By Kieron Yates
Tens of thousands of music lovers came to party hard in the beautiful and scenic rural town of Montebello, Quebec the weekend of June 20-21. Once again, Amnesia Rockfest boasted an incredible array of artists and many of them were spectacular.
When it was announced that Quebec deathcore band Despised Icon were reuniting to play a few select festivals this summer, to many the writing was on the wall that they would be playing in Montebello, and it was shortly thereafter made official. Their set couldn’t have been any better than it was. Rockfest always seems to find ways to lure a few bands a year out of retirement. With The Sainte-Catherines, The Asexuals and Reset (which features members of Simple Plan) all making comebacks, the air was rife with hopes that feuds may be set aside and Henry Rollins might join Black Flag for a song, or that Danzig and Doyle might hook up with Jerry Only and jam some Misfits songs. Neither scenario happened. Legendary skate-punks Suicidal Tendencies closed out day one with a blistering set. The group, led by singer Mike Muir, performed classics like “Mommy,” “Institutionalized” and “How Will I Laugh Tomorrow” whilst galloping about the stage as if having chugged down a six-pack of Red Bull moments before their set.
The second day seemed to have a lot more memorable performances than the first, with spectacular showings from the all-star comical hi-jinks of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, who are always entertaining. Covering the likes of “I Believe I Can Fly” and having a few words for the crowd before playing “Country Roads,” as follows: “This is a violation of a John Denver song. It’s not a cover, it’s an atrocity and you deserve it.” Other highlights included Street Dogs, who were great despite having their singer kept at the boarder and having somebody else fill in for him. Cypress Hill, too, put on a good time; so much so that the people who were still in their tents got high off the reefer smoke that blazed up into the atmosphere.
One of the more pleasant sets was that of rock legend Joan Jett. At 56 years old, the feminist icon put the boot to the ass of the new generation of rock ‘n’ rollers in attendance. Knocking out near-perfect renditions of timeless classic tracks like “Cherry Bomb,” “I Love Rock n’ Roll” and “I Hate Myself For Loving You.” Then there was the anthems of Billy Talent, the brilliance of Alice In Chains and the last Quebecois hooray for Motley Crue (until their next goodbye tour, that is).
Metal legions and punks alike buckled under the weight of Venom and their influential songs that spawned an entire music genre (black metal, in case you live beneath a rock or something) and are a huge influence of death metal and punk alike. Tracks like “Black Metal” and “Welcome to Hell” fell upon appreciative ears. Also, Strung Out were solid and a lot of fun to witness, and Negative Approach were unbelievably nasty and raw; an absolute treat for the hardcore and old-school punk fans at the event.
But once it was all said and done, it was UK punk/oi legends Cock Sparrer who gave the most memorable performance of the weekend. They sounded exactly like they do on record and, despite having been a band for the past 42 years, seemed to enjoy playing their now-classic anthems as much as the Montebello mob loved hearing them. As the masses trotted off back to their tents, they could be heard singing Cock Sparrer songs in unison. Magic!
Other artists were far less impressive. None more so that Danzig, who threw a paparazzi-style temper tantrum on stage and took it upon himself to rip a harness from the shoulder of one the working photographers and drop it off besides the band’s drum kit. Perhaps still perturbed by that, he gave off a less than stellar display that was on par with the terrible showing of his former band, The Misfits, from the previous day. Danzig was saved by ex-Misfits bandmate Doyle’s appearance and the duo knocked out great renditions of Misfits greats like “Astro Zombies,” “Last Caress” and “Skulls,” but not before much of the audience had given up and left for other stages.
Finally, there were many disgruntled voices heard complaining about some of the logistical issues of last year’s edition and, as promised, those were handled expertly for this year’s edition. And the most commonly uttered issue of the lovely “lake of piss” that formed due to overflowing portable toilets during the festival’s 2013 edition was thankfully addressed. Unfortunately, more than a few of those in attendance weren’t willing to commit to the queue and instead chose to relieve themselves against the fence. If concert-goers demand change and get it, perhaps they could at least have the decency to be respectful and keep their genitalia to themselves.
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