The frenzied energy of the crowd before Andrew W.K. took the stage last Sunday was almost too intense to bear. The packed dance floor of Lee’s Palace threatened to boil over at any moment and incite a pre-emptive mosh pit before a note was even played. As it was, the crowd instead became one Voltron-like conglomerate, madly clapping and cheering, “We want fun” and “A.W.K.” in hopes it would inspire their hero to take the stage before they all lost it.
And then, he took the stage. After a brief instrumental, Andrew and his motley crew of bandmates (not to mention Z.Z. Top-esque stagehand “Big Daddy”) launched a triple-guitar assault on the audience, leading in with “It’s Time to Party,” followed by “Take it Off,” from his debut album I Get Wet.
Always the showman, Mr. Wilkes-Krier took everything in good spirits, from the kamikaze crowd surfers jumping off the side bars to the kids in the homemade T-shirts jumping up on stage to join in on vocals. At one point, Andrew even hoisted one of the fans on his shoulders while continuing to sing.
The middle of the ferocious set was punctuated by crowd favourite “Ready to Die,” as well as a couple of new tracks from his just-released album The Wolf, the best of which was “Never Let Down.”
Graciously pinning all his success on his fans, W.K. relied on his greatest strength, his genuineness, to keep everyone in a positive, fun mood. And with an inspirational speech about living life to the fullest and having no regrets, W.K. brought the house down with a double shot of his biggest hits, “Party Hard” and “I Get Wet.” By this time, the crowd on the stage was nearly 30 fans deep, forcing most of the band to the stage wings, but W.K. remained front and center. After diving into the crowd himself, W.K. was then hoisted up by the crowd onto the stage, much to everyone’s delight.
With the set done and the fans still screaming for more, W.K. came back on stage to do a little dance for everyone, set to the tune of Slayer’s “Raining Blood,” no less, which was playing on the P.A. Truly a magical, and fortunately, pretentious-free, night.
