The stream of young, alternative faces lined up outside of the Concert Hall seemed endless. Tonight’s show had completely sold out the venue’s capacity of 1,200; julie, a shoegaze (or nu-gaze, some say) trio from Los Angeles, had been garnering attention since 2020 with the release of various singles and EPs, and had finally released their debut album my anti aircraft friend just a month before arriving in Toronto. Touring with Philadelphia acts Her New Knife (HNK) and They Are Gutting a Body of Water (TAGABOW), the Concert Hall was completely packed like I’d never seen before with an entirely young audience of edgy teens and twenty something year-olds. To illustrate, there was a young man in the line dressed in an ironic t-shirt that said “AUTISTIC VIRGIN.”

After getting out of line and onto the floor, I realized that everyone wanted to be at the front of the crowd just as badly as I did, so I had to wriggle my way through the sea of bodies to get a decent view of the stage. The people surrounding me were trying very hard to make witty and/or chaotic remarks, such as “I’m going to crowdkill a sixteen year-old” and “Is Panchiko Playing? No? What about Nirvana?” I put my earplugs in before the opener started playing just to drown out the guy beside me screaming “RADIOHEAD! YEAH!”  

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It was such a shame hearing that TAGABOW would not be opening this show, as they were half of the reason I bought my ticket in the first place. Their tour bus had broken down shortly before tonight’s show, so only julie and HNK were present. That being said, HNK filled their shoes as an opener, bringing to the table some noise-y, shoegaze-y music with some unique flair. Towards the middle of their performance, I found myself thinking that many of their songs sounded the same, as shoegaze sometimes can be. With the dreamy guitars and barely-enunciated vocals, the songs sometimes melted into each other, becoming complete mush. But I was brought out of this growing boredom by an unexpected emo scream from the vocalist, reminding me of early Black Veil Brides. It brought forth some intensity I felt that the show really needed, and it was something I found myself hoping to hear again. The frontman proceeded to say in a sleepy voice “discoballlll…” and a huge—you guessed it—disco ball started to spin and shine on the entire room. They went on to play an almost dancey tune with a fun drum beat which I thought was different and good. The crowd was fine with HNK, but their set was a bit short. In between acts, opera music played loudly over the speakers, which the crowd thought was quite funny. 

After a long intermission, the members of julie walked on stage, prepared with at least six guitars on standby. I had no idea what to expect going into julie’s performance. Seeing their Instagram filled with moody, nonchalant photographs, I was concerned that they would think themselves too cool to give a good show. The set started with the first song from the new album, “catalogue.” The highlight of this three-piece was the drumming of Dillon Lee - skillful, sporadic, and complex. Though the bass often cut through to create some standout moments, their guitar playing was drenched in effects that made it prone to falling into that dreaded same-y-ness. The vocals of julie were passed back and forth like a torch between bassist Alexandria Elizabeth and guitarist Keyan Pourzand. The flowy, feminine outfit on Elizabeth contrasted with the casual, grungey dress of Pourzand and Lee, and a long piece of red ribbon tied on the neck of her bass waved around the stage as she hammered through bass lines. Together, the three of them make up a very solid unit of a band - though all three seemed pretty young (I could not find their age online, but I’d assume early twenties), it was obvious that they were skilled and experienced musicians. 

My favourite songs of the evening were “feminine adornments,” from the new album, and “flutter,” a crowd pleaser. Julie created a loud and sweaty environment perfect for a large moshpit to form and for several people to crowdsurf. Midway through the show, a large bearded security guard got on stage and declared: “The next person that sails into the pit hits the bricks.” But obviously, this didn’t stop anyone who was devoted to surfing the wave. Someone even fell right on top of our photographer Olivia Dans while she was near the front barricade, which was “a bit painful, but we persevere,” she said. 

About an hour and 10 minutes into the set, all of the members of julie walked off of stage without a word, leaving a looping distortion to play over the speakers. Because of their nonchalant attitude, I was uncertain if this meant the end of the show. I was being crushed like a sardine by the thousand other members of the crowd, my legs hurt, and my arms were glued to my sides - I wanted to go home. But the fans that surrounded me knew that it was obviously a hype tactic to leave us shouting “one more song!” About five minutes later they returned to play “stuck in a car with angels,” another great song from the album that started gently and beautifully, before becoming distorted with Elizabeth repeating, “I want to follow you home.” Though I didn’t catch the name of the last song of the night, it finished dramatically. The drums were being pummeled as the guitarist and bassist produced some screaming distortion, before they ultimately dropped their instruments on the floor. The only words spoken by the band outside of song lyrics were “that was our last song, thank you very much.” 

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Though both julie and HNK were good bands with their own style, there was a hole in that set that I wanted to be filled with TAGABOW’s heavy guitar tone and unpredictability from song to song. Hopefully, they can return to Toronto at a later date. I also hope that julie knows how much Toronto appreciated having them here; by the end of the show, everyone seemed exhausted from the constant moshing, and every face I saw was drenched in sweat. And even though I complained about how the crowd was filled with these darned youngins, everyone was having the time of their lives. I even met a fellow U of T student who had been listening to julie since her first year in high school, and she was absolutely stoked to finally be able to see them live. The people here were true fans. As long as there are young adults who enjoy music in Toronto, julie will always be welcome in our city. Please come back soon.

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