Titus Andronicus – Live in Vancouver (03/09/2023)

On a wet and rainy night in Vancouver last Thursday, the Fox Cabaret played hosts to one of the most prolific yet unknown rock bands around: Titus Andronicus. Those that know the band love the band and those that don’t love the band simply don’t know them yet. Releasing seven albums since their formation in 2008, the band has a diverse catalogue with each album examining different styles, topics and contexts. They can easily flow from eight minute epics about the Civil War on The Monitor to minute long anthems about food fights on Local Business without missing a beat but their real skill falls to their live show.

Front man Patrick Stickles controls the stage from the moment Titus Andronicus walks on. He has a charm and charisma that pulsates through the crowd, without any show boating or over the top antics. This is classic, grungy, dirty rock and roll with anthemic verses that beg the audience to sing along with them.

The short set list passed through in batches, sticking songs from each album together, building in momentum continually throughout the evening.  The crowd, well not a sell out, pushed forward with each chorus – their songs grandiose and cathartic as they mixed rousing sing-alongs into full throttle punk rock anthems.

My Mother Is Going To Kill Me started the show, a three minute long instrumental that captures the listener’s attention and showcases their musicianship before they launched into the alcohol infused anthem (I’m) Screwed. It was a bundle of songs from their latest album, The Will To Live, and served as the perfect introduction to the evening set before diving deep into their repertoire with Above the Bodega (Local Business) and Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ.

Stickles and his band never stopped – whether they were putting it all on the line with the passionate love song Fatal Flaw or stripping it down for the legendary Four Score and Seven epic from The Monitor. This was a set that show cased what a rock band can and should do. Seven albums, fifteen years, several Eps – Titus Andronicus deserves the acclaim they get from their fans and their live show just keeps getting stronger.

As they closed out with A More Perfect Union and Titus Andronicus Forever, the crowd was eating out of their hands. They said Thank You as  Stickles put on his leather jacket and walked into the crowd – stopping to chat with anyone who passed his way while the crowd chanted for “just one more”.  The one more never came and it felt right that way.

There was no gimmick, no desire to make a planed “exit” and walk back to their adoring crowds. They ended just as they played: real, raw, authentic – what more could you ask for?