Concert Review: I forgot my ID, so here’s a 100 per cent sober recollection of The Zolas show
Arief MuhayastyahThe Zolas
with Louise Burns
Saturday, March 25
The Starlite Room
From playing a candid and playful set, to giving Tres Carnales a shout out, to saying “Alberta is the hope of Canada,” The Zolas really knew to make Edmonton love them.
Speaking of shout outs, halfway through The Zolas’ Saturday night set at the Starlite Room, frontman Zach Gray recounted when the band played below Starlite, in Brixx, while Shout Out Out Out Out played upstairs. As Gray put it, Edmonton wasn’t fond of their “unknown bullshit in the basement.” It’s only been a couple years since that show, but The Zolas have literally moved up, going from playing to only a handful of people (and a bachelorette party) in the basement, to filling Starlite with one of the liveliest crowds I’ve ever seen at the venue.
Following a foray into singer-songwriter Louise Burns’ ’80s pop and dark synth vibes, The Zolas hit the stage to the sounds of so much high-pitched pre-teen screaming I thought I’d be deaf before the band played a single note. Don’t you just love all-ages shows? Luckily, I held on for what ended up being an entertaining night.
Their set began with the repetitive piano melody of “In Heaven,” which lead into an impressive guitar solo. “Molotov Girls” came soon after, highlighting the fact that much of the band’s success is owed to their infectious, sing-in-the-shower-like-a-dumbass choruses. It’s one of those songs you hear on the radio on the way to class and is still stuck in your head as you’re crying yourself to sleep after bombing a midterm.
Next was a mix of tracks from The Zolas’ newest album, Swooner, and their oldest, but best, Tic Toc Tic. The latter featured “a pretty old song (they) thought (they’d) never play again, but is always requested,” said Gray, noting that it’s because the song has “the worst two lines (he’s) ever written.” The song referenced is “Cultured Man,” and I can agree with Gray: the aforementioned lines are trash (“Never gonna guess, gonna guess, gonna guess/never gonna guess, who I brought, as a guest”). That chorus is still catchy as hell though.
Unfortunately, not every song could win me over, as I wasn’t overly wowed with a new track titled “Ultramarine.” It’s cool when a band plays a brand new song, but the most memorable part of it was when Gray told a room of Millennial Snapchat-zombies that the song is about the “creeping urge of wanting to throw your phone away!”
The last half of the set yielded more solid hits like “You’re Too Cool” and “Strange Girl.” This was also when the entire band was the most active, much to the admiration of the crowd. Most of this was due to the most animated bassist I think I’ve ever seen, and The Zolas having great chemistry that added to the fun of seeing them live. Plus, their keyboardist Tom Dobrzanski was entertaining as a Reed Larsen doppelganger (well, to be fair, his “Queen of Relax” solo was also entertaining).
The set closed out with pop laden “Swooner,” but not before an obnoxiously intoxicated girl penetrated the impenetrable fortress that is Starlite Room security and jumped up on stage to screw around for a solid two minutes. This happened not once, but twice. How charming.
Luckily, Zach Gray was nice enough to tell me over Twitter DM to get up high for the last song of the encore, saying he was “going into the crowd.” I thought that meant he was going to jump in and injure a number of all-ages showgoers, but instead he took the mic and an adorably tiny keyboard to the middle of the crowd to perform the last song, “Escape Artist.” Gray set up a pretty scene by asking all of the filthy, sweaty Millennials to bask him in their phone flashlights, as they sang along. It made for a really nice picture.
At the end of the all-ages night, The Zolas managed to interact with the crowd, play their Vancouver hearts out for their adoring Edmontonian fans, and put a lot of care into crafting an intimate and memorable experience.
