July Talk kicked off their Touch X Tour at The Royal Theatre in Victoria Monday.
The tour is in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the band’s sophomore album ‘Touch’.
Some fans were noticeably surprised when the band took the stage and Leah Fay Goldstein was showing a significant baby bump. The last time July Talk performed in Victoria in 2023, Goldstein was also pregnant. At one point in the show she made light of that fact.
“The last time we were here, I was pregnant. 150 weeks later, I’m still pregnant,” said Goldstein to the audience. “That’s a joke… I’m not an elephant”
Early in the show co-lead Peter Dreimanis mentioned that the band had been in Victoria for a couple days and that the city had always felt like a second home. July Talk are the second band in ten days to share that kind of sentiment with U.S.S. saying something similar at their show on February 27.
July Talk performed the ‘Touch’ album front to back to start the show. The second half included the live debuts of two songs off ‘Love is Dead’ an album of unreleased songs that were recorded around the same time as ‘Touch’.
Opening the show was the reunited Gay Nineties. The Vancouver band hasn’t performed in Victoria since Rifflandia 2015 and had been disbanded for about eight years before performing a reunion show opening for Dear Rouge in Vancouver last April. Gay Nineties have since recorded and released new music, performing a number of new songs in their set.
The audience was receptive and polite, but it was clear most were unfamiliar with the band. Everyone remained seated through the performance.
