For fans of: Metric, Blood Red Shoes
Arriving at the brand spanking new Brooklyn Mixer early on Thursday evening for our first gig of Sound City, we spied the band sound checking. It sounded noisy. Really noisy. A beautiful red-headed woman who could only be front-woman Jacquie O Neville sat placidly on one of the sofas sprawled near the stage. The place was otherwise abandoned.
Ten minutes later, the bar was packed out with camera-wielding, leather-clad artistic types quietly waiting for the Toronto rockers’ set to begin. And all of a sudden, it did. After the first 30 seconds of the opener, ‘Boys & Girls’, I needn’t have been concerned about recommending The Balconies to anyone and everyone that day – the band were staggering. Powerful, punky and energetic, the 4-piece produced a sound that filled the whole of Seel Street with rock and roll riffs, hooky basslines and above everything, a stunning half an hour of vocal velocity. For a petite lady, Jacquie sure can produce some sound. The sheer power behind her wails (oh, the mouth on that girl…) was as unfaltering as her performance as rhythm guitarist, and her skinny little legs did not stop popping as the band delivered an absolute belter of a show. The crowd couldn’t take their eyes off Jacquie (although I looked away long enough to notice that the guitarist was dressed remarkably like a young Patrick Stump a la Fall Out Boy).
The only fault in the set was that it was a mere 6 songs long – The Balconies have a sense of the wildly exhilarating about them, and the finishers (fan favourites ‘Kill Count’ and ‘Do it in the Dark’) were like a washing a packet of Pro-Plus down with a litre of Red Bull, with the potential to entertain audiences all night long.
Charming, talented, and revitalising, I can’t recommend The Balconies enough for any fans of loud guitars. I’ve already booked my flights to Canada to follow O Neville and the gang around for the rest of my life – Kick. Ass. Canadian. Rock.
