F---ed Up Teach 'Yo Gabba Gabba' Dance Moves to Pop Montreal Crowd

Posted on Sep 23rd 2011 5:45PM by Melody Lau
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Jay West, Getty Images

The second night (Sept. 22) of POP Montreal proved to be the night of Polaris Prize winners as Toronto hardcore punk rockers and 2009 victors F---ed Up headlined an eclectic bill in an even more eclectic venue (the band's performance came on the heels of a set by this year's Polaris champs Arcade Fire in another part of the city).

Whereas in previous years, the festival held its special shows at a spacious, unconventional loft, organizers changed it up this year -- mainly due to booking conflicts with their go-to space -- and brought music fans to a church basement.

Though not similar in genre, Toronto duo Tasseomancy (you may also know them as Austra's back-up singers/dancers) and their brand of eerie blues-folk fit the venue quite well.

Playing songs off their latest release 'Ulalume,' the duo composed of Sari and Romy Lightman have grown immensely since their days as the Ghost Bees. Drawing from the same inspiration as Timber Timbre, the twins were joined by a keyboardist and drummer. The live band translated each song fully to create a heavy atmosphere as haunting live as it is on their record.

No Joy opened up the show, playing an impressive set of fuzzed-out garage rock. The larger space allowed the band's sound to echo, adding to the band's aesthetic which drowns the audience in a sea of distortion and unintelligible vocals.

By the time F---ed Up came on at 1:30AM, the crowd was riled up and ready to go. Having been somewhat reserved until then (folks actually sat on the floor during Tasseomancy's set), fans had a lot of built-up energy to unleash on one another. And that is exactly what happened the second the band began to play and frontman Damian Abraham started swinging his mic around, winding up the crowd.

In typical fashion, Abraham quickly traded his confined perch onstage for a walking tour of the venue, waltzing off-stage mid-song and running over to the merch table. As he continued to sing on top of the table, he growled and posed for a picture with a fan before jumping off and subsequently slipping on the floor. Thankfully, as violent as F---ed Up fans can get, they were also nice enough to help the singer back up.

That's not where the unexpected turns ended either. "I just came from dancing onstage with Yo Gabba Gabba," Abraham bragged to the audience. He went on to instruct everyone on how to execute the dance moves (watching a bunch of punk fans learn a children's dance was definitely worth the price of admission).

Elsewhere, Montreal's Grimes also performed. She didn't have to verbally instruct attendees to dance, though, her electro dance tunes did all the talking.

Maybe it was the hometown atmosphere but Claire Boucher's one-woman act evoked a sense of confidence rarely seen from the musician. Having admitted that she suffers from serious stage fright, Boucher somehow kept her nervousness under wraps as she layered samples, keyboards and vocal loops together. The singer even busted out some moves herself -- which were weird and beautiful, just like her music.

Watch F---ed Up's Video for 'Crooked Head'

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