I had taken a quick trip to Toronto to catch Grandson’s opening set for Nothing But Thieves, a half hour power set with a few of his songs off his new EP ‘A Modern Tragedy Vol.1’ and a few of his older singles. Grandson (Jordan Benjamin) came out with so much energy and an amazing stage presence and I could immediately tell it was going to be an amazing show.
Grandson started off the set with the ‘Stranger Things’ theme music which brought this great energy to the crowd. For an opening band, a half hour set is a short amount of time to really entertain an audience, but it was by far one of the most energetic, noisy and interactive sets I’ve ever seen.
The show opened up with “6:00” which was the best choice for an opening song in my opinion. It turned so many heads to the stage because of its energetic feel, and that certain punch of bass that hit you right in the chest when the song kicked in moments after starting, it was an amazing and liberating feeling hearing “6:00” live because it is my favourite song he’s ever made, from heavy guitar, to amazing lyrical composition, you cannot listen to this song and not be immediately hooked.
The only downfall was the music was overpowering the vocals so that when the chorus to a heavy song kicked in, or there was a loud part that needed to be emphasized, it physically couldn’t get any louder, and drowned out his voice quite a bit, but on the other hand having a live band added a nice “concert” feel to it which I really enjoyed. Usually it depends on how venues set up their sound systems as well, and how they distribute the sound to the crowd, so being front row it was difficult to hear the vocals, but the energy and excitement made up for the difficulties.
Being at the show specifically for Grandson’s act really made the show so special to me and it was really fun and exciting. In the crowd of nearly a thousand people ,my friends and I were able to sing along to every song on the setlist, which gave off a amazing feeling knowing every lyric to his songs, and him knowing we were there to support the band.
I got the chance to see Grandson open for Sum41 a few months ago as well, and after the set had ended, I had met Grandson selling merchandise at his table, I genuinely thanked him for such an amazing set, chatted about the show, purchased some signed Grandson merchandise, took a few pictures, and headed on my way home.
Overall this band never fails to blow me away. The feel of the music, the energy and the stage presence really was above and beyond what I had expected. The show was filled with crowd interactions, being sprayed by water and a lot of great music.
If you haven’t heard of Grandson, be sure to check him out!
@Grandson on instragram
And be sure to check out his latest EP “A Modern Tragedy Vol.1”
Review by: Lillian Sebastiano
