Dayglo Abortions 2024 Canadian tour, Eh?
Behind the bar at The Back Stage, Windsor, Ontario, for the Dayglo Abortions show, 6/8/2024.-All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
Luckily, I live in the Detroit area, so it’s a reasonably quick trip over the border into Canada to see shows in Windsor. The Dayglo Abortions “Not Dead Yet” 2024 Canadian tour was one of my most highly anticipated tours of the year, and it did not disappoint. This was a make-up show after the previously scheduled show in 2023 had to be canceled due to lead singer Murray Acton’s fight with colon cancer. This show was sold out as a combination of the canceled show’s tickets being honored and new sales.
After no problems at the border, and a quick trip to Caesars Windsor Casino for dinner (only a mile or two from the show), we headed to The Back Stage. It was a stacked line-up, and we wanted to be there early to see all of the bands.
Scott Funnel of Wolfcharge - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein.
First up was a local Windsor band, Wolfcharge, debuting a new line-up. They played songs from their new album “Dystopian Nightmare” as well as a great GBH cover of “Knife Edge’. They have a good local following, and there were quite a few people there early to see them. I spotted more than a few Wolfcharge shirts in the crowd.
Matt Bishop, one of the guitarists in Disco Assault, has been in several different local bands, dating back decades to the Smoke Bombs. He was most recently on tour with The Reckless Upstarts. I’d seen Disco Assault one time before over in Detroit at The Sanctuary, but this set made them instantly one of my favorite bands. The day after, I played through their entire discography on Bandcamp and added quite a few of their songs to my permanent collection. They are loud, fast, energetic punk rock; it just doesn’t get much better than this. A highlight of the set was “Something I Ate," which you can catch on my YouTube channel below.
Next up was Baited from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. They were the first touring band, and when the singer came out in a Dead Kennedys “Nazi Punks Fuck Off“ T-shirt, I knew it would be good. The three guitarists all had wireless guitars, so they were constantly moving around, and several times they had a mosh pit going on the stage that rivaled the one behind me. For part of the set, Cretin (Murray Acton, The Dayglo Abortions) was on the rail next to me watching their set. The most chaotic band of the night, they definitely held their own in a very solid line-up.
I think Blackout! surprised me the most with how good they actually were. Members of the other bands made up a good part of the audience, and there was a solid pit going. The guitarists looked like they were having the time of their lives. Solid punk rock, and the audience participation was over the top (including some full-frontal nudity that I chose not to photograph!).
Blackout! - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein.
In my opinion, The Dayglo Abortions are one of the greatest bands of all time. I keep notes from all of the shows I have seen over the past 40 years, and The Dayglo Abortions show at Blondies (Detroit) in 1988 is ranked as the best show I have ever been to. Seeing them again 35+ years later and with their singer Cretin (Murray Acton) now being 61 years old, it would be hard to believe that the same magic could be recaptured. It came close.
One thing that makes The Dayglos so great, is that their albums from the early 1980’s (“Out of the Womb," “Feed U.S.A. Fetus," “Here Today, Guano Tomorrow,") their recent albums (“Armageddon Survival Guide," “Hate Speech," “Upside Down World"), and everything in between are all masterpieces. And at this show, we got to hear a little bit of everything. They were heavy on the earlier stuff with classics like “Stupid Songs," “Bedtime Story," and “I Am My Own God,” but they also played new stuff, including “White People," “Sick of the Lies,” and “God Is Love.”.
Unfortunately, the set was cut a few songs short when the bar announced that there was a midnight curfew. The Dayglos still pushed the limits and played one last song, one of their longest, “Drugged and Driving.” Even after that, the crowd refused to leave and were chanting “one more song” for more than 5 minutes while they disassembled their equipment. A night to remember.
