Photos and a review of the VERY short Of Monsters and Men show in Toronto. Here’s what happened.

[Ross MacDonald was there for us. – AC]

On Friday 17 October, Icelandic indie rockers Of Monsters And Men released their album ‘All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade’. And on Tuesday 28 October the band was supposed to kick off their North American tour at Toronto’s History. Supposed to…

It was a sold out show, and the crowd was very eager to catch Of Monsters And Men (aka OMAM), their first tour in six years.

Opening the night was fellow Icelandic artist Árný Margrét. She came out on stage quietly to a hushed crowd, and then got right down to business. She was dressed in a long black dress, standing centre stage, with a single spotlight cast down from above her alone with her Epiphone ES-335 hollow-body guitar.

By her own admission, Árný said “I don’t really talk much.” She briefly introduced each of her half dozen songs and thanked the audience. She has very fast and intricate finger picking. Instead of muting the low E-string, she was often plucking it with her thumb giving a bit of a bass sound; and picking the higher strings, letting the notes ring out offering a more full sound.

It’s rare that a soft voice can project such intense emotion. And although she may not have been familiar to many of the audience, Árný was a perfect opener for OMAM; she set a tone that didn’t overpower the room, leaving everyone at History wanting more.

Of Monsters And Men were scheduled to start at 9pm. At about ten after nine the house music cut out and the curtain dropped, but nobody was on stage. Out walked Raggi, Brynjar, Kristján, and Arnar. Raggi walked up behind the microphone and addressed the crowd: “unfortunately we have to cancel the show tonight, Nanna has lost her voice.”

Everyone was in disbelief. But it was the band that were obviously the most disappointed. Raggi was overcome with emotion saying that they wish they could perform, but it was not possible without Nanna.

Raggi added that everyone should keep their tickets and the concert would be rescheduled (at the time of publishing this article, the Toronto concert has not yet been rescheduled). Raggi was extremely apologetic and very emotional facing the sold-out crowd.

The band did make the decision to perform a mini-set of four songs to thank the fans for making the trip to the venue; really it was a decent consolation, much better than a complete no-show that many other bands have done.

OMAM opened with the huge hit ‘Dirty Paws’, and everyone was singing along. Even though it was the first stop on the tour (and obviously missing Nanna), but the band sounded tight and there were no hiccups.

Next the band performed the newest single ‘Dream Team’, from the newly released ‘All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade’ album. Again (and somewhat surprising), many in the audience were singing along with Raggi.

The band’s third song was another new song, the quirky ‘Tuna in a Can’. The crowd’s reaction to the new songs definitely brought smiles to the band’s faces.

Their fourth and last song in their short set was their number one hit ‘Little Talks’ from their debut album. As Raggi introduced the song, he mentioned that it was Nanna’s brother on trumpet. The performance of the song was a little awkward. The “Little Talks” in the song is a conversation back and forth between Nanna and Raggi. Raggi let the audience sing Nanna’s parts, and they tried, but it is evident that nobody can replace Nanna. Her vocals, smile, and impassioned swaying were missed.

Toronto can’t wait for OMAM to come back for a full concert, with Nanna.

Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir – lead vocals, guitars (ill and couldn’t perform)
Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson – lead vocals, guitars
Brynjar Leifsson – lead guitars, backing vocals
Kristján Páll Kristjánsson – bass guitars, backing vocals
Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson – drums, percussion, backing vocals