Photobots, roll out! On September 19th, 2023, The Cybertronic Spree made their long-awaited visit to Capital Ballroom, with opener Wordburglar. Three years in the making, this show was supposed to happen April 4, 2020, then October 9, 2021. After multiple pandemic cancellations, they finally found a way to us this year. The room was filled with truly dedicated fans, including an individual with an impressive Perceptor cosplay, getting multiple fist bumps from the stage.
The opening set from Halifax’s Wordburglar was a shock. While the beats were quite simple, the flow and content were the star of the performance. The amount of comic book, video game, and cartoon references I heard were beyond comprehension. In terms of special moments, the first that comes to mind was his freestyle/crowd work abilities. During a freestyled version of Sufficiently Suffonsified, Wordburglar managed to incorporate words that were told to him from the crowd, including someone’s name that was mentioned to him 2 seconds prior to the rhyme he found for it. I was in awe because that’s not easy to come up with that quickly. Also during his set, he gave a shout-out to BC’s very own Moka Only, which was cool to hear from someone living on the other side of this country. From a diss song about trying to get his favorite comic artist to sign his books, to a story telling about how he got the high score in NARC published in Nintendo Power, this set was truly a treat. It was a wonderful way to begin the night because we had a lot more references coming at us.
After three years, Toronto’s The Cybertronic Spree finally (and carefully) climbed the steps onto the Capital Ballroom stage. It seemed like quite a hazardous process, but they all got on stage and I just remembered grinning. After the Galactic Robots finished tuning, they opened with Run for Your Life, an original track off their latest album entitled Ravage. The set was made up of a few originals scattered throughout, but the covers were plentiful. From Thundercats and Mortal Kombat, to Pokémon and Transformers (of course), the band was on point with all the theme songs. Their set also included some ’80s and other vintage sounding tracks. A personal favorite of mine was their cover of David Hasselhoff’s True Survivor which, despite releasing in 2015 on the official soundtrack album for Kung Fury, is still an ’80s-sounding masterpiece.
The musicianship was definitely there, but then there was the personality they all brought. Any time one of them spoke, it was fully in character. I know what you’re thinking: “Well obviously Josh, they are real Robot Warriors”, to which I can only respond: you’re right. They took their performance to the next level with this passion. The crowd participation was also great. Using signs during songs like Thunderstruck, was a brilliant idea and really encouraged singing along.
The night ended with two encores, but first, we had to cheer loud enough for the band to recharge, as robots do have batteries. It was also safer to power down on stage than risk going down, then back up, dark steps in full robot regalia. The Raccoons’ Run with Us was the first encore song and, after overhearing some overjoyed voices singing along, I knew this was a great choice. Then, all of the sudden, the true crowd favorite song played. Based on some of the shirts I saw on attendees throughout the night, Dare to Be Stupid by Weird Al was expected at some point. With the legs (just the legs) of the lead singer (Hot Rod) crowd surfing, the set drew to a close.
Now, I’m no webmeister Bud, who was beyond excited the entire show, but I definitely had a great time singing along to the metal giants. It was really nice that they stuck with the plan to play our city after having to cancel two previously booked shows. It was nice to see the turnout on a Tuesday night, especially after festival season just ended a couple days prior. If you’re looking for great tunes, laughs, and vintage references that are easily found on VHS, then look no further than The Cybertronic Spree!
