Nita Strauss with Special guests at Horseshoe Tavern Toronto, Canada. 06/18/23 – Sold Out Show

Nita Strauss paid a visit to the legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on her Summer Storm Tour throughout the US and Canada with special guest Lions at the Gates and Sticks and Bones.

People gathered early at the venue. You could tell that they were excited to see Nita perform. She offers a VIP experience for fans who have followed her career from the beginning. VIPs get the chance to enter the venue early and participate in a Q&A session that lasts approximately one hour. This gives fans an opportunity to interact with Nita in a very personal way. They also get a photo with her and an autograph. I highly recommend adding this bonus experience.

After the VIP session, the first band to play was a local band from Brampton, Ontario called Sticks and Bones. Despite being a newer, young band, their contagious energy and nice variety of songs including a cover from Gojira proved that they have a promising future ahead.

The next band up was Lions at the Gate. The band formed in 2021 and consists of most of the members from Ill Niño. The current lineup includes Cristian Machado on vocals, Diego Verduzco on Rhythm Guitar, Ahrue Luster on Lead Guitar, Stephen Brewer on Bass and Fern Lemus on the Drums. The band plated a solid set featuring many of their EPs such as “Not Even Human,” “Vultures,” “Scapegoat” and they closed their set with “Find My Way.”

Setlist:

Not Even Human
Vultures
Scapegoat
Drain
Bed of Nails
The Climb
The Edge
Digital Sea
Find My Way

It was time for the main act of the night! Nita and her band came out from the side stage to a packed venue and started out just like her nickname “Hurricane.” They had such a powerful sound and intense energy that they took the audience by storm.

The entire band moved continuously around the stage with fantastic synchronization throughout their performance. They displayed their musical skills and played a vast majority of Nita’s solo album Controlled Chaos. Highlights included “Our Most Desperate Hour,” “Mariana Trench,” “Pandemonium 2.0” and a drum solo by Josh Villalta.

During the middle of her performance, Nita suffered from an equipment malfunction with her wireless guitar system. After a short break and with the help of her band members and touring staff they were able to fix the defective controller and continued the performance.

Nita was nonstop shredding the entire set. They played a new single called “The Golden Trail” which is a super-fast, heavy track that kept the entire audience engaged.

She also introduced a new tour vocalist, Kasey Karlsen, who showed off her vocal range and intensity with a never performed song called “Victorious” from the soon to be released album that will be out early July on Sumerian Records. Keep an eye out for it as it is sure to be another amazing album.