By Jessica Dionne
Twin Forks frontman Chris Carrabba has always ended his Montreal shows with these wise words: ‘If you love us and you love our music, tell a friend that you saw Twin Forks and that they were f–ing amazing.’
These words must be working.
Last night marked the fourth time that the former Dashboard Confessional singer and his folk-rock band Twin Forks performed in Montreal – the first time being last year on Mumford & Sons Sunday at Osheaga.
Although it has taken a bit of time, the Twin Forks fan base is rapidly growing here; last night’s show at Cabaret du Mile-End being a definite reflection of that. The intimate venue held a modest crowd of die-hard fans – myself included – who sang along to every word, often times overpowering Carrabba’s already exceptionally powerful voice. Luckily for Twin Forks it was a much more positive and encouraging atmosphere than the last time they play the same venue. The audience had been terribly small and painfully quiet – the band forced to ask everyone if they could get out of their seats and stand close to the stage in order to create an illusion that there was more than thirty people. The memory obviously left some scars – Carrabba making light of it last night, thanking everyone for having told a friend about their music.
The show started off with ‘Come On’, a catchy song that had the crowd testing out their vocal chords right from the get go. The set list was a mix of songs from their debut LP, a few covers like Violent Femmes’ ‘Blister in the Sun’ and Steve Earle’s Irish classic ‘Galway Girl’ as well as a few new songs and ‘Hands Down’ taken from the Dashboard Confessional catalogue which had the audience going crazy.
‘We’re all here because we love music’ Carrabba told the audience right before playing the last few songs of the evening – ‘Back To You’ being the final song of the evening.
Joined by the Highs and Northcote on the Canadian leg of their tour, it’s clear that Twin Forks are now settling in nicely to something that comes naturally to them.
