Reviews

Concert Review: Airbourne at The Opera House in Toronto, ON 9/20/22

By Taylor Cameron / September 25, 2022

A line of metalheads formed down Queen St. East outside of The Opera House in Toronto, Ontario on a warm Tuesday night. Leather, battle vests and Airbourne shirts visible within the crowd of excited fans as they await a night of rock n roll. The doors opened promptly at 7:00PM, everyone making their way inside to claim their spot at the front of the stage and buy a t-shirt at the merch booth.

Kicking off the night were Michigan natives, The Native Howl. Pairing Blue-Grass and Thrash Metal, something they like to call Thrash-Grass, The Native Howl have created something utterly unique and are extremely entertaining to watch. Many audience members, including myself, were unsure of what to expect but from the moment they stepped onstage until the last note played, the entire crowd were captivated by their infectious stage presence.

An acoustic guitar (Alex Holycross), banjo (Jacob Sawicki), electric bass (Mark Chandler) and drums (Zach Bolling) paired with Holycross’ loud raspy vocals create their unique sound and if you didn’t think a banjo could fit into metal music, you were wrong, because these guys have found the perfect place for it. The Native Howl hyped up the crowd perfectly and gained many new fans from their short thirty minute set. Their musicianship is extremely tight and it’s not hard to tell that these guys love what they do, even hanging out at the merch booth after the show to meet everyone who wanted to stop for a photo.

Up next were the almighty Airbourne, the crowd erupting into loud roars as the house lights went down, welcoming the Australian band onto the stage. Emerging onto the stage at full energy they rip into hard rocker, ‘Ready to Rock’. AC/DC mixed with an 80s hard rock sound and the stage presence of early Metallica, Airbourne know how to entertain a crowd. Their setlist filled with early classics such as ‘Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast’, ‘Girls in Black’ and ‘Back In The Game’, the crowd sang along loudly with their horns raised high in the air.

The energy in the room was like no other, the band and crowd truly feeling as one. During ‘Girls in Black’, lead singer and guitar player Joel O’Keeffe climbs upon a roadie’s shoulders and emerges into the audience. Playing his guitar with ease as fans try to get as close as they can to him. Grabbing a can of beer from a lucky fan, J. O’Keeffe proceeds to shake the can, spraying the audience with the alcohol; something he continued to do throughout the night. 

Before the band plays their anthemic ‘It’s All For Rock ‘n’ Roll’, J. O’Keeffe takes a moment to dedicate the track to the late Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead, whom he states the band would not be here without. Halfway through the song a roadie rolls out a cart onto the stage with a banner that reads “Lemmy’ Bar” hanging on the front. A bottle of Jack Daniels paired with four solo cups and two cans of Coca-Cola sit on top waiting to be drunk.

“The bar is open” J. O’Keeffe smiles before setting his guitar down and stepping into the role of bartender for a moment, mixing four rum and cokes, one for each band member. In unison they all take a drink before passing the cups to the crowd, encouraging everyone to pass the drinks around for everyone to take a swig. 

Keeping the energy high, the band kicked into the lively track ‘Live It Up’. The crowd sang along loudly while headbanging with Justin Street (Bass) and Jarrad Morrice (Rhythm Guitar); Ryan O’Keeffe (Drums) setting the beat. “There’s a few girls out here and quite a few big guys out here” J. O’Keeffe says into the mic, “if we could get the girls up on shoulders, I’m going to throw you some beers.” One by one, girls were raised up above the crowd, cups of beer flying through the air covering the crowd. Now this was a true 80s style rock show. Closing the set with their hit ‘Runnin Wild’, the audience becomes louder than ever, not wanting the night to end. Airbourne came to entertain and that is exactly what they did. Bringing 110% to the stage, they did not disappoint one person in that room. The night is filled with live and raw rock ‘n’ roll and recommend catching this show if it’s coming to a town near you. 

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