Reckless with your love. You. Just. Give it up. These are likely the words fans were humming while pre-drinking and pre-primping before heading to The Hoxton last Friday night for Azari and III’s first full live show in their hometown, Toronto.

Their latest official video for Reckless With Your Love has over 400,000 views and features kisses from Toronto’s cool kids and my new favourite dance move at 1:08. Fresh from touring the world and about to hit Europe, they stopped back in Toronto for their first full live show back home. The 4-piece band made up of Alixander Lanza III, Vocalist Cedric Gasaida (Starving Yet Full), Fritz Helder and Christian ‘Azari’ Felder filled The Hoxton beyond capacity, with old friends and new fans piling in. The urgency to sneak past security and get back stage to say hello made for a mob scene at the back; almost everyone claimed to have some kind of personal story about one of the members of Azari and III: we kissed once, we partied more, etc etc. 

The choreographed dance moves from lead men Fritz Helder and Starving Yet Full made for an electric live show and by the end I was covered in many people’s sweat. Yummy. Mid-show they cleared a runway-shaped rectangle into the crowd and jumped off the stage to vogue, dance, strut and more while (temporarily) getting lost in the madness and hugging old friends. They gave the crowd some extra love with an encore at the end, and at the very very end a guy in a Tupac mask ran across the stage, only to be thrown out by security. Toronto’s own lo-fi hologram perhaps, to give shoutouts to Coachella’s very own ‘real’ Tupac hologram? Some audience members attempted to grab Fritz’ netherlands like they had a right to. After the show young electro fans practiced old-school house moves, and probably only their real BFFs got to hang with the band, somewhere in Toronto for a night of powerful reckless party-love. 

~ Becca Lemire 

Photos by Becca Lemire (Click to Enlarge)