Sunday nights started rocking at Average Joes since they started bringing in big name bands.
So I wasn’t that surprised to see the Poor Young Things, Northcote and Glorious Sons show was sold out, even on a Sunday, Oct. 18.
I missed the Poor Young Things but heard good things about their set.
Northcote impressed me and then some, backed by a full band.
I’m more used to seeing frontman Matt Goud playing a solo acoustic sets at the Slice and Owl Acoustic Lounge, but was pleasantly surprised to see an impressive and loud set at Average Joes with the band.
He focused on music from his latest CD “Hope is Made of Steel,” which he recorded with Dave Genn who has worked with 54 40 and the Matthew Good band. That rock and roll influence showed in the new material. Goud bowed politely to the appreciative audience after each song, shouting “It’s great to see so many familiar faces out there.”
His songs had impressively catchy hooks who stood out among excruciatingly loud volume.
His band ( Stephen McGillivray guitar; Mike Battle, bass and drummer Derek Heathfield comes from all over Western Canada, congregating in Victoria and sounded like they had been playing together for years. Goud sang about small towns and love and all kinds of things.
Some of the highlights were the catchy riff of “Small Town Dreams” “Bracelet” and the uplifting “ Stronger Than You Know” and the hair raisingly beautiful “You Could Never Let Me Down” which had a lot of people sing along to the addictive descending lyrical melody.
He reminded me a of a mix of Bruce Springsteen and Matt Mays.
The Glorious Sons kicked off a disjointed set with a couple of their more rocking numbers, beginning with their new number one hit and tour namesake “the Contender,“ and crashed into “The Union” right after that, which had the crowd singing along.
I was glad I brought earplugs for this show, but it still ended up leaving with my ears ringing.
They then alternated big, anthemic rockers with slower more ballady numbers including a couple of brand new songs punctuated by frenetic frontman Brett Emmons shouting “How are you doing now, Lethbridge,” as he jumped all over the stage. Guitarists Jay Emmons and Andrew Young jumped onto the shuddering speakers for their solos while dodging their frontman, leaping all over the stage.
Bassist Chris Huot and drummer Adam Paquette thundered away in the background almost overwhelming the rest of the band with their raw power.
Brett Emmons had the audience shout along the lyrics to their better known hits like “Mama.”
He took on an acoustic guitar to really slow things down a lot.
A haunting new song “The Devil’s all You Got,” was an immediate hit with the crowd.
They ended their loud, sweaty set with another singalong on “ White Noise,” but I couldn’t stick around for the encore.
