On a chilly Friday night, a sizable crowd descended upon Calgary’s Grey Eagle Casino Event Centre. Two names on the bill: The Matchstick Skeletons and the Headstones – the former, a new project with some familiar faces, and the latter something of a Canadian rock institution, celebrating a milestone in their now decades-long career. Longtime fans may spot the oxymoron; after all, the Headstones were once known for their alt-punk “Live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking corpse” philosophy. The venue itself furthers this contrast, as fans often (and fondly) relate to having seen this band in small, dimly-lit basement venues sprinkled throughout the country, so to see the same band now fill a room as big as the Event Centre to near capacity is a bittersweet moment.
The moment is short lived though, once the Matchstick Skeletons take the stage. Riding a wave of tremolo pedal and fronted by Calgary-native Neu Mannas, the band strikes a compelling balance of haunting and heavy. Mannas’ side work in scores and soundtracks added an ambiance that made this opener a feast for the ears. Stir in a tasty mix of covers ranging from Nancy Sinatra to Prince, and you have an opening set you can really sink your teeth into. And, as a little icing on the cake for the hometown crowd, listeners familiar with Mannas and drummer Matty Carolei were treated to some previous work from their “Head of the Herd” days. All in all, the crowd has a good music buzz on going into the changeover..
Enter, the Headstones. The lights come up. The crowd crushes forward. With a flourish, frontman Hugh Dillon sends his first (of many) red Solo cups sailing into the throng gathered below. A couple songs in, he casually steps off the stage, corded mic and trademark steering wheel mic stand in hand, and proceeds to weave a long and tangled line through the thick crowd around him. Security’s doing double-duty keeping the path clear and holding the mile-long mic cable safely above the crowd, like telephone poles dressed in black and yellow shirts. Textbook Headstones show up to this point, and it never gets old.
Now, one might expect from a 25th anniversary tour that the setlist would be the tour’s title album from top to bottom, and that the band would stick to the formula and give the audience what they want. Of course, anyone who’s ever been to a Headstones show should expect some detours along the way.
Following his stroll, Dillon presented an ultimatum: did we want the stories behind the album we all came to hear and celebrate, or did we want to spend the night watching the show through our phone screens? To paraphrase his plight: “How about we put the phones away? We don’t want young ears on the Internet hearing these stories. But, for those young ones in the room, this is a cautionary tale. I’m here because music pulled me out of some bad situations, but a lot of friends didn’t make it. That’s what this tour and this album is about: telling the story of how the band made it out alive, and remembering those who weren’t so lucky. Are you with me, Calgary?” Almost without a word, everyone holstered their phones and leaned in close for storytime with Uncle Hugh.
Dillon’s usual in-your-face stage persona took a backseat for a moment as he told the room how the band sees “Picture of Health” as the DNA of the Headstones. It tells the stories of the struggles of having creative ambitions in Dillon’s native city of Kingston – a city known largely for its prisons and heavy industry – and the trappings that coping with such an unfulfilling existence brings. He summed up those early years simply enough: “All we gave a fuck about was rock and roll and not going to jail”.
Simple enough, but honest… relatable, even, to many in the crowd.
And so the pattern continued: flung Solo cups, rock music, and storytime. The lyrics lay out the broad strokes: addiction, coping, defiance, resolve. The story themes run the gamut: loyalty, misdeeds, family, hardships… each snippet colouring between what’s written in the liner notes.
The final irony of the show was this: although it was the largest room I’ve ever seen the Headstones play, it was also the most intimate show I’ve ever seen from them. Yet another life lesson from the band: intimacy has many forms.
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