Our Lady Peace and The Verve Pipe

Despite having reached the peak of their success in the late 90s, loyal fans of Canadian rockers Our Lady Peace have convinced the band into a steady stream of live performance which, over the years, still never fail to disappoint.
Our Lady Peace exudes the presence of a characteristically 90’s rock band on stage, coming full force with their guitar riffs and heavy drumming. Lead vocalist Raine Maida’s expressive face and characteristic stare penetrates the crowd, and you’ll be lucky to hear anything over the sound of fans singing along to some of their biggest hits. While they have eight studio albums under their belt, a show without some of their greatest hits just wouldn’t be the same: Superman’s Dead, Naveed, Clumsy and Somewhere Out There are never off the table. Even their angsty hits Innocent and Life almost always find their way onto their live sets. After more than twenty years together, the boys from Our Lady Peace are especially loyal to their Canadian fans, where they continue to tour and perform rock festivals and one-off gigs all across the country. Although the band has suffered a hit with the recent departure of long-time drummer Jeremy Taggart, that hasn’t broken the resolve of Our Lady Peace to please their biggest fans onstage.

It’s important not to confuse The Verve Pipe with their similarly, but ultimately more simply, titled British counterparts, fronted by Richard Ashcroft, but honestly, there’s probably not too much danger of that; whilst the ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ men have enjoyed the lion’s share of their success in their native UK, so have The Verve Pipe seen most of their highs take place on their own side of the Atlantic. In 1996, the Michigan outfit released their first major label album, Villains, and saw one of its singles, ‘The Freshmen’ go to number five on the U.S. charts; ever since, they’ve maintained a strong cult fanbase. After follow-up efforts The Verve Pipe and Underneath both fared strongly in terms of radio play, if not on the charts, they spent time pursuing other interests before dropping the children’s album A Family Album in 2009. They toured intimate venues in support of it, with the shows markedly different from their usual, noisy affairs; the acoustic guitars came out as they put some distance between themselves and their grungy, nineties sound. They might well return to it, though now that they’ve released their first proper record in over a decade, Overboard, this past June; they’re planning to tour in support of it, so nineties nostalgists should look out for UK dates.