There are pits, and there are Pits. And then, there are shows where all is a pit, an ensemble of dancing, grooving and flowing with the crowd. ‘Cuz when Streetlight Manifesto played in Montreal a few weeks back, they flooded the entire venue in a sea of excitement.
At the corner of reggae and punk, Streetlight Manifesto is a shining symbol of what ska music means. They are often labelled under various genres according to different sources, a simple proof of how diverse and rich their appeal is. They rock, they punk, they jazz and they funk. And on October 18th, they blew the funk out of many minds at Metropolis.
The crowd was already one when they began with ‘We will fall together’. People were swaying and shaking, and one could soon watch it crash. The horns kept getting more intense, and we were all dancing toe to toe. They were tight, and often moved seamlessly from song to song. We had a moment of silence, we had a moment of violence, and it all felt like the big sleep. They acted like they left, but came back and played even harder. Everything went numb.
I have been to some heavy shows in the past, but I must tell that this clearly outdid all of them in the mosh pit. Not for a moment were we at rest, and bodies surfed on top of the sea of ska (and sweat, I confess) endlessly. A year back, Streetlight announced during their Montreal show that they wouldn’t be touring anymore, but lo and behold! They were back, they were smack and in the crowd, they brought out the revolutionaries in all of us. Here’s to life!
– Review by Bimochan Niraula
