They call themselves a “baby band”, but when they walk on stage Mickey Loves Mallory invites you into their world where they’re royalty. Tattooed, decked in leather with bleached hair, MLM—made up of Brandon DeLyzer and Dani Jean— look as if they’re about to unleash a mess of rock onto the stage. Though once the beat drops and the blond songstress begins to sway, you realize that they’re something more. There is a swagger to her movement, a cool confidence and triumph as the trick is unveiled to the crowd. The trick? They can’t be tied to a genre. Any category they attempted to fit in would be flipped and tilted into their own creation.

Smooth beats introduced the crowd to MLM. With strong hip-hop undertones the flow is different as electronic elements work their way into the set. As you begin to understand what the band is about, they change up their dynamic, losing a little of the electronic sound, amplifying the alternative rock, and then pairing it with rap as Jean takes a step back from the mic and DeLyzer lets loose. Their sound is amplified as the set goes on and there is a raw intensity that sticks with you after the lights have dimed.

The darling of the evening, Zella Day took the stage looking like a dream, hippy and a rock star rolled into one tiny bundle of attitude. Smiling to the crowd as she floated across the stage, she picked up her tambourine and immediately went into the zone that normally takes a few songs for musicians to get into. Often times finding the crowd at her feet, literally, she ridded any barricade between her the audience by playing to the stage’s edge.

“This is my Canadian debut,” she said her third song in, relishing in the cheers thrown back at her. Often on her knees to meet the crowd’s eyes, Day didn’t shake off the hands grasping for her. She met them with her own, smiles and a look as thrilled as the ones centered on her. From climbing amps, to stretching herself over the crowd, as much as her tiny frame allowed, Day didn’t just perform she experienced the venue, the crowd, the evening.

“I’ve been wanting to do this since I was twelve years-old, so thank you,” Day gushed.