There is very little good that can be said about the pandemic, or 'The Plague' as we called it around here, but it did lead to some interesting little musical gatherings. Such as the band
Grand Public, who opened for
The Sam Roberts Band a little while back at the
Théâtre Beanfield.
Grand Public consists of four good friends who grew up together making music, though in different bands. With everything shut down due to 'The Plague' and all of their other projects on hold, they decided to get together again and make some new music of their own as
Grand Public. This led first to an EP in 2023, 'Idéal Tempo' and a full length album this year 'Torrents de Compliments'. They describe their sound as being a mixing hypnotic rhythms and explosive tension, music built of angular textures and aerial melodies. The guitars
intermingle and respond to each other,
while the bass and percussion
insert themselves into the vocal tunes. That sounds pretty accurate to this photographer as the songs would certainly have a peaceful sway to them before erupting into to a frenzy of action. The crowd on hand certainly enjoyed
Grand Public's fusion of textures and melodies as they had a very large turn out by opening band standards and were surrounded by well wishers around the venue after their set. From my point of view, they also had great lighting, something that is not always present when it comes to the opening acts. It helped me to get a lot of, what I think are, great shots of the band in action. Speaking of which the first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 8000 at 24mm and the second photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 4000 at 24mm. Here are several more photographs that I took of
Grand Public during their performance.
f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm
f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 4000 at 47mm
f/3.2, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 31mm
f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 33mm
f/3.2, 1/640sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 35mm
f/3.2, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm
f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 53mm
f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm
f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/500sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 38mm
f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm
f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 47mm
f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm
f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/320sec, ISO 3200 at 70mm
f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 55mm
f/3.2, 1/250sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
f/3.2, 1/125sec, ISO 3200 at 24mm
If you'd like to find out more about
Grand Public and their music, you can do so by following the link to their website. If you'd like to see the photographs that I took of
The Sam Roberts Band, who performed later that night, you can do so bu following the link. I couldn't find if
Grand Public had any other concerts coming up, but if you see them listed to perform near you, don't forget to go and check them out.
Our most recent concert saw us shooting Machine Head at the MTelus in Montreal, feel free to revisit those photographs by following the link. It was a four band bill so how about we head back in time to visit the band who got the whole night started, Gates To Hell. Opening a four band bill can be a daunting task, but Gates To Hell came out of the gate with guitars blazing, ready to take no prisoners while making sure that all in attendance would not forget the performance. I certainly won't. Death Metal isn't my first choice of music, but it is certainly a genre that I enjoy much more seeing live. Gates To Hell are relatively new to the scene, but have released several EP's and their first full length album, 'Gates To Hell' in 2022. Some new music will probably be arriving soon as a new single, 'Ressurected' was released earlier this year and was played to the very receptive Montreal crowd. The first photograph was taken at f/3.2, 1/160sec, ISO 6400 at 24mm. Here are several more of their performance.
