Bruised Tongue 5 Year Anniversary: Roberta Bondar, Boyhood, Cousins of Reggae and Self Surgery

NAME, drummer for Roberta Bondar looking possessed at Gabba Hey! in Ottawa.
Tyler Ivan Goodman, drummer for Roberta Bondar in the zone at Gabba Hey! in Ottawa. Photo: Eric Scharf

Roberta Bondar capped off an excellent night at Gabba Hey! for Bruised Tongue‘s 5-year anniversary show Saturday, Feb. 15.

With the cloud of fog well in place and the strobe lights flashing, Roberta Bondar played a wicked spacey heavy set. In their first show since August, the local act played a ton of new music, with a sprinkling of old including one of my favourites, “Salt.” The new songs sound amazing, give us a new album as soon as possible please and thank you. Their set was charged, hypnotizing and left me hungry for more.

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The spacey electro-pop of Boyhood set the stage perfectly for Roberta Bondar. I really enjoyed their set even without their drummer. They were forced to play the set with a drum machine as the drummer could not be there. Every time I see them play, Boyhood grows on me more and more. No time is wasted when they hit the stage, so do yourself a favour and catch this band every time you can.

The rocking duo, Cousins of Reggae killing it at Gabba Hey! in Ottawa.
The rocking duo, Cousins of Reggae killing it at Gabba Hey! in Ottawa. Photo: Eric Scharf

One of the highlights of the night for me was Cousins of Reggae‘s set.  They do not play anything that sounds remotely like reggae, but this rocking duo really packs a punch. They played a very heavy drumming driven set that had me headbanging non-stop.  And just when I thought their show could not get any better, the duo switched places and played their heaviest song yet. I hope the act from out of town makes it back soon.

Self Surgery kicking off the night at Gabba Hey! in Ottawa.
Self Surgery kicking off the night at Gabba Hey! in Ottawa. Photo: Eric Scharf

Getting the festivities started was Self Surgery. Most people know him as Pierre Richardson, co-founder of Bruised Tongue, but on this night he was the psychedelic strobe light fueled space trance machine.  Some pretty weird stuff.