Singer-songwriter Briston Maroney and indie-quartet Peach Pit are, in a way, two sides of the same coin. Both the Tennessee native and the Vancouver-born band manage to be some of the most insane (affectionately) and bemusing people on stage, while at the same time giving off the vibes of some meditative, long-haired, tye-dye-wearing hippies. Each of their sets at Budweiser Stage were absolute roller coasters, confirming why they were the perfect match for their Long Hair, Long Life co-headline tour.

I was lucky enough to attend the closing night of their North American road trip in Toronto, a particularly special spot for the Peach Pit boys as they finished this run in their country’s biggest city. Being the one in charge of opening up the cloudy evening, Briston came on stage with a jar of mini pretzels, throwing them out to the crowd like he was at a zoo. And that pretty much set the tone for the rest of his set. Having released his third album JIMMY just a couple of months ago, the 27-year-old kicked off the night with “Real Good Swimmer”, a track loud and heavy enough to get everyone in the venue immediately hyped.portion of the attendees was mainly there for the band from British Columbia, but it truly took Briston less than twenty seconds to win everyone over.

Spicing things up and only helping the excitement grow, Peach Pit’s Dougal McLean joined Briston on stage to play the violin during “Land of Light”. And then halfway through Maroney’s part of the show, the tour’s entire crew, including the Peach Pit members and the opener named Bnny, joined Briston on stage, during his song titled “The View”, as they got ready to pack up one last time before heading home.

Throughout the hour he got to be on stage, Maroney traveled through songs released at various points in his career, although expectedly almost half of the setlist consisted of songs from JIMMY. Most of my personal favorites from his discography made the cut –”Body” from his 2023 album Ultrapure, “Caroline” and “Small Talk” from Indiana (2019), and even “June” from Big Shot (2017)– so I was going to leave happy regardless, but I think for those who were hearing him for the first time it was also the perfect selection.

But more than that, Briston’s authenticity and overall tumultuous energy is what I believe makes seeing him live such a rewarding experience. He holds a level of chaotic energy that you can tell is real; he will be yelling at you (the audience) exasperatedly to jump up and down or else during a certain song, and the next second he’ll be sitting on the floor asking you to join him on some mid-show meditation. He has somehow found the perfect balance between not taking himself too seriously and properly showing you why he is so great at what he does.

Briston’s turn finished with “Freakin’ Out On The Interstate”, his biggest song to date, delivering a beautifully and perfectly appropriate final performance; naturally this was the song most people knew, and the crowd sang it back to him as he just smiled and stared at a fully-packed Bud Stage. I know for a fact that this is the usual outcome with this song, but to be standing there and hearing thousands of people sing every word back to him made me embarrassingly emotional, so I can’t even imagine the feeling it must give to the boy who wrote it. I’m just glad this tour gave him the chance to play for crowds as big and as loving as this one was.

At 9pm, Peach Pit’s Neil, Chris, Mikey, Peter, plus their fifth touring member Dougal, came in with a bang, beginning their set equally intensely with a mash-up of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and their 2024 single “Magpie”. But the momentum kept going as up next came one of their Peach Pit-est songs, “Drop the Guillotine” from their 2018 album Being So Normal, the record that turned out to be the protagonist of the night. (Technically this song is originally from their first ever EP Sweet AF, but that’s a different, slow-pace version that they kind of pretend doesn’t exist <3)

To be fair, Being So Normal is indeed a spectacular album. Being their debut, it naturally is what established them in the indie scene, but it’s also what set the tone for their entire discography to this day. The incredibly distinctive sound they created in it remains prominent on their most recent releases, which has allowed them to both continually grow and also maintain a coherent and cohesive style and repertoire. As they got ready to perform its title track halfway into the show, the band’s frontman Neil talked about their first big-ish show ever, which was in Toronto. That time they played at Rivoli, a tiny back room at a downtown bar, with a capacity of 200 people. That was the first time they realized they were actually “making it” as a band. Now, performing in front of a crowd of 16,000 people, they dedicated “Being So Normal” to the day ones, those who were there, at their Rivoli show.

Keeping the energy at an all time high the entire evening, the West Coast group danced and jumped through songs from their 2020 and 2022 albums, You And Your Friends and From 2 to 3, respectively. Surprisingly enough (or perhaps not?) their 2024 LP Magpie only got one slot on the setlist, but they did play some other songs from it in other cities. And then as expected, one of the highlights of the night was the back to back of “Alrighty Aphrodite” and “Shampoo Bottles”, two fan favorites or honestly just general population favorites.

Right after that came a bittersweet moment though, as Neil shared a story about how, when they started the band, they would hang out at Peter’s aunt’s house, who had become very special to all of them, and who has sadly recently passed. They dedicated “Private Presley” to her, “Auntie”, Peach Pit’s first ever fan.

For an encore we were treated to a Neil solo acoustic performance of “Peach Pit”, from their debut EP. He once again talked to the audience and explained how he and Chris had met –both potentially while tripping on psychedelics– and how the band slowly came to be. “Peach Pit” originally included a whistling solo, which Neil generously performed for us before deadpanning “now you guys know why I needed Chris”.

The rest of the band joined their singer on stage one more time to perform “Tommy’s Party”, also from Being So Normal, a final song that was received with as much love as the first, eighth, and all the ones in between.

I think Peach Pit is a band that you can so easily and almost inadvertently become infatuated with, that only when you see them live you consciously realize how much you truly, really like them. It’s almost like they’ve always been there, you’ve always loved them, and so you kind of take them for granted until you see them live in all their splendor. They are a band that objectively gets even better when live.

There is an easiness to their music that I can also see in Briston Maroney’s presence, I guess in like a different flavor, which transcends the actual songs and transfers itself into anyone that will listen. From sweet, slow-paced songs to angstier ones that make you want to jump around, they are all just as intoxicating, whether you need a few moments of peace or a shot of adrenaline, or who knows, even both at the same time. They meet each other’s energies so seamlessly even in the aspects that differentiate them, and the Long Hair, Long Life tour was simply a match made in heaven.