Crystal Castles: 2 April 2011 – Toronto

Whoever said that electronic artists could never be rock stars hasn’t seen Alice Glass. Despite orders from her doctor to cancel all upcoming shows, the Crystal Castles front-woman, broken left ankle encased in a cast, defiantly hobbled onto the stage of Sound Academy on Saturday night with the aid of a crutch. Her foot firmly planted on a monitor, Glass proceeded to blow the roof off the place, performing a slew of 8-bit glitch pop hits with fellow band mate Ethan Kath.

Famous for her wild stage antics, it first appeared that Glass might take it easy and stick to just singing, but that suggestion was quickly dispelled during the performance of “Baptism” when she threw herself backwards onto the stage, requiring help from Kath to get back up. The high-octane performance continued through the entire set, and included fantastic versions of “Crime Wave”, “Alice Practice”, “Empathy” and fan-favourite “Not In Love”.

With the floor packed with wall-to-wall fans dancing under a steady pulse of rainbow-coloured strobes, Glass threw not only caution to the wind, but herself into the crowd. Held high by the adoring audience, she surfed around before being safely returned to the stage.

An already incredible show was complimented by a 3-song encore that included “Intimate”, “Yes No”, and “Untrust Us”. A band full of action but very few words, Crystal Castles vanished from the stage leaving their sweaty fans happy but definitely wanting more.