Sueco Surfs The Night Away

For his first time in Montreal, Sueco took the stage at Le Studio TD for a roaring Tuesday night on The Attempted Lover Tour: The namesake of his most recent album.

William Schultz grew up playing the guitar and writing his own songs, before beginning his career producing beats, then inevitably, releasing his own music. Adopting the name Sueco, his career took off five years ago and the passion of his fans has not dwindled. As soon as the doors opened at 7 pm, the line of fans that had gathered on the block eagerly stormed to the stage, no barricade in sight (which did become an issue later on). 

It was my first time attending a show at Le Studio TD and I wasn’t expecting it to be such a small venue, especially given the closure of the balcony that night. Sueco was able to interact with fans, which made for a more intimate experience. Accompanied by his band, Jumbotron James on guitar, Christian, or Dr. Zombie on Drums and Jordy the Blond on Base. 

While most people I had met around me were friendly, by 8:30 pm the tension had risen within the crowd in anticipation for the start of the performance. People were feeling angsty, so much so that a fight broke out a couple of feet from me. Luckily, all was forgotten by 8:45 pm, when Sueco opened with “Bathroom Floor” and “Anastasia”, two songs from his newest album, followed by a throwback single, “Story Of My Life (feat. Trippie Redd)”. The crowd was going feral, pits were moshed, heads were banging so much that I can only imagine the pain they’d feel the next morning, and let me tell you; there was a lot of surfing. Sueco even brought out his CROWD SURF 9000, a board designated for surfing the crowd. Lifted by his fans, he moved through the room, all while performing his breakout single “Fast” which blew up on TikTok in 2019. 

Fans followed by example, and many surfed their way to the stage throughout the rest of the show. It was definitely the most energetic concert I’ve been to, with fans putting their all into every song that was performed. During Sueco’s interaction with the crowd, fans were often trolling, yelling unique profanities, but the artist took it with grace and played along. He was just happy that his “beautiful family was getting bigger every day.” Lost in a sea of white, red and black, there were fans of all ages — from middle-aged rockers, young adults, and a couple of parents with their gangs of kids. Two of them were Johnny and Sadie, who were attending their first-ever concert, with a front-row view. Their names were chanted in celebration, which made their night all the more memorable. 

During his last song, “Paralyzed”, Sueco separated the crowd and started his own mega-mosh pit, giving us rules to make it both as safe and as crazy as possible. At the end of the show, when everyone began chanting for an encore, some of the audience (which snowballed into the whole crowd) began asking for two songs. Sueco came back to the stage for an encore, “Mulholland Drive”, and finally closed the night with “Motel 666”.

Overall, I enjoyed the show and its contagious energy. The size of the venue contributed to that as it felt more like a small community, and fans were able to connect with the artist, especially in comparison to much larger venues. It was beautiful being an outsider of this hardcore fandom; enjoying the music, but being able to watch a crowd sing with their artist and feel their feelings.