CMW Critical Conclusions for…Speed Control (Canadian Music Week 2014 concert review)

PeteHatesMusic caught a band that came all the way from the Yukon for CMW – Speed Control.

Venue: Cherry Cola’s

First Impression: I wasn’t immediately taken by the punk rhythm of Speed Control but after a couple songs I was engaged and having a great time.

Stage Presence: Speed Control puts on an amazing performance. The stage antics of lead vocalist Graeme Peters had the entire crowd engaged and in stitches. At one point he had the whole crowd doing spirit fingers.

Crowd Reaction: They loved it! If not for the music, then for the absolute hilarity of Speed Control’s stage antics.

Banter: Graeme commented that there are only 32,000 people in the Yukon but there are 70,000 moose. He said if the moose could vote the Yukon wouldn’t have ended up with a Conservative MP. I love a good political joke.

Random Observation: If you’ve been to Cherry Cola’s you know business attire is generally not the way to go. Nonetheless there was a man in a suit. Graeme even noticed the man in the suit who was at the very back of the bar and asked the crowd to give him a round of applause for taking time out of his busy life to join us there. Priceless.

Last Word: 7/10 – I can’t say Speed Control’s sound is particularly my taste BUT I really enjoyed their performance. The crowd loved them and it was effortless for Speed Control to get the crowd dancing, chanting, singing along and doing other sorts of hilarious things. Plus, they came all the way from the Yukon to play for Toronto so major bonus points for that!

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