West Ave and friends whip up Lorne Street

The Legion hosts a couple of rock ‘n’ rollers for a wild show.

October 8 saw the triumphant return of West Ave to the Sackville scene. The Sackville rock ‘n’ roll band, alongside the Karvorkas, who played a quirky Seinfeld-seasoned and tasteful indie set, played to a surprisingly good turnout, at least by recent Sackville standards, at the Legion. The sound was not so great, and the lighting was nothing special either, but the imperfectness of the event seemed to suit the two bands and their onlookers. It was one of those nights where it was quite clear the alcohol was flowing, poor decisions were in the process of being made, and it was impossible not to have a lot more fun than you would have thought coming in.

The Karvorkas, comprised of Robert Blackbeard on vocals/guitar, Sharoni Mitra on bass/keyboard, and Hayden Nurse on drums/vocals, played first. They had an interesting take on the indie rock sound, weaving in elements of folk and jazz. The end product was a highly dynamic sound that kept evolving and changing throughout the night. It allowed them to transcend the ever-present ‘bore-core’ hole that so many indie bands tumble into. Sticking true to being a self-proclaimed band about nothing through the influence of the infinitely famous show about nothing, Seinfeld, the band managed to play off their nihilistic underpinnings and give us a show with no take-away morals but memorable moments throughout the performance.

The Kavorkas’ drummer Hayden Nurse stayed on for the night’s second set, ushering in West Ave, who tied off the night. It was their first show in a while, but after their set started off it was quite clear that they had been practicing. Although their namesake is a sleepy suburban street off of York St, the band opened up their unique blend of ridiculously fast-paced hard rock with so much overdrive-laden guitar solos and drum rolls it bordered on the genre’s noisier cousin. The anxious pace kept the Legion alive and succeeded in whipping up some mosh pits with enough intensity to split a lip or two and make crowd surfing seem like a good idea, despite there not being enough people to support it.

The show itself went off without a hitch, although the lights did come on a bit quick after the show, flushing the still celebratory crowd out of the bar. Although the crowd was divided between the tables at times, with some choosing the comfort of chairs over the whirling mosh pit and sometimes awkward free-form dancing, there was a unity that has been absent as of late. But as far as evenings go, on a whole this one was an exemplary instance of how exciting live music can be.

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