Concert Review: Papa Roach in Montreal

After nearly 20 years together as a band, Papa Roach showed Montreal no signs of letting up any time soon. Jacoby Shaddix, Jerry Horton, Tobin Esperance, and Tony Palermo returned to our fair city in support of their 2012 release, The Connection.

As the lights dimmed, the band kicked things off with Burn, off of Time for Annihilation, and one of the newer tracks, Silence Is the Enemy. When Jacoby asked if there were any old school Papa Roach fans in the crowd, the crowd responded with a resounding yes; this lead into Blood Brothers from their 2000 release Infest.

When the first few notes of Between Angels and Insects rang out, I couldn't help but notice a bunch of fans who were chilling near the back of the venue jump out of their seats and rush the stage. Crowd surfers were riding the waves of their fellow fans and the atmosphere was great. The band was feeding off of this energy, and Jacoby wanted more. He got the crowd to bend down a bit and told that that when he counted to three, he wanted everyone to jump as high as the could. And jump they did.

Where Did the Angels Go? off of The Connection was up next, and before playing Forever, Jacoby dedicated it to "all the dirty girls in the crowd." *insert squeals here*

Their latest single, Leader of the Broken Hearts and Still Swingin' gave fans another taste of The Connection. During Still Swingin', Jacoby made his way into the crowd, singing from the front barrier, and eventually hopping into the crowd for a little crowd surfing of his own. At the end of the song, he thanked the crowd, letting them know that, "The more you go wild, the more we do." Fans in the Metropolis concert venue took this as their cue to kick things up a notch for Born with Nothing, Die with Everything. Midway through this track, the band was introduced and given a chance to do mini solos including a little rap number from Jacoby.

Taking a little break in between songs, Jacoby thanked everyone in the crowd again and said that they wouldn't wait another two years before coming back to Montreal. If you're a west coast Canadian fan, you might want to skip to the rest of this sentence; he also said that the west coast dates were kind of meh, adding that the east coast, especially Quebec, knew how to rock.

Scars was next, followed by Lifeline and …To Be Loved, which started with a circle pit. Seeing how far he could push the crowd, Jacoby suggested a wall of death and the crowd took him up on the offer. Closing out the night with more of their old school hits, they ended their set with Last Resort.

Overall, it was a great performance from the band. While some of their newer tracks didn't quite get the same reaction as some of their early work, it was a complete show. They didn't rely on a fancy stage setup; they let the music speak for itself. Throughout their performance, the band members interacted with the crowd, smiling, waving, and just genuinely having fun. Jacoby was not only the frontman, he also acted as a crowd conductor, and everyone at the Metropolis followed all of his cues.

For all of your Montreal concert needs, visit our friends at Evenko. If you still want more, check out our interview that we did with Tobin the last time they were in Montreal.