Music

3 nights with PUP at the Danforth Music Hall

by AUX staff

Photos: Amanda Fotes, Riley Taylor
Words: Tyler Munro

Last Friday, the members of Pup, Pkew Pkew Pkew and the Dirty Nil all shared the stage for a song, closing out a sold out night at the Danforth Music Hall with a crew-cover of Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town.”

For all three bands, the night was a reunion: A nod to the time they crammed 100 or so of their sweatiest fans into the Magpie on Dundas, a show that remains the hottest I’ve ever been. But for Pup, it goes back a little further. Not just to 2013, when a burgeoning Toronto band called Topanga changed their name, then staked their claim on Toronto’s punk scene on stage opening for Titus Andronicus, but to the years before; time spent gigging in teenaged ska bands, hustling on small stages and searching for a sound that has evolved to become indisputably theirs.

The Danforth Music Hall is no small stage, and for three nights, Pup dominated it. They had help from their friends – backstage, on stage, and in front of it – and as the venue’s 11PM curfew neared each night, fans no doubt thought to themselves: “The dream isn’t over. It’s just become a reality.”

We’re proud to have been there with them on this long ride, and happier still to have had talented photographers capturing every night. Click through the gallery above and feel the FOMO.