Date: Sept. 18, 2007
Venue: The Horseshoe Tavern

Listening to Wax Mannequin’s latest album, Orchard & Ire (reviewed here), you’d never guess that he’s actually a really soft spoken guy. Given his recorded output, it’s not hard to imagine that the veins in his neck would just always be poised to burst as he growled and shouted in the grocery line. Of course, it’s likely that the calm and gentle demeanor seen before and after his half hour set during Tuesday’s “Edge Nu Music Night” at the Horseshoe was simply in order to channel all the requisite energy for the fierce live show in between—and ooh boy, fierce it was!

Sweating profusely from the get-go (something attributed to some extremely hot Mexican food: “We don’t have herpes, we just ate some very hot burritos”), not a second was wasted in the unfortunately time-constrained set, as the band immediately went to work on the thunderous “Price Paid” before exploding into Orchard & Ire’s addictive lead-track—and previous feature on this humble blog—the undeniably catchy “Animals Jump.” Of course, completely expecting a wild and roaring hard-rock event—and let me tell you, I was far from disappointed—the surprising bonus came from the sheer likeability of the enigmatic man on stage so intent on rocking my socks off:

“I am Wax Mannequin and this is my band…Wax Mannequin”—Hamilton native, Chris Adeney stated with intense certainty mid-set upon introducing himself and the three equally frenzied men accompanying him throughout the energetic and raucous show. Clad in a suit jacket with roses exploding from his sleeves and unbuttoned collar, it was further explained that the flowers grow from his body due to a blood condition which he was there Tuesday night to cure, or, as he put it: “Get it out of me and into you”—said while lobbing a rose into the audience (a gesture repeated after each track). Such was the nature of the banter; delivered in sweaty gasps and with as much conviction as any of his lyrics, his stage presence was convincing, impressive and a definite asset to the performance.

Focusing almost entirely on his latest disc (the only exception being 2004’s fantastic and infectious rocker “The Price”), at only half an hour the set definitely came and went far too quickly (I suppose, that’s…ahem…price paid for being on a crowded bill). However, it seemed enough to wet the appetites of those in attendance, as friends of mine, for instance, emphatically heralded this unceremonious free event as better than many concerts they’d paid good money to see—and how! The raucous tunes combined with the Hamiltonian’s bizarre charisma joined forces to make this outing truly a sight to behold.

I haven’t started sprouting my own roses just yet, but I for one would gladly fork over some hard-earned dollars to see Wax Mannequin throw a few more.

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Check out some concert photos below (I just got an SLR, so bear with me)–click the thumbnails to view a larger image and an arrow will appear guide you through the whole series:

Check out Wax Mannequin’s Myspace to hear some tracks or buy his albums in their entirety here.