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Sleigh Bells @ Mod Club Theatre (Toronto, ON) on January 28, 2018 [Photos & Show Review]

A Sleigh Bells show is a barrage of high decibel guitar riffs, blinding lights, backbeats and Krauss’s wonderful vocals – a mix of playfully sultry singing and howling screams, depending on the song she’s servicing.

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Sleigh Bells at the Mod Club!! Really, what more of a reason to attend this show? This was certainly the most intimate Sleigh Bells performance I’ve ever seen. And it totally slayed!

Tour openers Sunflower Bean didn’t come north of the US border, so local one-man show Casey MQ warmed the room up this evening. His musical stylings were all over the map, and the audience seemed to dig what he was doing.

At just before 10 pm, Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller took the stage along with a second touring guitarist and blasted the Toronto audience with their signature live show for about an hour. A Sleigh Bells show is a barrage of high decibel guitar riffs, blinding lights, backbeats and Krauss’s wonderful vocals – a mix of playfully sultry singing and howling screams, depending on the song she’s servicing. The band conveys an addictive energy that is truly their own, and I’ve not left one of their shows disappointed yet.

Ok, maaaaybe almost this one: There were three songs crossed off the setlist taped close to the front of the stage – and they were songs I wanted to hear. Thankfully “Rainmaker,” “And Saints,” and “Rule Number One” were songs that Alexis and Derek played on their own. This setlist was their touring guitarists’, and he’d crossed out the songs, so he knew when to leave them to perform as a duo.

Without mincing words, this Sleigh Bells show was impressive. Krauss wound up in the crowd for “Crown on the Ground” and “Rill Rill,” bouncing about with the audience who were all singing along to the songs in unison with her. It’s a hard thing when you love every song that a band has over four albums and an EP – you KNOW you won’t get to hear everything you want to hear live. Best to just focus on what’s being offered up and not dwell on it. “Bitter Rivals” and “Infinity Guitars” both came off superbly this evening. As did “Blue Trash Mattress Fire” and “Favorite Transgressions,” both of these songs on the recently released Kid Kruschev EP.

Much like the title of their first LP (TREATS), Sleigh Bells do indeed offer some of the finest eye and ear candy on this side of the mixing board. We were lucky to have them in our fine city for this killer show.

Sleigh Bells Setlist:

01. Blue Trash Mattress Fire
02. Riot Rhythm
03. Favorite Transgressions
04. Tell ‘Em
05. Comeback Kid
06. I Can Only Stare
07. It’s Just Us Now
08. Rainmaker
09. Bitter Rivals
10. Infinity Guitars
11. Demons
12. Rule Number One
13 Crown on the Ground
Encore:
14. And Saints
15. A/B Machines
16. Rill Rill

Sleigh Bells “Bitter Rivals“ – Mod Club Theatre, Toronto, Ontario – January 28th, 2018

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