“Being kind is punk rock,” protests the delightfully earnest Superman of James Gunn’s new Superman movie, released earlier this month. It’s a quote that crossed my mind several times throughout Thursday’s Our Lady Peace concert at Budweiser Stage – not because “Superman’s Dead” was on the setlist, but rather due to the remarkable sincerity of OLP lead singer Raine Maida, clearly grateful to be playing for this hometown crowd.
OLP is not punk rock, but it’s loud and brash, with startling visuals – check out that Clumsy album cover – and occasionally abrasive lyrics – sample from “Clumsy”:
I’ll be waving my hand
Watching you drown
Watching you scream
Quiet or loud
Look (and listen) more closely, however, and you’ll realise that Our Lady Peace is far gentler and tender-hearted than first appearances suggest. Maida’s work has long been suffused with painful, but ultimately hopeful lyrics, touching on topics ranging from addictions to mental illness to loss. Together with his wife Chantal Kreviazuk(!), Maida is also known for his commitment to social causes, including his family’s long-running association with the widely-admired NGO War Child Canada.
Again and again, the real Maida comes through in his lyrics. Take the depression-themed anthem “Innocent”, which reminds us, in its singalong-friendly chorus, “We are, we are all innocent…”
Then there’s “Somewhere Out There”, a song about addiction and estrangement, which conjures the evocative image, “You’re falling back to me / You’re a star that I can see”. Even “Clumsy”, with its caustic lyricism, unfolds an oddly sympathetic chorus:
And maybe you should sleep
And maybe you just need
A friend
As clumsy as you’ve been
There’s no one laughing
You will be safe in here
You will be safe in here
Seeing Maida in action, it’s easy to understand where this all comes from. Introducing the song “Whatever” – best known as the theme song for wrestler Chris Benoit – Maida explained that the band had refrained from performing it ever since Benoit’s shocking murder-suicide of his family, but that OLD had recently re-recorded it, donating all streaming proceeds to suicide prevention initiatives. At other moments, encouraging singalongs or trading wristbands with an audience member, his love and affection for his bandmates and fans were readily apparent.
The OLP of today is no longer the band of its (our) youth: only Maida remains, the last of the original band members having departed in 2014 (though founding guitarist Mike Turner “cameoed” on 2021’s Spiritual Machines 2, a legacyquel to the band’s well-received 2000 concept album). Still, aside from the deepening of Maida’s voice – he no longer hits those nasally high notes like he used to – you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference. Bassist Duncan Coutts, guitarist Steve Mazur, and drummer Jason Pierce formed a solid core alongside lead singer Maida.
Highlights of Thursday’s heavily rain-delayed show included the aforementioned “Clumsy”, “Somewhere Out There”, and “Superman’s Dead”, along with an exceedingly rare treat, OLP paying tribute to one of the greats with a cover of The Tragically Hip’s “Locked in the Trunk of a Car” (off 1992’s Fully Completely). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: more artists need to work covers into their shows: there’s nothing quite like being at, say, a First Aid Kit concert and having those sisters bust out a Leonard Cohen classic.
For the inevitable encore, Our Lady Peace graced fans with three of their greatest hits, even working in a couple more surprises. Following a long absence from the stage, Maida resurfaced at a piano deep in the crowd, delivering a heartfelt acoustic rendition of “Not Enough” (from 2002’s Gravity), joined immediately afterwards by his wife Kreviazuk, who took the keys for “4 am” (off Clumsy).
The show ended, as it perhaps had to, with Maida back on the mainstage for a blow-the-roof-of-this-thing performance of the band’s breakthrough success “Starseed” (from Naveed, 1994). It was a heck of a note to end on, Maida and friends basking in the warmth of the (mildly soaked, but nevertheless delighted) post-thunderstorm hometown crowd.
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Our Lady Peace’s tour continues throughout July and August across North America.
