Coliseum, Burning Love – Live (July 12th, 2010)

Did you say fine dining, wine bar, and art gallery upstairs and punk rock in the basement?  Sold.  This was my response when a friend of mine asked me to go to Parts and Labour Monday night to see Burning Love and – oh ya – Coliseum are headlining.  “Cool beans” I thought as I grabbed my camera and headed out to Queen West.

I didn’t actually go into the restaurant but as I passed through it looked really beautiful.  I can’t wait to go back and check it out.  After walking down the stairs and opening a very thick door, which I will presume acts as a punk noise barrier to the dining area, and paying the man at the door, I took a look around a fair sized room with a long bar, a few couches and a bubble hockey table.  What else do you need at a punk show?

I missed the two openers but made it just in time for Toronto’s Burning Love who is fronted by Chris Colohan, lead vocalist of the now defunct Cursed.  Colohan is an amazing lyricist and singer; and I was really excited to see this band.  The Curse disbanded in ‘08 shortly after a robbery in Europe where all the band members lost their wallets, passports, and instruments.  What is so crazy about all this is that I overheard one of their band members talking to a friend while setting up and he told him they (Burning Love) were robbed last week in West Philadelphia (insert the Fresh Prince of Bel Air rap here).  That is some seriously bad luck for seemingly really nice guy Chris Colohan.

Now to the show.  This is a music review right?  Burning Love was fucking unreal.  There are not a lot of new bands in this genre that impress me these days but this band is legit.  From the strike of the first chord and after Colohan let out his first blood-curdling scream I was hooked on Burning Love.

Burning Love’s passionate live performance blended well with the intimacy of the small setting.  Fans as well as Colohan got as close and personal with each other as they pleased.  It was an epic show for me and I didn’t know a single song but that has changed since I bought their new album and I will plug it because it’s amazing: “Songs for Burning Lovers”.

It seemed Burning Love couldn’t thank Coliseum enough for their help through the robbery, and it’s really cool to hear about bands helping each other out.  Anyway bottom line Burning Love is amazing and I wish them a lot of success with their music.

Next up was Coliseum.  I love this band and they are a tour de force live.  They have a fresh release titled “House with a Curse” and it is also amazing and gaining some attention right now.  Coliseum blend a Motorhead, Black Flag, Zeke, Misfits kind of sound but those are just influences because they definitely have own their sound.

After a brief sound check Coliseum burst into “Blind in one Eye” followed by “Everything to Everyone” then “Crime and the City” trailed by “Cloaked in Red” and that’s when it became clear to me that Coliseum was playing their entire new album.

I have to say I’m not a huge fan of this format.  I have seen Coliseum before so it wasn’t a huge deal to me but if this was my first experience with them I would feel slighted.  Their entire discography stands tall live and I wanted it all.  Maybe I am greedy.

Coliseum’s front man Ryan Patterson, Louisville Kentucky native, seems to have a real passion for Ontario as he pronounced his love for Toronto and the rest of the province.  He also gave a shout out to the Constantines saying they were one of his favorite bands and a huge inspiration.  I happened to notice theConstantines’ drummer was in the house so they must be road buddies.  Patterson also addressed his frustration with all the media mislabeling his band since the release of House with a Curse.  He went on to say “We are a punk band first and foremost.  We were a punk band when I started this thing and we are a punk band now.  Not a prog, metal, sludge, or whatever you want to call it!  We are a punk band!”

Upon finishing their House with a Curse set the guys took a brief interlude to wipe the sweat from their faces and came back for some more and they started out with their first song from their first album “Detached” followed by “Defeater” and “No Benefit”.  The momentum shift of energy from the crowd was night and day when they played their older material.  I then felt justified in my belief that playing an entire album live isn’t that cool.  It was still a great show and Coliseum is amazing live but I want to hear the old stuff because I’m an old guy!

All in all: a really awesome show.  Parts and Labour will have to promote a little better because I didn’t hear about the show until an hour before their doors opened and I consider myself to have an ear to the ground.  I look forward to more shows at this venue.