UK’s You Me At Six bring VI to the Opera House in Toronto

Surrey (UK) based rock band, You Me At Six, visits Toronto in support of their new album “VI” as part of their  North American “Back Again Tour 2019’ tour.

When I first found out that You Me At Six were coming to Toronto, I was very surprised by the venue they would be performing at. The Opera House holds about 950 people. You Me At Six is a band that in the UK plays venues such as the O2 Brixton Academy that easily holds 5 times that amount.

It’s not the first time, I have observed this trend with bands coming from Europe, but that is a subject for another day as my guess is that this is due more to the negligible media support or endorsement that these type of bands receive.

On their sole Canadian stop, it was disappointing to see that the venue was not sold out. However you could clearly see that those that were there, knew why they were there.

At around 9:30, YMAS came on stage, one by one, to the joy and delight of the fans. They opened the night with ‘Fast Forward’ and ended it with an encore composed of ‘Room To Breathe’, ‘No One Does It Better’, ‘Straight To My Head’ and ‘Underdog’, For those familiar, those songs are a curated selection of YMAS album eras.

Bouncing on stage to the energetic opener ‘Fast Forward’, Josh Franceschi displayed such a raw energy that for a moment I was wondering it it would last all night. And last it did. Josh spend the evening, running from one side of the stage to the other. Interacting with the audience, sharing moments and giving back to the dedicated souls that had braved one of the coldest night in Toronto to be with their band.

The setlist was an even mix of old and new. From the heart wrenching ‘Take On The World’, through into fanbase uniting ‘Fresh Start Fever’. I have to say that they did strike the perfect balance of crowd pleasing and album cycle tunes. It was a very enjoyable musical experience.

Overall, YMAS put up an amazing show. The crowd were amazing, engaged and very supportive, even more so our to the size of the venue. It was a good night to be at the Opera House.

I’m looking forward to their next visit. Maybe even to see them perform at others cities in Canada. I have a feeling Montrealers would have been happy to see them play in their city.

Next time though……come in summer.