Words: Miljan Milekić
The excitement for this show was massive. Tickets were sold out months in advance, and there would rarely be a day without someone popping up on social media, looking for a ticket. And for good reason. It’s not every day the legends of Canadian punk rock come to town, especially not accompanied by another band steadily marching toward the same status.
The opening set of the night belonged to Saskatoon’s own Untimely Demise, but unfortunately we were not able to catch their set. The thrash metal mob has a strong reputation for being great live, so I have no doubt they knew exactly what they were doing on stage.
By the time we arrived at Louis’, The Flatliners were kicking off their set with ‘Stolen Valour,’ the opening track from their most recent album ‘Cold World.’ The venue was already packed as they took the stage, so when the band dropped ‘Performative Hours,’ it was more than enough of a spark to ignite the crowd in front of them. Singer Chris Cresswell noted it has been nine years since they last played in Saskatoon, which, weirdly enough, lined up with the last time we saw them – in 2016 at Punk Rock Holiday. He joked that he can see people slowly recalling who they are, but no picking through mental memory boxes was needed once songs like ‘Eulogy,’ ‘Hang My Head,’ and ‘Resuscitation of the Year’ kicked in.
Touring with a fresh record can sometimes be a double-edged sword if the fans don’t get enough time to digest it, and while April wasn’t that soon, I was wondering how the new songs would be embraced by them. I didn’t have to wait long, as the band delivered ‘Good, You?’ early in the set, followed by a big singalong, with ‘Inner Peace’ drawing similar reactions. For the final stretch, The Flats saved enough firepower to go out with a bang, bringing in the trio of ‘Monumental,’ ‘Rat King,’ and ‘Count Your Bruises,’ before making way for the night’s headliners.
I feel like Propagandhi have always occupied a very strange space within the punk rock scene. Technically, they never cracked the mainstream or had a big hit, but they earned themselves a cult following in the underground, with words like “legends” and “icons“ often thrown around, none of them feeling like an exaggeration. And it didn’t take me long to understand why.
They started strong right off the bat, with songs like ‘Failed Imagineer’ and ‘The Only Good Fascist Is a Very Dead Fascist,’ before the first big singalong that came with ‘Dear Coach’s Corner,’ a song that confused the hell out of me before I moved overseas and got introduced to Ron McLean and Hockey Night in Canada. The band sounded tight and energetic, finding the sweet spot of being pretty much automatic but without turning on the autopilot.
Last year’s record ‘At Peace’ was met with amazing feedback, and the band leaned heavily on it for this show. Songs like ‘Cat Guy,’ ‘No Longer Young,’ ‘Prismatic Spray (The Tinder Date),’ and ‘Guiding Lights’ had taken their rightful place among old favourites like ‘A Speculative Fiction,’ ‘…And We Thought That Nation-States Were a Bad Idea,’ ‘Haillie Sellasse, Up Your Ass,’ or ‘Back to the Motor League,’ without ever feeling force-fed into the set. The final moments brought more heavy hitters, starting with the title track from the new record – ‘At Peace,’ followed by ‘Night Letters,’ before finishing with ‘Victory Lap.’
Propagandhi may live in a strange space when it comes to the punk rock scene, but it feels like they are perfectly comfortable in it. They are not a band for everyone, nor are they trying to be. A lot of their music asks for effort, and Chris Hannah’s lyrics often require knowledge, or at least an open mind for deep dives and a willingness to learn, to be fully understood. Too much? Maybe. But the prize at the end is too good to pass on.
