Royal Tusk Bring the Thunder to Vancouver’s Fox Cabaret
written by Scotty Evil
I first encountered Royal Tusk when they opened for rockers Pop Evil in 2018. Their energy and musicianship stood out and it was clear they were ready for bigger things.
So not only was it a pleasure to hear they were headlining a cross-Canada tour but also they were returning the love with no less than 3 openers for this show.
That’s right, 4 bands for ridiculously cheap, starting with local marvels Redwoods. Who are these young men with such a mature and classic rock sound?!? Seriously, give them a listen, they’ll carve out a spot in your playlist. They sounded amazing and had great stage presence already…it’s clear they have chemistry and it comes out far above expectations for an opener. Having just released their debut album, I’ll be looking for their name to move up in the ranks soon.
Following them were Sights and Sounds. The sound took a right turn into angry shredding over some ethereal backing tracks, synths and loops. Lead singer/guitarist Andrew Neufeld wasted no time in belting out angst and anger, neck veins popping with emotional delivery. There was no shortage of fans singing along and rocking out in the crowd. The songs were dark and the stage lighting matched it, and their drummer was killer.
Raising the bar yet again was Toronto’s BRKN LOVE. Taking the crowd back to the simple, guitar tones as beefy as lead singer Justin Benlolo’s arms (is he a gymnast or something?) steeped in dirty blues along with pounding drums and grungy vocals…these guys cranked everything up to 11. It was impossible to keep your feet from stomping and your head from whipping back and forth. There were some jaws dropped to the floor in the audience.
Not wanting to be outdone, headliners Royal Tusk took to the stage, grinning from ear to ear. You could hear the polish they have done on their songs since we saw them in 2018 and they backed it up by clearly having a good time on stage. Bassist Sandy MacKinnon pumped up the crowd between songs while singer Daniel leaned out with his guitar over the crowd. The band was tight to the millisecond and honestly the sound mix was killer. The setlist was a great mix of tracks old and new, spiced up with covers of both Nirvana’s “In Bloom” and “Cochise” by Audioslave. One of the other highlights was their new release, “Die Knowing” (check out the video it’s pretty cool), showing that Royal Tusk knows who they are and how they want to sound.
This show was by far the best bang-for-the-buck this year and is going to be difficult to top!
Definite 5/5
©written by Scotty Evil
photos by Red Lenses Photography
