By Carrie Musgrave

Hot off their recent Polaris Prize nomination, Malajube used the momentum to pack Lee’s Palace on Saturday night with rabid (mostly French) fans and those curious to see what all the fuss is about. They certainly didn’t disappoint, and even with much of the crowd not understanding the lyrics, the catchy hooks managed to get many people dancing (gasp!) and yelling all sorts of things at the band in franglais.
A few songs into the show, singer Julien Mineau announced to the audience that guitarist Renaud Bastien was feeling tres malade, due to eating some mystery meat from a street vendor…yikes! Bastien tried to tough it out, running on and off the stage every once in awhile and sweating it out while playing his guitar sitting on the floor, but eventually packed it in and left the stage for good. Not to be outdone, a short while later, Mineau decided it would be a good idea to smash his $1000 telecaster to pieces, making many people in the crowd audibly weep.
As if that wasn’t enough drama for one evening, as the show drew to a close, keyboardist Thomas Augustin decided to do an impromptu stage dive into the crowd. Bzzzt, wrong! As people caught sight of him leaping towards them, the crowd split and Augustin landed flat on his face. After many horrified gasps, he emerged and the crowd triumphantly lifted him over their heads and shuffled him back onto the stage. There are some things that require a little bit of warning to make them work…and in Toronto, those things require a lot of warning!
It seems that between the high energy of the music and the stage antics, Malajube secured themselves as worthy of their Polaris nomination and breaking through the French Canada barrier. There should be many good things to come for this band and it will be interesting to see whether or not they stay true to their French roots or pull a Celine Dion and start singing in English in order to have a long-lasting career.
By the way, malajube does not refer to a sad jujube (as if you didn’t think that, too!), but is apparently a rare frog disease. Pull that fun fact out next time you want to impress some girl at a bar.
Photo: Carrie Musgrave. More photos here.