Thursday, February 12th, the first night of the Taverne Tour 2026 at the Belmont invited fans of abrasive textures and tense grooves to a lineup decidedly focused on post-punk. Outside, a biting cold served as a reminder that February in Montreal makes no compromises; inside the tavern, the atmosphere gradually warmed up as the room filled.
Alix Fernz – Une entrée en matière dense et habitée
Wearing a sports jersey from what appears to be an obscure hockey team, Alix Fernz opens the evening with nervous post-punk, driven by heavy grooves and lyrics declaimed with a tense and raspy intensity.
The compositions are built around solid hooks, well-placed rhythmic breaks, and soaring keyboard passages with organ-like accents that at times add an almost liturgical dimension. The guitar, precise and poignant, occasionally introduces skillfully measured dissonances.
A physical music, oscillating between tension and trance, that conveys a certain urgency to live life to the fullest. In her lyrics, Alix Fernz explores the consequences of burning the candle at both ends with a paradoxical energy that almost makes us want to imitate her.
Hot Garbage – Hypnosis Through Repetition
Hot Garbage continues with a more circular approach, relying on repetition as the rhythmic engine of their compositions. The motifs accumulate and intertwine, creating a hypnotic effect that quickly spreads to an increasingly mobile crowd.
“We’re Hot Garbage,” the singer declares at the end of the set with disarming confidence, like an ironic manifesto. Behind the apparent nonchalance lies a mastery of textures and dynamics that fits perfectly within the post-punk DNA of the evening.
Yoo Doo Right – Incandescent Krautrock and total immersion
Bathed in an enveloping red light that lends the stage an almost spectral quality, Yoo Doo Right stretches out its long krautrock and post-rock crescendos. The trio patiently builds its pieces until reaching a veritable wall of sound, dense yet clear.
The drummer hits hard, the bass and guitar hold their own, it’s a real blast, to the point where some audience members pull out their earplugs. The vibrations ground Yoo Doo Right’s live sound in something profoundly physical, evoking vast and evocative, almost desert-like landscapes, where repetition becomes trance and volume acts as a kinetic, cinematic, and visceral force.
Protomartyr – A cry from the heart beneath the jacket
Then came Protomartyr, the evening’s most anticipated act. Seeing singer Joe Casey take the stage in a jacket immediately made an impression: a look somewhere between a sober crooner and a disillusioned poet. A man who seems to carry the weight of years and who transforms this baggage into raw, expressive material as soon as the music started.
The band remains true to its signature raw new wave sound: a taut groove, an existential urgency, and vocals imbued with a certain malaise. The intensity is such that a genuine mosh pit erupts in the crowd, complete with body surfing, the true physical explosion of the evening.
The rhythm section is also formidable (special mention to the drums, tight and driving), and the sound quality is impeccable. On stage, Casey drinks a beer between bursts of sound, as if to better convey this blend of cynical lucidity and ardent abandon that fuses into a genuine surge of life. In the front row, the fans religiously recite the lyrics of each song.
It’s music that makes you want to let loose as much as it makes you think. To survive, perhaps, but above all to live life to the fullest.
This first evening of the Taverne Tour 2026 offered a coherent journey through different incarnations of post-punk, from its most current forms to its new wave roots. A solid, immersive opening that launched the festival on a note that was at once dark, vibrant, and resolutely alive.
