It’s the evening of January 17th, and I arrive at History when doors are set to open. I am at the back of an almost neverending line which spans as far as I can see, and then goes even further around the corner. 

To my left, banks of snow are adorned with littered cans of pregame Cutwaters. For the next hour I would eavesdrop on other people’s conversations about how much their tickets cost and I watched as more and more people trickled down towards the back of the line. Women are suited up in either mid-calf-length leather boots (myself not excluded) or a pair of the elusive Boots With The Fur. A bedazzled top and a short skirt or minishorts with ripped tights underneath completes the ensemble. Half of the fans here tonight are wearing a coat, and half are not, which I can hardly fathom. It’s below freezing temperatures, and I would feel the consequences of this bleak weather very soon. The line slowly inches forward, minute by minute. 

I have something that sounds so obnoxious to say out loud. I take a step towards the security guard monitoring the line and ask, “I’m here for press—should I wait in this line, or head somewhere else?” As he answers me, clouds of cold breath permeate the air and his teeth chatter loudly—yes, I should stay in this line. Aw, rats. 

I don’t know anyone here. Time passes slowly. As the clock ticks on, any remaining heat in my body is sucked out through the soles of my feet, where the ground they stand on is covered in a thick layer of compacted snow. I am silent and freezing cold.

***

After an hour in line, I entered the venue, and the tall, mysterious doors to History welcomed me into the set of Michigan-based artist anna luna. luna’s sound can be easily appreciated by anyone who is already a fan of Snow Strippers, boasting a familiar moody, electronic sound. But that’s not to say her music isn’t unique in itself. The subject matter in her songs is often noticeably vulnerable, with luna singing haunting lines such as “I’m falling to pieces” through mountains of autotune (which isn’t a bad thing!*), causing her voice to sound simultaneously robotic and like it’s floating through a dream. luna has a great discography for feeling deep in the throes of being a sensitive and troubled young woman while stuck at someone’s mediocre house party. 

*By the year 2026, we should collectively be past the idea that the use of autotune equates to a lack of talent. The importance of autotune in the artistic sensibilities of artists like Snow Strippers and anna luna is massively important and should not be discounted.

“rotten” is luna’s most popular song in terms of streams, and it was instantly welcomed with cheers from the crowd. My first listen to “rotten” was on the bus heading to History, and just that listen is all it took for me to be interested in luna’s upcoming performance. Live, the track “so high” intrigued me the most due to its rock sensibility, standing out from much of the rest of her set, which otherwise leaned into melancholic dance tunes. luna’s dream-like vocals on “so high” are sung over heavily distorted, crunchy guitar chords and a punchy, hypnotic drum line. 

Behind anna luna was tonight’s second act, Eera, on turntables. Once luna finished singing for the night, she bade goodbye to the crowd and skipped off stage, where Eera immediately dove into his set. I was even less familiar with his discography, but what I was faced with was a solid DJ set that ebbed and flowed in a masterful way.

Towards the beginning of the set, I found that the music I was hearing was nearly timeless; it could fit in anywhere between 1996 and 2026. Mixes were delightfully textured, featuring Amen breaks and rave pianos. Sounds would seamlessly evolve into something new without letting me catch on to what was being set up next. Then, just when I thought I had a grip on Eera’s vibe, Nettspend was being sampled in the set I just called timeless. I can definitely say Eera kept me on my toes, and my first impression of him was very positive. Though he gave an amazing showcase of what skillful DJing looks like in practice, Eera sadly didn’t have a grip on the all-ages and likely attention-deficit crowd present at History tonight. My experience of his set was dampened by the swaths of people around me yelling into each other’s ears with questions such as, “WHEN DOES THE HEADLINER COME ON?” and responding with insightful answers like “I DON’T KNOW!” 

As the set finished up, my back hurt terribly. I bought a sugar-free Red Bull from the bar, which I drank while hunched over in a squat, trying to alleviate the pain running along my spine. I gave up on trying to get as close to the stage as I could—after a few shows, I’ve learned that the people at all-ages shows for popular artists such as Fakemink and Snow Strippers often behave like animals. I find that the closer you get to the barricade, the more likely it is that chunks of hair will accidentally be torn from your scalp, and the more imminent experiencing suffocation or a cracked rib due to the pushing and pulling of the crowd becomes. Call me “unc” if you want, but these dadgum kids have no manners (With all my complaining about back pain and ripping on minors, would you have guessed that I’m only 21?). As I finished my Red Bull, upwards of ten plastic water bottles were placed on the DJ deck by the venue staff, a signal that Snow Strippers would soon appear. 

While Eera felt largely timeless, a glaring quality of Snow Strippers is that they are unmistakably modern. Often, Snow Strippers will be likened to electronic artists from generations past, such as Crystal Castles, and though I can understand much of this comparison on a sonic level, the character that shines through in Snow Strippers’ music couldn’t fit anywhere but the 2020s. Snow Strippers are so entrenched in Gen Z irony that it hurts—but I love it. They’re terribly fond of humorous samples, one of their favourites being a female voice saying “bruh,” which is heard on numerous songs. Their use of this soundbite of an antagonized emo teenager in the beat drop of “So What If I’m A Freak” makes me laugh every time. Additionally, Snow Strippers can be heard just about everywhere online, from “Under Your Spell” going extremely viral in almost every corner of the modern-day internet to “Just Your Doll” being essential to 15 year olds who take the blackpill/looksmaxxing doctrine as gospel (see looksmaxxing playlist for more). 

Snow Strippers eased into the night by spinning a building piano section while spamming their signature Night Killaz sample. The crowd instantly recognized the upcoming beat drop and screamed in delight, as the set kicked off with the aforementioned charming and beloved “Just Your Doll.” They started off the night strong, and I already had a big dumb grin on my face. The set continued into two of my favourite Snow Strippers tracks: “You Could Be The One” and “You’ve Done It This Time,” both from April Mixtape 2. The songs are intense and distorted, leaning into hardstyle, which is where I personally enjoy this duo the most. 

Frontwoman Tatiana Schwaninger moves in an eccentric and often unpredictable way on stage, which I believe pays off by helping her appear charismatic and unique. Though others may have some choice words about Schwaninger’s performances on stage and in music videos, what you cannot say about Schwaninger is that she’s uninteresting. From her unorthodox outfits to her playful dance moves, Schwaninger has a unique and mysterious allure. In fact, both halves of this duo are quite mysterious—DJ Graham Perez is a quiet, outwardly laid-back man, and in tonight’s set he took on the persona of Nonchalant Wizard DJ, sporting an absolutely giant hood on his head as he used the “bruh” and gun-cocking soundbites in rapid succession during songs. 

The energy from the crowd reached its peak during “Under Your Spell,” and deservedly so. It’s a song that’s hard not to move and dance to, even though I don’t think that the mosh pits that appeared and dissipated throughout the night were really warranted. It’s dance music, not crowdkill music. Another fan favourite was Lil Uzi Vert’s version of “It’s a Dream,” with hundreds of people singing along to “Life isn’t ever what it really seems/And once you wake up, it’s just a dream.” Though they’ve only been active for less than five years, Snow Strippers have a large discography that is very consistent in its quality, meaning it’s not hard for them to put together a great setlist. Some of my other favourites of the night were “TV Sex,” “Passionate Heights,” and “Aching Like It’s.” I heard “we love you guys” and “we love Canada” from the duo about four or five times throughout the night. Was it earnest? Who knows, but I clapped and cheered either way. 

History was a fantastic venue to host Snow Strippers. The venue felt intimate enough to emulate the club setting where an artist like Snow Strippers flourishes, and the visuals of the night were elevated by the state-of-the-art lighting and effects characteristic of History. The sound capabilities of the venue kept thumping bass lines sounding great, and an abundance of strobe lights never ceased to flash and change colours with the music. There isn’t much of a better way to put it than to say, “It’s cool as hell.” 

As I stepped back out into the cold night, I mistakenly made half a second of eye contact with a young man on the street holding a microphone in hand, while another young man holding a camera stood beside him. The microphone was shoved in my face and the man instantly started asking me questions which were uttered as fast as his mouth could move: “Whatwouldyouratetheconcerttonight?” Gen Z really loves to quantify experiences on a scale of 1–10. 

My official, on-camera answer was a 9.5. Though I had my complaints about the weather and the crowd, I do love Snow Strippers, and I really did enjoy my night. All of tonight’s lineup were thoroughly talented and a pleasure to see live. I also see myself as very lucky to be at Snow Strippers show at all. Tickets for every leg of this tour had sold out, and I’m sure tons of Snow Strippers fans in Toronto instead spent their night at home, wishing they had the money to pay a scalper $150 or more for a chance to get into History.  

I learned later from History staff that the press actually didn’t have to wait in that line, in the cold, for an hour. Whoops! The next morning, I awoke tired, congested, and with a head filled with fluid. I was sick, the obvious explanation for it being that the prolonged cold outside of History wrecked my body. I would be cozied up in bed next to a box of tissues for the better part of a week. 

That’s not to say I regret that night, though. Snow Strippers were fantastic, and I would brave the line all over again for them any day.