This is the first time Blast Toronto has been part of this Festival, and I can’t wait to share my experience with you. I decided to take it easy and just focus on Lee’s Palace. There were 5 acts on the bill, and each one brought a level of originality that I haven’t seen in a while. So, without further ado, let’s see what happened.

Emma Goldman

When I walked into Lee’s Palace, Emma Goldman just got on, and the intensity of this band was ringing hard all the way through the front doors. This band was expressing anger in its own unique way. This wasn’t your typical anger from a punk band; this felt like true anger yelling for a real purpose.

As it turned out, I spoke with Victoria, who fronts the band from Vancouver. She explained that Emma Goldman was a real person. Emma was an anarchist activist from the early 20^th century. She died in Toronto but was originally from Russia. The woman lived in America for a while but was deported because the States deemed her the most dangerous woman in America. She spoke against people who were signing up to go to war. Emma spoke of workers’ rights as well as women’s rights. She eventually became a journalist for an anarchist newspaper and finally began speaking out publicly.

I am glad that I asked that question, because that is what this music was about. It was anarchic punk with a message and a mission.

This band screams bloody murder out loud and almost seems to derive pleasure from this pain. They spoke of shaming today’s politicians, which seems to be easy to do right now.

Their sound is so powerful; it feels both ritualistic as well as throwing you into a torture chamber. It really reminded me of the kind of music they would play for the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Thank you, band number 1 for playing at Lee’s Palace. I hope I can hold onto myself for 4 more bands. I was a little exhausted with their force.

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Starly Kind

They started with an original opening with some spacey sounds mixed with native energy and poetry that quickly turned into a screeching match. It was like watching the singer being kicked to the ground and not being let up. The next song, she was the one who was kicking back. This band lives off of disharmony and creates chaos with a sense of pride while they live in their disillusioned world.

I did find it funny to watch the singer picking up a tambourine and tapping it while this wall of torment was going on. You couldn’t hear it, so I figure this was her personal forms of therapy just get out her energy in a different way.

Thank you, band #2 for continuing the lacerations to my head.

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Dead Tooth

From the moment they walk on stage they were throwing out some great high energy with their straightforward hard rock. This band came all the way from New York to entertain us Canucks. They felt like a smash and grab gang that doesn’t really care what they steal. They just get a kick out of the act itself. Then, came a fun blast from the past. The band switched attitude as they invited a dancer named Nola on stage. She looked like one of the aerobic workout personalities I use to watch on the 20-minute workout. She was out there doing hard-core cardio and then the guitar player joined in the fun. The band just ramped up their performance and had the audience sweating it out to the oldies.

Then they invited their friend Max to the stage to max out on us. It truly is fun watching friends playing with friends.

After we maxed out, the dance floor became the new show. A spotlight that was attached to the head of the singer was pointing to the dance floor to reveal Nola again. She was curled up like a ball and slowly began to emerge into an interpretive dance. As she unfolded herself, it was not really creepy, but it definitely felt unsettling. Her primal moves seemed to be fighting against the light that was controlling her situation. She eventually fought back and smothered that light force. It was very cool to watch, and you can watch it on YouTube at- Dead Tooth- Blind at Lee’s Palace with Nora on September 25, 2026

Thank you Band #3 for bringing your theatrics to our city.

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ShiShi

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PISS

Finally was PISS and I will honestly say: I was not prepared for this band. They hail from Vancouver and they bring a style of music that has a sense of too much reality. They started off with a very destructive sound and quietly said Hello everybody. That was the easy part. They do open up with a trigger warning for the audience to understand, this may not be right for you. We were warned about explicit sexual and violent content. If you decide to stay, the band starts their noise experiment come crushing down on your skull like a series of jackhammers with pure adrenaline and dark spoken words.

When you hear “I want to feel safe in my body as absolute violence is attacking your senses, you instantly have a fight or flight moment.

Taylor’s moves are part of this misshapen mind poetry. It can be beautiful and horrendously disturbing within seconds. Her stage presence comes off so real that it is like watching the assault and the aftermath of what she is screaming about. This was like watching a real-life horror movie with no screen to protect you. The performance is so raw, it may hit home too closely for some people to take.

Speaking of people, I was watching the audience as well. It was eerie to see such frozen faces amongst everybody watching. Their ice-cold stares told me everything. E.G., they were here to try and understand, but felt helpless as they were trying to wrap their heads around what was happening in that moment. They cheered at the end; I think to relieve them from the fact that this was just a performance. This is how I ended my Friday night with an experience that I will carry with me for a very long time.

Thank you Band #5 for shaking up my world!

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