LIVE REVIEW: Jeff Rosenstock at History, Toronto, ON, 3/20/24

Photos and review by: Katie Ashdown

Jeff Rosenstock’s tour for his 2023 album HELLMODE came to Toronto’s History venue on Wednesday, March 20th.

As usual, Rosenstock brought with him a stellar, diverse bill of openers in Gladie and Sidney Gish. Those who didn’t show up early definitely missed out. Philadelphia indie rock band Gladie started off the show, playing through songs from their excellent 2022 album Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out. Vocalist Augusta Koch’s emotive and instantly recognizable voice really stole the show, serenading the crowd with relatable and quotable lyrics like the repeated line of “the way I feel I could fill the ocean” on “Born Yesterday”.

Next up was Sidney Gish, who took the stage completely solo, using her loop pedal to build up layers of each song as she went through her set. Though she was performing solo, Gish had the crowd as backup, with the majority of the audience singing along to every lyric.

Jeff Rosenstock took the stage soon after a crowd sing-along to System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!”, truly setting the tone for a night that definitely caused many people to wake up hoarse the next day. They opened their set with “WILL U STILL U”, as a mosh pit and crowd surfers materialized the instant the blast beat started. The moshing and dancing didn’t let up for the whole set as the band played through all of HELLMODE in order, spaced out by other long-time fan favourites like “Nausea”, “I Did Something Weird Last Night”, and “9/10”.

This was my sixth time seeing Jeff Rosenstock; I’ve seen this band in a 100-cap room all the way up to this show at History, the biggest headline show they’ve played in Toronto. Despite this room being wildly different from the bar I first saw them play in 2017, the atmosphere of a Jeff Rosenstock show hasn’t really changed that much. Every show is a chance to sing, scream, and dance along to these songs and feel the emotions and catharsis that come with experiencing your favourite music with a bigger and bigger crowd of people.