Krewella brings ‘The Sweatbox Tour’ to Horseshoe Tavern + UNIUN afterparty
It’s been three years since Krewella first released their debut album ‘Get Wet’ in 2013. The former trio now consists of the two sisters Jahan and Yasmine Yousaf after their fallout with former member Kris Trindl AKA “Rain Main”. The past few years have been difficult for the girls but just recently back in May, Krewella released six new tracks off their EP Ammunition. The tracks represent the sisters journey that they’ve taken to get to where they are now. The duo announced they will be going on a 16 stop tour- titled The Sweatbox Tour where fans will have a chance to see them at a more intimate venue (a limited number of fans can submit a request for tickets and will be selected at random). If that wasn’t enough, each show will have an after party where anyone can purchase tickets and see them perform.
On Sept 30, Krewella brought the Sweatbox Tour to Toronto’s own Horseshoe Tavern playing to a sold out crowd. The show was very raw and full of mutual love as the girls engaged with crowd throughout their set that ranged from soulful vocals to booming festival trap beats. As soon as the girls went on stage, the crowd gathered right to the front. The girls opened with some of their older songs such as “We Go Down” followed by the 2013 hit “Live for the Night,” “Somewhere to Run” and “Enjoy the Ride”.
The duo also played all their new tracks from Ammunition such as “Marching On” and “Beggars”. The new tracks are more of an angry, high energy rock and pop beat tracks that frantically deliver high energy and a message that “these songs are for all the haters.” The energy was delivered in the crowd as fans were jumping on the stage and crowd diving during these new hits; while others were singing along at the top of their lungs and dancing away.
They also performed their hit with Nicky Romero, “Legacy” and more singles from Get Wet such as “Ring of Fire”. Once the girls performed “Human” the crowd went silent and started singing along to Yasmine and Jahan’s passionate vocals. This is one of our favourite tracks, and the performance was very honest and powerful, it was impossible to get through without getting the chills.
The girls also performed one of their new unreleased track “Dead as Fuck” and it was impressive to see how much of the audience already knew the lyrics from watching previous performances on YouTube. Closing their set with “Broken Record” a high energy trap song. With the audience feeling this ecstatic energy their set wasn’t quite over yet, as the girls left the stage the crowd started chanting Krewella and within minutes, a remix of Barney’s lullaby “I love you” started playing. The girls jumped right back on stage with “Come and Get it”. The last and final song they performed was mega hit “Alive” and the amount of energy that went up in the crowd was insane. Fists were pumping everywhere, everyone was singing along, while the girls were interacting with fans by holding hands with everyone in the crowd. The perfect way to make an comeback, Krewella ultimately delivered with their energetic, sweaty and intimate show leaving fans left with the biggest smiles.
The night wasn’t over for Krewella though. With only 40 minutes in between shows, the girls were headed to UNIUN nightclub for the Sweatbox Tour after party. The after party is open to all fans, where the girls played a DJ set rather than a vocal set. It was impressive to see Jahan and Yasmine still full of energy while opening their set with “Live for the Night” and “We Go Down”. A lot of the same songs were played from the previous show, but the girls played more remixes such as The Chainsmokers’ “Don’t Let Me Down” Justin Bieber’s “Let me Love You” and more. There were a few older song remixes such as Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and newer ones like Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha’s “In the Name of Love”. Closing their 80 minute set with “Alive” and “Beggars”, the girls delivered an amazing two back to back shows, and it’s safe to say Krewella is back to take over the Electronic Dance Music scene.
Thank you INK Entertainment and Sony Music Canada!
[Photography by Melissa Campo]