockers “Heart-Shaped Box” with staggering success. Not too many singers can match Cobain’s intensely emotional vocalization, but Shaun Morgan’s unbelievable voice (as powerful as it can get) paid homage with booming ferocity.
But not everything was pristine. Though Seether has been known to play very short sets over their career, the concert seemed to conclude rather prematurely. Just as the energy in the building was gaining in intensity, the show was suddenly over. Many were left surprised and looking abandoned without any intuition as to what to do. There were futile attempts to await the return of the band but to no avail. Without an encore, the congregation filed out ontoQueen St.impressed, but secretly sulking for more.
Apart from this and, of course, the obligatory drum solo that was conducted during the performance (which has grown tiresome over time- no matter how talented the solo may be), the show entertained. Simple and straightforward-the way a rock concert should be.
