BADFLOWER AT THE AXIS CLUB THEATRE IN TORONTO
The newly owned and renovated Axis Club felt like home in its former Mod Club Theatre shell. A silly VIP couch section that used to sit on the right when entering the venue was finally gone, so a wider floor was more available for the 600+ person venue. The one and only band opening for American rock band Badflower on this leg of the tour was Canada’s own, Chastity. SBM has covered Chastity back in 2019 for his Halloween show which you can see here.
Upon arrival, it was a pretty weak turn out in terms of numbers. The crowd was definitely a mix of people. There were the dressed up emo fangirls who were gripping the stage since doors opened, then a lot of Gen X folks who, when I spoke to them, were fans of Shinedown, Ice Nine Kills, Avatar, and other hard rock acts of the 2000s.
Opening act Chastity is a solo artist with a touring band from Whitby, Ontario who released his third album, Suffer Summer, through Dine Alone Records this year. Last month, the band opened for Alexisonfire in Toronto, which was a great exposure to Canadian rock fans. On the newest record, he has a song titled “Vicious Circle” featuring Dallas Green of Alexisonfire (but as his solo acoustic pseudonym City & Colour).
The touring band arrived on stage with Badflower’s immense lighting system looming in the background. Jumping into their sadcore grunge/pop-punk sound, Chastity’s presence is certain, focused, and extremely heartfelt. He migrated to all sides of the stage for total engagement with the crowd. Many songs of the 10-ish song setlist were from his newest record which takes more inspiration from the early 2000s pop-punk than his earlier records, which felt more inspired by 90s bands like REM. In between songs he shyly made some comments, including that he also hadn’t been back to this venue since it was renovated and renamed. The wall that once hosted images of The Weeknd now had other worldly icons like Kurt Cobain where he said, “That’s intimidating!” Throughout their set, their lead guitarist was a ball of energy, leading the riffs and engaging the crowd. During one of the last songs the whole band had a instrumental moment where they all were all just rocking so hard, loving their sound while strobes flashed and hypnotized the crowd. Chastity is a great act to watch, and is comforting in its lyrics about things we usually feel alone about.
After Chastity’s set, the crowd was not that much bigger than half of the floor and maybe one couple on the mezzanine. A bit sad, but I was sure that they were going to be the type of fans to know all the words to their songs. Heck, even I knew most of the songs to be played. The immense lighting system consisted of boxes and X’s, and flashed red to start as the band walked on stage. They bursted into some of their songs from their latest album This Is How The World Ends like “Fukboi” and “Don’t Hate Me”. Then, in only their third song “Heroin”, lead singer Josh Katz announced that grandson was making a surprise appearance! grandson, just coming off a festival run, jolted on stage, jumped around, and sang “Heroin” like he was a fan who won a contest to sing with the band. After the song Josh said, “Yeah he texted me like an hour ago saying he was in Toronto and he wants to sing with us.”
The concert definitely showed the dynamic of the band where it is a bit like the Josh Katz show, but the bassist is also incredibly excitable, jumping like 2 feet in the air and engaging the crowd to get them active as well. Things did quiet down eventually to a spotlight piano medley of “Cry” and “Promise Me” which was nice to see the potential of their versatility. However, before that started, Josh’s pedal on the keyboard wasn’t working for a solid 10 minutes, and he was having a fun time joking about it in front of everyone.
Even more attention went to Josh when he went shirtless and a few phone cameras appeared in the crowd. He gave the mic to a fan in a wheelchair in the front. He bent down singing and played the banger of a song “Stalker”. He soon jumped off the stage, hopped on the beverage bar to sing, then hopped off again into the back of the crowd for a bit of engagement. When Josh finally got back to the stage, another surprise guest was greeted on stage, and it was Justin, the lead singer of Canadian rock band Brkn Love. He sang the last chorus of “Stalker”. They too are also on tour with Badflower, but did not play this night.
An encore, of course, was cheered on by the end of that explosive set and they came back to play the Pride positive song “We’re In Love” and “30”. Finally, after the whole set, a mosh pit appeared, only through encouragement of the band.
Badflower is definitely an ambitious and loud band, aiming to one day play those bigger venues they appear to want to achieve with all the lighting fixtures, tour buses, and running around the venue that they do. They definitely have the potential. Maybe their dream may come soon, as they are set to open for big acts such as My Chemical Romance and Awolnation this year. They genuinely are a solid modern rock group that can pull fans from many rock subgenres, and put on a very entertaining, easily sing-able show.