Unreal City Music Festival @ Russian Hall -- January 16, 2026
Unreal City returned for their second year of celebrating local music, this time spanning three nights — one at the Rickshaw, two at the Russian Hall. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to all three, opting just for the killer lineup on Friday. (Also, somehow I had never been to a show at the Russian Hall, so I was glad to fix that).
I missed the first band of the night, checkedout, arriving just after Bloom Effect started. Clad in all black on a stage bathed in red lights, the trio wove through their dreamy shoegaze, transitioning from one song to the next with barely a break.
Though I feel like both times I’ve seen the band in a real venue (as opposed to a free outdoor show) singer Jula Lafit’s vocals have seemed low in the mix. I’m not sure if it’s for the mood or bad luck on my part, so I am interested to catch them again some time this year.
Next up was Ira Hardly, who started with a laid back, folk sound with songs like “Out of My League” and a cover of “Random Rules” by Silver Jews. But the set had a great flow as it slowly ramped up in energy, as Ira sang about social anxiety or running errands with the raucous “Man of Action” for a fun finish.
Shortly after was Jody Glenham, who was joined by some familiar faces in Michael Slumber and Adam Fink with Florence van Camerijk. She kicked off with some older Mood Rock tunes, the simmering “War On This World” and the incredibly catchy “Talking Out Loud”, even reaching back to the breezy “Ill Wind”. But Jody also teased her upcoming EP with “Love Deficiency Syndrome” which immediately got stuck in my head (a curse for an unreleased song), an ode to ‘third spaces’ with “The Local”, and the just-released “Overtime” which built to a crashing end to the set.
The last few times I’ve seen Jody play were free outdoor shows, so I was happy to catch her indoors again and I am definitely looking forward to the new EP!
As well as the main stage, there was a second stage downstairs, though it was only after Jody I managed to slip down there to hear a little bit of trippy synth punk from the ski-mask clad Phuture Memoriez. I also did not have time to get a quick flash tattoo from the station, as it was soon back upstairs to check out worrywart.
The five piece launched into “hail mary baby” and barely slowed down as they played hard and fast, grungy tunes. The only time they paused was a quick tuning break that ended up with singer Ryley Epp jokingly(?) arguing with the crowd about pizza, but they were quickly back to it with an almost hypnotic build to a chaotic finish.
And finally, to my delight a piano was brough out on stage as it was time for the night’s headliner, Spencer Krug. He started off the set alone with some beautiful piano songs “The Fog” and “My Puppeteer”, before weaving through a set that pulled from most of his career; from the intensity of “Barbarian” from Moonface to Sunset Rubdown’s “A Day In The Graveyard II” and even some new tracks.
Halfway through the set he was joined by frequent collaborator Jordan Koop on electric guitar, whose subtle additions complimented but never overwhelmed, on songs like “Slipping In and Out of the Pool” and one of my favourite Krug songs from any project, the haunting “City Wrecker”.
As the set came to a close, Krug mentioned that one particular Wolf Parade song was “getting a lot of attention recently” due to a certain show about hockey players. And so by request he came up with a reworked piano version, for an absolutely gorgeous rendition of “I’ll Believe in Anything”. I can only hope he ends up recording it for his Patreon or somewhere.
I am always blown away by seeing Spencer Krug live, especially his piano shows, and especially as a cap to a night of some great local acts, where each band felt like they brough a different vibe and sound. I’m sad I can’t make it tonight, but I will absolutely be ready for next year’s Unreal City Fest.
