Fucked Up / C’mon / Cold World / Creeping Nobodys / Anagram / Wyrd Visions

As part of the super-weekend of Fucked Up Hidden World CD release shows, this final night was also to be the third annual Halloween show for the band. With a growing legacy in the Toronto punk community, this year’s show was a decidedly divisive bag of local indie rock and serious fucking punk rock, and the difference in the crowd at the front of the stage for each group spoke to this division. Opener Wyrd Visions might have sounded cool in a small, smoky venue, but as the first act in a night of loud, loud music, his one-man solo noodling and looping lacked the punch to gain the attention of any in attendance. Anagram were able to draw in more interested parties with their heavier, math-y indie rock, complete with drone-y vocals and repetitive rhythms. Appearing somewhat subdued by comparison to previous live appearances, the band still served up some interesting riffs. Creeping Nobodys had some of the night’s best costumes and offered a more full-blown sound than that of Anagram, exploring similar musical ideas with the presence of greater instrumentation. Cold World completely changed the tone of the show by blasting out some genuine old school hardcore mixed with a more modern vocal approach, giving the hardcore kids in the crowd their first opportunity to dance and grab the mic like only hardcore kids are wont to do. C’mon played a solid set of rock and fucking roll, and Ian Blurton’s apparent state of inebriation only made their grit that much more genuine. After an extended wait that almost included a performance by the newly reformed Viletones, Fucked Up hit the stage for their final set of the weekend. Currently supporting Hidden World, a Canadian punk classic in the making, the band’s set mixed up tracks from their full-length and their previously released string of seven-inches. Energetic and entirely original, the band capped off a triumphant weekend of shows with a performance that proved their power not only as live performers but as songwriters and innovators.