Rising British metal stars Green Lung thrilled a sold-out audience in Toronto Tuesday for the band’s first-ever show in the city — but on this night, the crowd’s biggest round of applause might not have been for the band at all.
It’s not like the quintet disappointed — far from it. Seeing the stoner/doom band live feels a lot like what it must have felt like to see Black Sabbath in the early 1970s, with a vivid, unbridled power coupled with dizzying musicianship and occult themes.
But Buffalo resident Jacob Marsh might have stolen the show when he got on one knee on stage at The Velvet Underground mid-set and proposed to his longtime partner, Jared Pease, causing the crowd to absolutely erupt.
“I’d never done anything like that,” Marsh told CBC News in an interview.
“The [metal] community has always been very inviting and nice, so I had high hopes that it would be received well.”
Buffalo resident Jacob Marsh proposed to his longtime partner Jared Pease onstage at The Velvet Underground in downtown Toronto Tuesday night, in the middle of a set performed by British metal band Green Lung.
Pease works as an audio engineer and said the only inkling he had that something might be up was when, at the show, Marsh asked him which side of the stage was stage left, alongside seeking tips about how to talk into a microphone.
“And I was like, ‘That’s a weird question, but we’re going to roll with it,'” he said with a laugh.
Marsh said his plan came together this week when the band responded to an email request to help with the proposal, and the ring — featuring a black star sapphire sourced by a friend, and set in a hefty band by a second friend — was finished.
“I tried to make the ring I got for him as metal as possible too,” Marsh said. “He looks like a big Viking, so I figured it would fit.”
Green Lung vocalist Tom Templar told CBC News in a statement that the band’s first tour of the U.S. and Canada has been full of special moments, with the proposal being one of the most memorable.
“It was an honour to be part of it,” Templar said.
“We wish them a long and happy life together, and thank them for adding some real life romance to our performance of ‘Oceans of Time.’ Love (and heavy metal) conquers all!”
Both men said they were floored by the crowd’s response, with a stream of congratulations following them throughout the night, even when they were blocks away from the Queen Street W. venue.
“That’s what I’ve always loved about the metal community — it’s always just been so inclusive and so welcoming,” Pease said. “Everyone is accepted, it doesn’t matter who you are.”