Photos and Articles By: Adrienne Row – Smith
Ottawa, Ont – Canadian rockers Like Pacific delivered a hardcore evening for their fans in our capital city tonight. Featuring a show with fellow popular local bands, the show was destined to be an awesome time for those in attendance.
Up first was four piece Fragile Figures. Most of their songs have recently been released on bandcamp, but they also threw in fun covers, such as The Killers “Mr. Brightside.” The band was quite dynamic; their stage presence was at times super active on stage, but at other times a more mellow, low-key vibe. This worked well in keeping the crowd engaged to see what would happen next. The band played popular tunes such as, “Ocean” and “Sleepwalkers,” and were able to stay on time even with a microphone stand not obeying the rules of the game. Lead singer Jessica Bianconi was still able to keep it together, while playing guitar and singing as she worked to fix the mic issues, an impressive feat. Drummer Jamison Tomka was able to sneak in (and kill!) a solo on their last song, and guitarist Tiago Underwood was an eye catcher throughout every song. Appropriately so for an up and coming band, they are super charismatic and unafraid of making mistakes, which only adds to their charm.
Next up was more of a moody, mellow band, known as Swim Team. Their set was unfortunately plagued with technical issues for vocalist/guitarist Cameron, but the band did a great job in overcoming and incorporating it into the stage aesthetic; they worked through these sound problems to provide an exciting show. Swim Team included a cover of LCD’s “All My Friends,” as well as playing their only released track to date, “A Track Meet on Main Street.” Despite those little tech issues – the band was able to draw quite a large crowd and was very intriguing to watch. Be sure to keep up with them in their future endeavors.
Direct opener for Like Pacific was five piece Ottawa pop punk band Bearings. It was their last show of 2016, and they announced at the show that they had been in the studio recording new songs. They had a huge crowd drawn in, with lots of folks dancing and moshing trying to get to the front, and even had a lone stage diver who continually went up to dive onto his friends. They played several tracks of their EP Home is… that had the fans singing along. All the band members were holding the crowd’s attention with jumps, kicks, and some serious fan interaction. If you’re a huge fan of pop-punk, definitely check these guys out!
Finally, it was time for the main event: The boys in Like Pacific took the stage and dominated their set. They played tracks spanning all of their releases, from their record label debut Distant, to their self titled, two independent EP’s. Songs included “Suffer,” “Worthless Case,” “Richmond,” and “22A.” They also took some time to joke with the crowd in between songs. Vocalist Jordan Black fulfilled the frontman position well, with occasional stage banter dabbing in between his vocal breaks. Bassist Chris Thaung kept things fired up with heavy movement around the stage and also as backup singer, where he really sang his heart out. Guitarists Luke Holmes and Greg Hall seemed the yin and yang of the band, with different but equally engaging personalities, which made for an interesting dynamic on stage. The band closed out the set with their popular track “Distant.” The evening was a perfect showcase for Canadian artists, and proved they are certainly a force to be reckoned with. It seemed as though the crowd couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend their night.