Marianas Trench brought The Force of Nature tour to Toronto’s most hardcore fans, performing a sold-out show at History. Entering the doors of the venue, I felt a sense of nostalgia and was joyed to feel the sense of having a full circle moment, as back in 2010, my sister brought me to see them perform at Massey Hall with opener Carly Rae Jepsen, and now, in 2024, I am here to photograph and review them.
Arriving on stage at 8:00 was opening act LØLØ. Born and raised in Toronto, LØLØ shared her excitement to be performing in her hometown and promised to make it a memorable performance. Opening with her songs “junkie”, “kill the girl”, and “death wish”, LØLØ shouted to those in attendance that she wanted this to be the loudest show so far on the tour. Being more interactive with the crowd, LØLØ and one of her team members started throwing cheerleading pom poms into the crowd, and asked them to chant “be aggressive, be be aggressive” to echo similar lyrics to her song “debbie downer”.
Speaking on some memorable times in her life so the crowd could get to know her better, LØLØ spoke about a time that she got her heart broken by an elder millennial emo and joked that there is something wrong with being broken up with by a guy who was wearing tighter pants than her. She then went into a run of tracks, “2 of us”, “u turn me on (but u give me depression)” and “faceplant”. LØLØ later asked the crowd about those in the audience who had seen The Wizard of Oz, which relates to the cover for her debut album, Falling For Robots and Wishing I Was One, and mentioned that she once fell for the tin-man, but it was much worse than you would think. Finishing up her set strong, LØLØ closed with a cover of Icona Pop & Charlie XCX’s song “I Love It”, before ending with “hot girls in hell”.
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After LØLØ had said her good-bye and a quick clean-up between sets, the lights dimmed, and the members of Marianas Trench made their way into position to kick off the Toronto show of The Force of Nature tour. Starting off strong with tracks “A Normal Life”, “Lightning and Thunder”, and “I’m Not Getting Better” from their new album Haven, Josh Ramsay (vocalist), Matt Webb (lead guitarist), Mike Ayley (bassist), and Ian Casselman (drummer) instantly made the stage their own right from the beginning of their set. Josh spoke with the audience about how excited they were to be back in Toronto and that they had been waiting some time to return. Josh talked about how, over the years, he has mainly been the lead singer of Marianas Trench, but said there is someone else who has the voice of an angel. He looked over at Mike and called him “Michael hot lips” before Mike began singing “All To Myself” from their album Masterpiece Theatre.
Throughout the night, one thing was for sure: Josh really knows how to belt and perform ad-libs live on stage. Never faltering or losing pitch, Josh sang every song perfectly. Talking to the crowd, Josh spoke about how, when they recorded “Worlds Collide,” they weren’t sure if they would ever perform it live, as the song itself was an ambitious idea. When they did the first half of the tour, they decided to wait and see where they could incorporate the song and eventually landed on the idea that the song would only be performed at Canadian stops. Starting on stage with the song “Pop 101”, Josh made his way down into the crowd and performed amongst the fans, staying in the crowd for track “Haven’t Had Enough”. I couldn’t help but laugh over the fact that I couldn’t see him in the crowd, but just randomly hearing him say “Beetlejuice” three times before returning back on stage was something unforgettable.
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After giving Mike the chance to sing earlier, calling Matt “sweet cheeks McGee”, Josh also gave him a moment to shine, allowing him to sing “Who Do You Love”. Speaking once more with the crowd, Josh mentioned how you don’t really know what is going to happen when you take an album on the road, and if the crowd is going to like it or not, but admired that Toronto has loved and supported everything they’ve put out since they first formed the band. He spoke about how the very first time they performed in Toronto was at The Cameron House in front of maybe 25 people, and now here they are performing for 2,500 people at History. Giving a shout out to those who had been there since the beginning, Marianas Trench performed a mashup of “Cross My Heart”, “Celebrity Status”, and “Shake Tramp”. Drawing to a close, Marianas Trench thanked everyone for coming out to support them, and closed with their songs “Stutter” and “Haven”.
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It was truly an honour to be able to write this article and have that full circle moment. From seeing them in the nosebleeds at Massey Hall in 2010, to being in the photo pit right in front of them in 2024, Marianas Trench have proved to themselves and everyone in attendance that over the years they just keep getting better and better. Make sure you catch them on their The Force of Nature tour, and be sure to stream their latest album Haven below.