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Stories by Kalina Laframboise, Sam Obrand and Milos Kovacevic

Produced by John Toohey.

LIVE Report: Lights, Nostalgia, Action!

Panic! At The Disco dazzles fans with lights, loud and love at Metropolis

By Saturn De Los Angeles

When I learned that Panic! at the Disco would be performing in Montreal, I experienced a jolt of anticipation. My fond memories of Panic! was framed through their music video, "I Write Sins Not Tragedies". Everyone was delicately adorned in two-tone coloured formal outfits with shiny long hair, and intricate eyeliner. Seeing Panic! live was a no-brainer until I underestimated the line-up outside Metropolis.

It was long, stretching approximately four street blocks to the nearby Saint-Laurent metro station in the blistering negative-ten-degree Celsius cold wind. Teenage girls, young adults, and parents kept each other company, hollering at any given moment as they marched inside.

As the lights in the venue dimmed by 8:00 PM, our ears were delighted to some hear musical treats to kick off the night. With music provided by the X Ambassadors from New York, and The Colourist from California, each having a half-hour set, the pair got everyone swooning. Melodic, ambient, beautiful.

But that was incomparable to what Panic! had in store.

It was only by a quarter before 10:00 when we were wowed with blinding but colourful lights. So much light that "Vegas Lights" seemed fitting as an appetizer to satisfy a very musically-hungry crowd. Upon observation, you can sense that the l'amour was mutual between the fans and band as they both took turns singing every verse to the song. But it was evident that the fans wanted more, and the crowd got what they wished for.

The magic unfolds when Brendon Urie's voice suddenly peaks from punk rock to an operatic high-pitched voice many times in songs such as "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and "Let's Kill Tonight". It can make anyone's spine shiver upon hearing it. Falling down on your knees is an understatement.

Each song in Panic!'s set list (20 tracks in total) scaffolds on one another musically in building a cohesive and euphoric live music experience. Just like a full course meal, more recent songs are heard in the first half. But if you want to go back in time, you should stick around towards the end for the desert to hear classics such as "Nine in the Afternoon".

Rocking out rock melodies, with a healthy dose of guitar riffs, hypnotizing drums, power vocals and a loud and lovely crowd. Panic! was a nostalgia trip come true for myself, and a moment of euphoria experienced by the fans.

--Saturn De Los Angeles is part of the CJLO News team and hosts Shibuya Crossing every Friday at 9:00 AM

Hosted by Danny Aubry.

Stories by Kalina Laframboise, Sam Obrand & Milos Kovacevic.

Produced by Marilla Steuter-Martin.

As you may have guessed, I like metal, and like everyone else that likes metal, nothing makes me happier and more satisfied than categorizing and naming new genres of metal. For those of you that might not know this, all metal heads love to put bands into categories and usually end whatever new category they create with the words "-core". Examples include "metalcore", "deathcore", and of course, the classic, "hardcore". But did you know that are countless other "-cores" that people have named? The 8-bit sounds of Horse the Band have been dubbed "Nintendocore". Did you think that the Dillinger Escape Plan just made dissonant metal? Well, you would be wrong not to call it "mathcore".

Thanks to the tireless efforts of some metal fans, we now don't even need to have titles to describe the music. Behold "crabcore", where you just kind of do a weird little dance while playing the same thing as other bands. Perhaps you want people to know where you stand religiously. Well, you could label yourself under the "christcore" moniker and tell everyone, "I care so much about what I sound like that my genre doesn't do anything to talk about it."

Now I know this is all great stuff, but frankly, I think we've been slacking recently. Think of all the bands that currently just have the label of "metal". To help inspire people, I've come up with some new names that I think we can all start using and kick-start our creative naming juices!

Drunkcore—Now I know you may be thinking, "But Andrew, doesn't this already exist?" No my friend, you're thinking of the sweet sounds of brokeNCYDE and the genre of crunkcore, featuring the screamo you love with lots of electronics behind it. No, I'm referring to metal that is expressly made for you to get drunk to. Some bands that I think would do well in this category are Texas Hippie Coalition, Dirtfedd, and of course Hellyeah, that band of outlaw drinkers who have a song called "Drink Drank Drunk". Represent boys, and fly the drunkcore flag high.

Petcore—Of course this would be bands that partially consist of people's pets. There aren't many of these bands, but really I think they need to have a name attached to them. How else would I know that Hatebeak or Caninus consist of a parrot and a dog doing vocals? I guess I'm just supposed to intuit that Pug Destroyer is pug screams over grindcore music without a label? Honestly, what kind a world is this?

Stonercore—Stoner bands are pretty prevalent today, but shouldn't we be mixing more hardcore into it? Realistically, these bands probably already exist, and some might call bands like Maylene and the Sons of Disaster or High on Fire stonercore, but I think that we need the label applied so we can clearly split these bands into another totally useful subsection.

Crimincore—Due to the recent rise in metal people being arrested for various crimes, I think this is really a no-brainer. Of course, I understand there are various levels of crimincore that we must distinguish. For example, Nachmystium, who's lead singer was arrested for misdemeanor theft, can be classified under "petty crimincore", where as As I Lay Dying and Austrian Death Machine, who both feature Tim Lambesis, who tried to hire a hitman to kill his wife, can be put under the label of "feloncore". Then of course there's Lost Prophet's lead singer Ian Watkins who, in case you missed it, was recently sent to jail for raping a baby, and I'm not really sure what level to put that at. Perhaps an entirely new subgenre must be made for him to the effect of "Oh-my-fucking-christ-that-is-so-vile-core". Needs work, but I think you get the gist.

Of course, I realize there needs to be a category for people who have done their time and or had charges not stick, so don't worry all you Randy Blythe fans, Lamb of God is now "acquitcore".

These are just a few ideas that I came up with, but clearly there are still many bands that need to be broken down and categorized, so we, as a community need to get on this. If not, I fear we may have to simply enjoy metal and not have to break it down into categories that we automatically love or hate based on name alone without actually hearing anything from any bands within that genre. I shudder to think what kind of a world we would live in then. The horror... core.