Comeback Kid in Halifax

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Comeback Kid in Halifax

Comeback Kid’s coast-to-coast Canadian trek kicked off in Halifax on Wednesday at the Seahorse Tavern. With the lead-off show selling out just before doors, those who came out were treated to a fast-paced night of intense sets from all four bands who took the stage.

Thousand Knives

Local openers Thousand Knives encouraged physicality early from the crowd who showed up to make sure their own had good energy to work with to give their best. The quintet took the temperature on some new unrecorded material, had multiple vocalists from the area grab the mic to spit some guest verses and made the most of their opening slot, flexing their prowess best during the track Daggers.

Prowl

Montreal’s Prowl followed, turning up the heat in the venue with the only relief coming from the wind created by the circle pit. Led by their raging bull frontman Maxime Vallières who barked every lyric with an abrasive aura that punished the audience’s ear canals. His bandmates hit every note in their aggressive catalog with a 10-pound maul, especially during the track Left Alone, where drummer Pierre-Antoine Lepage indented his floor toms into the stage, and Altercation, when Michael Bowers, vocalist of local metalcore act Pale Ache, lent his dark, putrid growls to a guest verse.

Spy

Bay-Area punks Spy, who took a four-day, 6000 kilometer journey from California to make the tour’s opening night, were relentless in their time on stage. They overwhelmed those in attendance with break-neck, old-school punk energy, only taking a brief breather to sing happy birthday to their bassist Cody Kryst and to invite more crowd surfers on stage to add to their chaos.

Comeback Kid

Comeback Kid then took the stage to finish the night, with frontman Andrew Neufeld saluting the 902, donning a t-shirt from Halifax favourites Botfly, who opened for them the last time they were in town. It took no time for the band to fully connect and receive full participation, opening with heavy hitters False Idols Fall and Heavy Steps.

The Winnipeg natives then dove quickly back into their older discography with Do Yourself a Favour, which got the masses jumping in unison, shaking the Seahorse’s foundation.

Neufield then got the pit spinning at top speed as the group ripped into Talk Is Cheap before those in attendance proved they did their homework, belting multiple sections of their latest single Trouble In The Winner’s Circle.

The band effortlessly transitioned to another powerful anthem in Somewhere Somehow before bringing the crowd in close for the fan-favourite G.M. Vincent & I, a moment where the view of the stage was drowned in pumping fists and crowd surfers barely missing light fixtures and almost running on the ceiling. Neufield gave the crowd’s vocal chords a rest as they went into the song Absolute, instructing them to move instead of sing, all while giving a two-step dance lesson on stage, which lasted until the end of the following number Dead On The Fence.

The energy in the room hit its climax as the band ripped into Wasted Arrows and then Should Know Better, two of their heaviest cuts off their 2014 LP Die Knowing, with the mosh pit tripling in size and an army of voices shouting lyrics in unison. The Seahorse choir would not fizzle as the group closed with Wake The Dead, as all in attendance put every fiber of their vocal cords into each refrain of “This time was gonna be different.” Based on the gratitude the band showed walking off stage, it was.

Photos by Thomas Murray

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