Tag: Hitch & Go

Gig Review: Pouzza Fest 8, Montreal [18-20 May 2018]

Joelle gives us her Top 10 moments from Montreal’s famous punk festival, featuring A Wilhelm Scream, After The Fall, This Is A Standoff and a lot of love.

Article by Joelle Laes.

Travelling from Belgium to Montreal was an adventure in itself; a journey for the love of punk. You can read my Road To Pouzza article to hear more, as it gives the perfect intro to this.

If you’ve never heard of Pouzza Fest, then where have you been? It uses the same formula as The Fest and Manchester Punk Festival. Multiple venues participate and there’s pretty much five bands playing at the same time throughout the day; you have to run around town to catch your favourites. Sensible shoes are a must. This makes choosing difficult, though they do try to not have bands in the same sub-genre clash.

Pouzzalineup.jpg

It is impossible to describe the whole weekend (especially in the midst of the inevitable post-festival mood crash), so here are my Top 10 moments of the festival, recorded in chronological order. I have selected these based on how the music made me feel, because sometimes that’s more important than an impressive performance.

Friday

Hate It Too

Getting back from our Toronto trip later than expected, we rushed to shower to get rid of bus smell and get down to registration, for our wristbands and get to Foufounes in time for Quebec’s Hate It Too. Filled with anxiety we rushed into the venue. With the first notes that warm feeling of happiness came flooding back. By now I’ve only seen this skate-punk band live twice, and twice I’ve been mesmerized by the bass. It’s not just me. Those warm bass tones might have something to do with it, and their phenomenal songwriting skills too, I suppose.

I have been in love with their album Purple Mountains since it came out in 2015. Having recently released a new song Cyanide Teeth, they had me stoked to hear it live. They definitely did not disappoint; I have nothing but love for this band.

Kali Masi

It’s my second time seeing this pop-punk ensemble from Chicago in two days! I said I’d give them a second chance, didn’t I? While they got somewhat lost in the lineup at the gig in Toronto, playing at Foufounes with a super-stoked crowd made them shine. For me they were a nice chilled break from all the fast bands and had me nodding along in no time. Despite being referred to as a ‘skate-punk aficionado’, I do quite enjoy some slower punk-rock as well. Continue reading “Gig Review: Pouzza Fest 8, Montreal [18-20 May 2018]”