The Charbonneau Commission was nowhere to be found as Swedish House Mafia held 15,000 Montrealers captive, Wednesday night at the Bell Centre. The three-member DJ crew is one of the biggest things in commercial dance music, remixing everyone from Coldplay to the Black Eyed Peas, when not creating its own relentlessly thumping club tracks.
But while the group’s crossover hits have garnered mass appeal, it did its best imitation of underground during the show, turning the Bell Centre into one giant party.
The band’s motto “We come. We rave. We love.” flashed across the big screen at the outset – a Hallmark dance music mantra if ever there was one.
Their legions of fans couldn’t have been more on board, hailing these guys like the second coming. The arena’s seats were rendered redundant as everyone stayed on their feet from beginning to end, arms in the air, cheering, jumping and pumping fists in time to the music.
And contrary to dubstep’s testosterone-fuelled demographic, Swedish House Mafia appealed to female fans as well as male ones. And so, beside the baseball cap-wearing, tattooed dudes were dolled up gals, giddy to be shimmying up a storm.
“Montreal, how we doing tonight?” asked one of the Mafiosos (you don’t expect me to tell them apart, do you?) between songs. “By the way, you look f—ing amazing tonight!”
A sample of Daft Punk’s Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger elicited cheers before getting lost in the beat barrage. It segued into a soulful vocal track, which elicited a surge of energy.
“Montréal, ça va?” another band member followed up, a little later. “You guys ready? We can’t hear you – are you ready?”
That would be a yes. Cue more smoke, psyche-futuristic LED graphics on staggered, horizontal screens above the stage, pounding bass beats and shimmering synths and you’ve got all the makings of a 2013 dance music phenomenon.
Excitement levels, it must be said, were on maximum. Most pop acts can’t come close to garnering this degree of sustained euphoria. The teen-and-twentysomething crowd was over the moon to be getting down. And contrary to the raves of yore, the majority of attendees did not appear to be overly intoxicated or riding the wave of the latest designer mood stimulants. This was good, clean fun.
“Woo! Woo!” came the spontaneous party cry from the crowd, in the midst of another jam.
“Thank you, Montreal!” said a bandmember. “Thank you for being who you are.”
Why, you’re welcome.
The next song was a remix of Ansol & Dyro’s Top of the World, with pre-recorded vocals streamed from the consoles as the trio bobbed up and down at the control tower, one of them banging on electronic drums while another raised an arm to hype up the audience.
Then came the dramatic build, the drop, and a pounding 4/4 beat, prompting another round of delirious cheers. The energy was upped in the second half of the night, with fire, lasers and confetti added to the mix as the beats got harder and the anthems more emphatic.
Swedish House Mafia is reinventing precious little. But it has streamlined dance-pop formula like a well-oiled machine. The group claims to be retiring after this so-called farewell tour. With a reception like this, don’t be surprised if they stage a comeback.
Click here to view a gallery of photos from the concert.