Review of Marianas Trench in Toronto, Ontario (July 12, 2013)

By: Amanda Hather

So as you may or may not know, Marianas Trench had their first and last Face The Music show in Toronto, Ontario on Friday, July 12th, 2013. They had been trying to get to the city for a show for the first two tours, but couldn’t because of scheduling issues and the NHL hockey strike. However, they finally made it, and trust me, their performance was worth the wait.

Starting off with the opening act, Dirty Radio, fellow 604 Records artist. They aren’t really my type of music – they have more of a dance music sound to them – but, that being said, there was no denying their talent. The lead singer was singing, as well as playing drums and a keyboard. He hit high notes that I didn’t even think were possible. And, playing to entice the crowd, they picked one girl out of the audience and made a song about her on the spot.

The second opening act was Canadian sweetheart Lights. Although I’m not her biggest fan, she was amazing live. She played some of her newer songs such as “Siberia”, as well as some of her older and well known songs, “Toes”, “Second Go”, and “February Air”. Every song she performed you couldn’t help but bounce along to the beat or sing along to the lyrics. All in all, the first two acts were amazing, even if I don’t listen to either of them all that much.

And the main attraction of the show, for me at least, was of course, Marianas Trench. I had the pleasure of seeing them live in March this year at the first date of their Face The Music: With A Vengeance tour and was treated to a flying Josh Ramsay and the entire band performing their hit song, “Desperate Measures” in their tighty whities. This time however, there was no flying Josh or lack of clothing.

They performed their usual set list:

* Ever After
* All To Myself
* Shake Tramp
* Toy Soldiers
* By Now (which is their current single, be sure to request it on your local radio stations and keep an eye out for the video which should be released in the coming weeks)
* Desperate Measures
* Truth or Dare
* Beside You
* Celebrity Status
* Haven’t Had Enough
* Fallout
* Stutter
* Cross My Heart
* Porcelain
* Good To You (performed with only Lights and Josh)
* Lover Dearest
* No Place Like Home

Now I have no problem telling you that I cried like a baby when Josh started “Lover Dearest” on an acoustic guitar by himself. It has always been one of my favourite songs by the band, purely for the emotional feel of it. You could feel the effort he put into singing it, and Trenchers would agree, that it is rare that you get to see this song played live, even rarer to have it with an acoustic guitar. For the last three tours (Face The Music, Face The Music: With A Vengeance, Face The Music: The Noise Tour), Josh had always performed two songs as his own sort of encore, usually a cover song and one of their songs (I had seen him perform “Hit Me Baby One More Time” by Brittany Spears and “Masterpiece Theatre I” back in March), this time choosing just “Good To You” and “Lover Dearest”.

Their set was roughly an hour and a half long with very little breaks in between. Josh kept the crowd entertained with little stories and a mini singing lesson during “Cross My Heart”, as well as performed with way more energy than I would have ever had.

The night was absolutely amazing and you couldn’t help but feel the pride that the band felt when they said that seven short years ago they couldn’t even fill a small bar, much less having the Molson Amphitheatre almost filled to the lawn. The boys of Marianas Trench have definitely come a long way from even four years ago when I started listening to them.

Remember to follow the guys on Twitter: @mtrench @MattWebbMT and @JoshRamsay. They bring their Face The Music show on the road one last time to Newfoundland on August 6th, so if you haven’t already bought your tickets, I highly suggest you do because you are in for a treat.