Letting Go and Becoming Insufferable: Sweet Pill at Lee’s Palace
- Zachary Osborn
- Mar 17
- 6 min read
“Yo, what the fuck, we’re wearing the same hoodie!?” As I was exiting the Lakeshore East GO train at Danforth station, I was shocked to see someone else wearing the classic Prince Daddy & The Hyena forest green hoodie. The gentleman named Rob laughed and asked if I was also going to the Sweet Pill show. He and his girlfriend Emma were travelling from Whitby whereas I was commuting from Ajax. The odds of all of these coincidences occurring has to be atomically small. This is also why I love going to shows solo because all it takes is two strangers wearing the same outfit and next thing you know you’ve got a new friend. On our walk to Main Street station we talked about our thoughts on the new Sweet Pill album, Prince Daddy’s upcoming show in June, and Torontonians lack of knowledge on Durham Region (guys, Ajax is only 2 towns over from Scarborough, it is not that hard to remember). While on the platform, Emma insisted Rob and I take a photo together to have something to remember the show by. I like that it resembles those awkward family photos that you’re forced to take with your cousins. “Dad, who is this person and what the fuck does “twice removed” mean?”
As I got in line outside the historic Lee’s Palace (did you know they filmed Scott Pilgrim here), I ran into another attendee wearing the same Prince Daddy hoodie. He and his mates were more so looking forward to Heart To Gold and they raved about the band's last Toronto show at Sneaky Dee's. They were coming all the way from Wingham, which I've since learned is a town located near Goderich. The more you know. Because I drank 3 pints of Guinness (or was it 4) the night before, I decided to pass on getting an $11 IPA (before tip) and got a comfy spot on the railing outside of the pit. I’m not one to talk to the strangers next to me but thankfully I had an illegal stream of the Habs vs. Ducks game on my phone, as well as Oscars awards updates to keep me preoccupied in between sets.
The first act of the night is SPACED, a hardcore band from just across the pond in Buffalo. Repping Buffalo Style both musically and in fashion, SPACED knows how to wake the people up and get the legs moving. Unfortunately with the rest of the lineup being more midwest emo/emo-pop, the two stepping in the crowd left more to be desired, and some folks weren’t fans of the Toronto Style crowdkilling. The lead singer walked on stage wearing a Josh Doan 1990’s Buffalo Sabres throwback jersey and wasted no time flexing the Sabres’ current divisional lead and how they recently kicked the Maple Leafs’ ass the other night. As a Habs fan, I also appreciate a good belt-to-ass roast of the Leafs. If SPACED happens to read this, a part of me is happy the Sabres are finally good, and man is that team going to be terrifying in the playoffs. For fans of effect-heavy guitar riffs and early Turnstile vocals, be on the lookout for the next SPACED show so you can experience their Far-out Hardcore.
Straight from Minneapolis, Minnesota, we have our second act, Heart to Gold. The Indie Rock Midwest Emo band immediately grabs the attention of the audience with the booming drums of their song TNT and repeated requests from lead singer Grant Whiteoak to get the FOH engineer to increase the reverb on his microphone. Also shoutout to drummer Blake Kuethe for repping a Cashier t-shirt. For fans of Narrowhead and reverb-heavy guitar riffs definitely go check out their 2026 EP The Weight. Hella underrated band. Despite being an opening band on this tour, Heart to Gold have developed a loyal following who will waste no time yelling the band’s lyrics back at them. It was also during this set that we saw folks scratch the itch of wanting to crowd surf, which can be a bit of a dilemma due to Lee’s Palace’s absurdly high stage. Luckily, only one stage diver miscalculated their jump, taking out a group of 5 people. My new friends from Wingham let me know before the show that Heart to Gold’s vocals are “insane” and that was evident on my personal fav track Tigers Jaw. The first half of the song features angsty lyrics like, “And I wanna die, but I hate being dead” to the backing of a moshpit friendly melody, only for the beat to switch halfway to the musical equivalent of an exhale. The repeated lyrics of “Sail away, oh sail away, and come again, another day” give off the crowd surf feeling of being carried away by the audience. The boys from Wingham were right, Heart to Gold puts on one heck of a performance.
And finally, we have the City of Brotherly Love’s very own, Sweet Pill. The Alternative Emo-Pop band is back with their sophomore album Still There’s a Glow, which dropped just 2 priors to the show. Me personally, I like having a couple of weeks to digest an album before attending a show because it allows fans time to memorize melodies and lyrics. But despite the album being fresh out of the oven, the dedicated fans were well prepared for each new song that played. Prior to their set, my Habs lost in a devastating way (late third period goals and constantly needing comebacks are not healthy for someone whose family has a history of heart disease), but Jessie Buckley became the first Irish woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress, so to celebrate I messaged my friends and said, “by any means necessary, I’m stage diving tonight.”
The perfect opportunity came about when I heard the opening chords to their 2022 banger Where the Heart is where fans finally began crowd surfing. I have the privilege of being fairly lightweight so a simple shoulder tap of two average build men was enough to get airborne. By the time I made it up to the stage (with the help of lead singer Zayna Youssef pulling me up) the song had ended. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome, so like all stage divers at Lee’s Palace I did the awkward squat and leapt head first back into the crowd. It was at this time that I heard a couple of “fuck you’s” from a couple of fans. I couldn’t make out who it was as I was more concerned about where the fuck I was going to land but I still made sure to flip them off in their general direction. Whoever it was, I guess they missed the memo earlier about having empathy and being supportive in the scene. Very strange. Thankfully, the folks who got me back on my feet reassured me by saying “hell yeah man.” I was dehydrated and skipped coat check so I went to hang by the water pitcher to catch the rest of the show and cool off.
Sweet Pill lives up to the sophomore album’s name with the neon sign stage setup and the glow in the dark pants (easily the best outfit at the show). The band were a breakout success with their debut album Where the Heart is, and with Still There’s a Glow, they are now proving to be leaders in the emo-revival movement with the album’s consistency and their commitment to providing a cathartic show.
Going to a show solo is an underrated and necessary experience. You can chat with fans while waiting in line, befriend the people stuck with the task of lifting people up to crowd surf, become insufferable by stage diving on top of people’s heads, or you can just hang in the back of the venue and watch the chaos unfold from afar. The fellas from Wingham stopped me to say, “I guess we’ll see ya at Prince Daddy in June!” To be honest, I don’t know if I’ll actually end up going, but I at least know that if I do go, I’ll be sure to bump into some old friends.
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