P for Plants & Animals at M for Montreal
Monday, November 26th, 2012
M for Montreal is a cool little music festival that takes over several MTL venues a few weeks after POP Montreal rolls through town. This year’s M for Montreal featured a very noteworthy lineup of visiting artists from the world over, including Delhi 2 Dublin, Eight and a Half, PS I Love You, and Of Monsters and Men alongside some who call MTL home like Cadence Weapon, Kandle, Kid Koala, and the duo of Leif Vollebekk and Plants & Animals, who shared a bill at the Corona Theatre on Nov. 16, 2012. Candice Dugas & Mel Cheung were on the ground to take it in for CM…
It’s always exciting to see MTL bands play hometown shows. This particular show was part of the M for Montreal festival, one of the many non-stop music festivals that happens annually in the city.
Leif Vollebekk opened the show and was accompanied by Hans Bernhard on the stand up bass. He gave a powerful, emotionally driven performance through a set consisting of mainly new material and some covers. While his music was beautifully delivered, we would have loved to hear a few more of his older songs.
The Plants and Animals performance was, simply put, incredible. The set started with one of the band members up in the balcony playing the autoharp and the momentum kept building from there. We could tell that the band was happy to be playing in their hometown – a special place to them indeed as they’ve recorded all three of their albums (Parc Avenue, La La Land, The End of That) in Montreal over the past 10 years that they have been playing together.
There was definitely a buzz in the air, and we were swept into the energy of the crowd.
Both of us were beaming while dancing to the indie-rock beats. Perhaps the tequila shots or the fact that we were dancing in a sea of plaid-wearing men added to our euphoric state.
In any case, it was an unforgettable night.