Monday night. Canada day. Outside, lakeside at Echo Beach. Already that’s a good set up. Now throw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs into the mix and you’ve got one good night.
It’d been too long since the NY art rock trio graced Toronto but luckily the release of their fourth album Mosquitocalls for tour time. Even having just seen them this past March at SXSW, we missed the YYYs already and were stoked to find out that they’d be providing the party on our national day off. Surprisingly the show didn’t sell out. Perhaps the steep ticket price was to blame? Upside: More room to dance. And dance we did.
With a jam packed set list of certifiable JAMS the Yeah Yeah Yeahs delivered like a good pizza: fast, hot and tasty. A mix of all the hits and fan favs from the Is Is EP’s “Down Boy” to debut album Fever To Tell‘s “Y Control”. Did we cry as soon as we realized they were going to treat us to “Maps”? You bet.
Karen O was something like a phenomenon, crawling on the stage, jumping around, screaming and shaking with every fiber in her beautiful being. With 3 outfit changes (fringe + headlamp / black studded leather / streamer cape), blue eyeshadow and some inverted cross eyeliner painted under her eyes, she looked as wild as she sounded, like a true iconic rock star. Somewhere between her passing around the mic in the audience during “Cheated Hearts” for some sweet heartwarming sing-alongs, and her closing up the two encores of the night by unzipping her white sequin capris for a feel, our brains melted. Just insane amazingness.
