Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Triple axel double toe loop.

Is stage diving an Olympic sport yet? Because I've witnessed the flips of serious gold medal contestants last Friday at the Black Lips concert in Montreal.



The venue, Le National, was packed and the crowd eagerly awaited the return of the garage punk rockers to Montreal. Neither my friend or I had seen the Black Lips live before, so we didn't know what to expect...



Well I must say that I have not had so much much at a live show in a very long time. Of course, the Black Lips have catchy songs, and the quartet managed to maintain a high level of energy throughout the show (regardless of being visibly inebriated as my friend pointed out).





But the show really came from the crowd.
I had not seen that amount of stage diving in a really long time. There was constantly a random person climbing on stage to then jump in the crowd. Girls were throwing themselves at bandmembers... the bass player probably made out with 3 different girls in a span of 30 minutes! When the show came to an end, people (all grown adults) walked out of the mosh pit with black eyes and bruised faces...



Here's a short amateur video of moments from the show. Judge your yourselves.


We were also lucky to catch a glimpse of the touring reality, as we walked in front of the venue about 2 hours after the show ended. The 4 guys from the band and their crew were busy gathering their stuff and loading the van. We chatted a bit with a guy we assumed to be their tour manager who told us they had been on the road for 6 weeks and were playing in Connecticut next. It's a great reminder of how life on the road is not always glamourous : one minute, hundreds of people scream your name in unison and girls are theowing themselves at you, the other, you're carrying your own instruments and sound systems out of the venue and loading up an old van.

I'm definitely going back next time they come to town!

Also, some interesting sartorial learnings from that night:
- Don't walk around the Gay Village wearing a shirt that says "San Francisco" on it if you don't want to attract attention to you
- Carrying Vinyl records as an accessory = chick magnet


Photo credits: WeHeartIt for the lips, band's own website and Nightlife.ca for concert pics.