Make A Ruckus, Toronto; Movements Is Back

After releasing their album Ruckus! In 2023, Orange County rock band Movements has been touring North America non-stop. They made their stop in Toronto at History on March 20th, with support from Citizen, Scowl and Downturn, making for a memorable night on their final leg of the Ruckus tour.

First to the gear-packed stage was Downward, an alt rock band from Tulsa, Oklahoma. The second the lights went down, a strong spell was cast over the entire room as Downward showered the crowd with their amazing vocals and riffs from Drew Richardson, accompanied by nice power chords from guitarist Hunter Senft, and a powerful rhythm section from bassist Severin Olson and drummer Tollie Pugh. Together, the four piece put together a set that both sent the audience into a trance while also ramping up their energy. Though they had a short set, no fan, new or old, would soon forget it.

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After a short waiting time, the fierce Santa Cruz alternative five piece known as Scowl took to the stage. As soon as vocalist Kat Moss grabbed hold of the mic and guitarists Malachi Greene and Mikey Bifolco grabbed hold of their instruments, the stage was alive. The stage started to shake from the energy bassist Bailey Lupo and drummer Cole Gilbert brought along with the band. They opened with a popular song, Wired, and continued on with Shot Down and B.A.B.E.. Moss’s constant moving around onstage and crowd interaction brought forth a new energy to the room, very different from that of the band that preceded them.

As their set continued with hits such as Not Hell, Not Heaven, Tonight (I’m Afraid), and Special, no one in the room could say they were bored. A dynamic and high-powered performance laced the air with an insane, infectious passion, leading to mosh pits opening up and everyone moving around and dancing to Scowl’s music. They finished their set with Opening Night, and Moss jumped into the photo pit and interacted with the crowd face to face, giving fans an experience to remember.

Next on the lineup was a band whose name could be heard buzzing around the crowd all night: Citizen. Fans were eagerly awaiting the midwestern band, until at 9:00pm, the lights went dim and Mat Kerekes (vocals), brothers Nick (lead guitar) and Eric Hamm (bass), Mason Mercer (rhythm guitar), and Ben Russin (drums) came on. But unlike the other bands that night, the lights didn’t come back on. This time, Citizen opened their set with a dimly lit performance of the heart-wrenching song, The Night I Drove Alone. Fans sang along with the band in the darkness, and finally, the lights came back on for the rest of their set, continuing with Death Dance Approximately and If You’re Lonely.

The more songs they played, the more invested the crowd got. In addition to beautiful and emotional songs such as Hyper Trophy, In The Middle Of It All and The Summer, Citizen also had an intense and intricate light show to go along with their music, even using tiny disco balls to create beautiful light patterns. They closed their set with Speaking With A Ghost and the ever-energetic I Want To Kill You, and left the Toronto crowd packed with energy for the headliners.

After a quick stage rearrangement, at 10:10pm Movements took to the stage and immediately opened with one of their newest songs, Afraid To Die. Right off the bat, vocalist Patrick Miranda was jumping around, encouraging the crowd to do the same. The consistent guitar riffs from lead guitarist Ira George went along perfectly with the vivacious drum beats and fills from drummer Spencer York, while bassist Austin Cressey and touring rhythm guitarist Crust Young kept everyone in time with well rounded bass lines and power chords. Miranda’s voice blended with the crowd’s as they screamed along to Afraid To Die, Lead Pipe and Killing Time.

Following an energetic first three songs, the band introduced their new song, Where I Lay, where Miranda challenged Toronto to sing along, and to be better than Philadelphia and New York. He dedicated the song to “all the outcasts and anyone who feels like they don't belong”. And of course the Canadian crowd at History sang louder than they ever had that night.

Following Where I Lay, the whole world slowed down when the signature synths of Tightrope began to play. The lights went from colourful and quickly flickering to slow, controlled movements as Miranda’s voice rang out over the sound of the keyboard, putting their audience under a spell. No matter how hard you tried, you wouldn’t be able to look away from the stage, and you definitely couldn’t control the tears in your eyes. Even when the guitars and drums joined in, the spell was never broken. In fact, that spell wasn’t broken until the end of the set.

After Tightrope came to an end, Miranda said he loved the energy, and that they would pick it up with a few old songs, and then the guitar intro of Full Circle started. All throughout, the crowd screamed the lyrics, from the beginning all the way to the spoken word segment at the end.

Continuing with their run of old songs, Movements went on to play Colorblind, then Skin To Skin, the only song on the set from their sophomore album, No Good Left To Give. Then they jumped even further into the past with Kept, a song from their debut EP, Outgrown Things. They jumped back to the future with A.M.P off RUCKUS! and then back to the past with Third Degree from their debut album, Feel Something.

Next up was I Hope You Choke!, which was easily the most memorable part of the set. George and Young brought out a gritty guitar intro, accompanied by a loud, driving bassline from Cressey and amazing beats from York, which set the perfect mood for the largest mosh pit to open up in the venue. But hold on, that wasn’t even the best part. During the interlude before the last chorus, Miranda took a moment to address the crowd and asked if they knew what a wall of death was. When the crowd cheered, he told them that they “knew what to do” and the room was suddenly split in two. Everyone was pushed into the sides of the venue until the beat dropped. Miranda screamed the line “I hope you choke!” and both sides ran full force at each other, collapsing the wall of death and creating a massive mosh pit that ended only when the song did and the lights went down. It was really a spectacular thing to watch, even from far away. You could feel the energy and excitement radiating from wherever you were in the venue.

When I Hope You Choke! finished, the set took a turn for the last time, and George started their performance of Coeur d’Alene with a very soft guitar riff, accompanied this time by a quieter bassline and simple drum beats. Miranda’s voice was soft and packed with raw emotion from the incredibly impactful love song. The mellowness of the instrumental allowed Miranda’s potent vocals to shine. With every word sung, you could hear each word drip with emotion, turning the previously moshing crowd into a mellowed out one that swayed along to the dulcet guitar tones and vocal performance.

Building off Coeur d’Alene’s lovesick energy, a groovy bass line marked the beginning of the second last song of the set, Deep Red. Slightly more upbeat than the song before, Deep Red offered that same lovesick and longing energy, but with more of a beat that you could dance around to. The guitars meshed perfectly with the upbeat bass line and cymbal-heavy drum parts, and Miranda’s vocal performance was out of this world. Personally, I fell in love with this song because of the live performance. The musical progression of the melodies in the verses into the pre-choruses and choruses resolve perfectly, and the song builds and fades off in all the right places.

In true Movements fashion, they did not have an encore, so the set was closed off with their most popular song, Daylily. However, before playing the song, the band addressed how this was their last leg of the RUCKUS! tour, as they had been touring since the album was released in 2023. The band said they would go away for a little while and promised to write more music, so keep an eye out for either more remixes or even a whole new album from Movements.

Miranda mentioned for the second time that night that Toronto was one of their favourite places to tour, and promised to be back after their hiatus. With that, they introduced their final song of the night, and the hopeful chords filled the venue. Their performance was nothing short of stunning, with beautiful multicoloured lights and a musical performance that sounded exactly like the recorded version. If you weren’t crowdsurfing, you were screaming out the line “I think it’s time you had a pink cloud summer” and swaying to the music. When the song finally concluded and everyone in the venue was content and filled with the same joy and hopefulness the band performed with, Movements bid Toronto goodbye, but only for a little while.