Last Friday was a big day for dubstep fans in Montreal: they were to be butchered up by the sounds of the infamous Excision. I wasn’t aware of this until the Thursday before, when I got the post from Montreal Dubstep through my Google Reader. I was kind of shocked that such a big name was giving a set in Montreal, and kind of pissed that I was working until 8 the very night, and at 9AM the morning after, but regardless I managed to get a friend to ride up to Montreal to see the show.

The Cabaret juste pour rire was hosting the show… a very small place by anybody’s standards, and not very adapted to shows. It was a tight place to pack so much dirt-thirsty youth, but an ok fit none the less. We came in just when VNDL’s set ended, and from the sounds of it, the guy was laying down a pretty good set, if you forget a slight technical fault that cut the music at one point.

Gnave was up next, and he lit up the place real good… literally. The show was brutally interrupted, and people were asked to step out, as the fire alarm was sounding off.

We eventually got back in, where Gnave resumed his murder of a set. Really, bangers end to end, perfectly laid down, people were nuts and the place wasn’t even full yet. The rest of the show went awesome… except for the part where we had to leave at just before 2AM, and in the making missed the actual main part of the show, Excision. Words to express how I felt don’t even exist.

I’m gonna be honest, I was expecting much more from this show… maybe the previous event I attended set the bar a bit too high. One major turn-off was the venue itself, which was drab at best. The two known annoyances were the fire alarm and a major misunderstanding relatively to letting underages in, but I personally found the place lacked panache. The stage disposition was minimal, with stuff (clothes, monitors, random gear) thrown left right and center, and the ambiance was totally neglected, with very minimal lighting effects and very little attention given to how the stage and DJ booth looked. It was pretty much plywood painted black and black fabric everywhere. But then again, none of the circumstances were set in favor of that night, so maybe I was just having a bad night… the lack of sleep, the fact that I was sober, my total inability to use a speedlight correctly, and more than anything else that I missed the main event, all of that stuff sucked but that’s just how stuff happened for me. Still, I got my skull thumped on by artists who know their shit, so it’s all good.

It’s especially good to see that big names of bass are converging to Montreal to give shows, a sure sign that the scene is going strong in Quebec’s Metropolis. One thing’s sure, this isn’t the last bass-related event I’m covering.