Mondo Bizarre Magazine

words: João Vilares; photos: E. Vilares; editing. Raquel Pinheiro

It is uncommon to be “welcomed” by one of the protagonists of the night at the merchandise stall. Owen Pallett was distributing shy smiles among records and t-shirts, hinting that the first half of the show would certainly be Joel Gibb’s responsibility.

With gnration’s Black Box full, the Berlin-based Canadian artist entered the stage, shortly after 10 pm. With just a guitar, a double-mic and a bass drum, Gibb took us on a journey, lasting over an hour, through some of the main themes of The Hidden Cameras’ church gay folk, like Bread For Brat, Ban Marriage, Redemption, Smells Like Happiness, Freedom, A Miracle, Breathe On It, or the electronica of Origin: Orphan. In between, there was still time for an Instagram moment with the crowd chorusing Awoo.

On Joel Gibb’s debut in Portugal, also unsurprisingly, in this more intimate one-man-show format, Owen Pallett joined him for a large part of the performance, but that did not affect the provocative intensity of the lyrics and the celebratory power of the sexual freedom with which The Hidden Cameras marked the Toronto music scene at the beginning of the century.

The night was only halfway through when Gibb lefted and the stage was exclusively dedicated to the music of Owen Palllett. The violinist, composer and producer brought us “a couple of depressing songs from the last album” (Islands, 2020), such as Lewis Gets Fucked Into Space or Fire-Mare.

Good-humored while tuning the guitar (clearly not his instrument of choice: “Guitar is a boring instrument.”) and following the same celebratory tone of the night, Pallet offered us a retrospective of his solo career since Has a Good Home”(2005) through He Poos Clouds (2006) and In Conflict (2014) before ending with a rock version of Lewis Takes Off His Shirt from Heartland (2010).

Owen Pallett and Joel Gibb would return for the encore with We Oh We from the Hidden Cameras album Mississauga Goddam (2004). The words “All I want is to be under his covers and not just be a time from Yesterday” summon up a concert that celebrated the past with a gaze into the future.