Arkells @ Rogers Arena -- November 15, 2024

I’ve never made it a secret that I’m not super fond of arena shows. The last time I had been to a show at Rogers Arena was 2011 (Foo Fighters!) and since then I’ve only been to three other arena shows. But, funny enough, two of those were one of the few bands that would get me to an arena: Arkells. So even though it was a busy weekend in Vancouver, when they came back to town on their Big Feelings Tour, it was a no-brainer to see one of the best live bands in Canada.

Opening the night was K.Flay, backed with just a drummer & guitarist, she opened the set with “Are You Serious?”, as she danced through her high energy alt-pop songs.
Partway thought the set, she picked up her own guitar for “Weirdo” and my fave of the set, her 2016 hit “Blood in the Cut”, which segued into a cover of Green Day’s “Brain Stew”.
After her latest single “Punisher”, she capped off the set with the lockdown anthem “Zen” and “High Enough” for a solid opening set to get people energized for Arkells.

It wasn’t long after that the lights dimmed and hand-held searchlights light up on stage, scanning the crowd as the five members of Hamilton’s Arkells took their places: frontman Max Kerman joined by Mike DeAngelis on guitar, Anthony Carone on keys, bassist Nick Dika and drummer Tim Oxford.

Kicking off with the slow-burning “Come To Light”, and not wasting any time inviting K.Flay back for their collab “You Can Get It”, the band came out of the gate hard. As always, Max was a ball of energy, rarely slowing down for a moment. But he also made sure everyone on stage getting their own time to shine; like Anthony’s piano solo going into “People’s Champ”, where Max also introduced the Northern Soul Horns section, while they slipped in a little bit of “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”.

After the raucous “Relentless”, the energy came down for a moment early in the set, as a string interlude transitioned the set to be a little more intimate. With a black curtain cutting off most of the stage, the band huddled up for a few acoustic tracks. First, they took a request from a couple that was just married, playing “Show Me Don’t Tell Me” for them, before “Quitting You” and “Skin”, which started with just Max, before the curtain dropped and the rest of the band kicked in.

Throughout the night, it was clear that the band was feeding off the energy of the packed arena; the just-married couple made a later appearance as Max gave them an opportunity for another ‘first dance’ to “And Then Some”, during “Past Life” Max brough up a small child to join in on vocals, before dipping into the crowd to get to their payphone prop in the middle of the arena & taking a voicemail request for “Nobody Gets Me Like You Do”, and later he danced through the crowd again for “Dance With You”.
And the crowd reciprocated with huge singalongs to songs like “Hand Me Downs”, the anthemic “Years in the Making”, and a couple classics (and personal faves), the cathartic “Oh, the Boss Is Coming!” and “Ballad of Hugo Chavez”.

After a full cover of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”, they wrapped up the set explosively with “Knocking at the Door”. But the stage stayed dark, and they returned moments later, K.Flay back with them for another cover, duetting (ironically) “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn, before the tender “My Heart’s Always Yours” and bringing the night to a close with “Leather Jacket”, the entire arena once again joining in.

The first time I saw Arkells headline their own show was at the Biltmore Cabaret in 2009. Since then I’ve seen them outgrow venue after venue, go from opening festivals to headlining, and become one of Canada’s biggest rock bands. Heck, I even remember conversations in the old CBC Radio 3 days saying they were an “arena-worthy” band. And through their years of hard work, Arkells have absolutely proven that sentiment correct.

setlist
Come to Light
You Can Get It (ft. K.Flay)
People’s Champ
Relentless
Show Me Don’t Tell Me
Quitting You
Skin
Hand Me Downs
Big Feelings
And Then Some
Past Life
Nobody Gets Me Like You Do
Michigan Left
Oh, the Boss Is Coming!
Ballad of Hugo Chavez
Whistleblower
Dance With You
Years in the Making
9 to 5 [Dolly Parton cover]
Knocking at the Door
(encore)
Dancing On My Own [Robyn cover] (ft. K.Flay)
My Heart’s Always Yours
Leather Jacket

Stars: Set Yourself On Fire 20th Anniversary @ Vogue Theatre -- October 23, 2024

In 2004, a band from Montréal released what would end up being one of my favourite albums*. Now, 20 years later, Stars are on tour celebrating the anniversary of their seminal record, Set Yourself on Fire, and last night they returned to Vogue Theatre in Vancouver for a sold out show.

Opening for the west coast leg of their tour was an old friend of the band, Kevin Drew. The Broken Social Scene singer came out alone with his acoustic guitar, grateful to be there before starting off with the old KC Accidental instrumental “Residential Love Song”.

A couple songs in, he was joined by fellow BSS-er, David French on sax to accompany him on “Can't Find My Heart”, before launching into “World Sick” as Drew’s voice soared through the room. He chatted between songs, talking about his history with Stars as well as his admiration for Gord Downie, spurred by the recent documentary, even dedicating “Party Oven” off his recent album Aging to Gord’s kids. He switched from guitar to keys with “Sweetest Kill” before squeezing in one more song, “Good Sex” as French jamming along.
Drew is always a captivating performer, whether with a full band or solo, and he had the whole sold out room in a hush during his all-too-short set.

It wasn’t long after that before Torquil Campbell, Amy Millan, Evan Cranley, Chris Seligman, Patrick McGee, and Chris McCarron hit the stage — joined by French on sax and a violinist (who I missed the name of) — and the familiar introduction rang out: When there's nothing left to burn, you have to set yourself on fire.

Though, the show got off to a bit of an auspicious start; mere moments into “Your Ex-Lover is Dead”, Torq stopped cold because he spotted someone near the front in trouble. After passing out some water, and making sure they were okay, the song restarted and kicked off the show with the huge singalong to the perennial favourite, chills going through the room -- and not for the last time.

Celebrating Set Yourself on Fire, Stars went through the entire album track by track, from love & sex to war & death; the gorgeous voice of Milan on “Ageless Beauty” and the playful “First Five Times” to the bitter “One More Night” and the absolutely stirring “He Lied About Death”, the stage lit blood red as the song built to a chaotic finish, Pat going bonkers on drums. Torquil stalked the front of the stage for the anthemic “Soft Revolution”, before the last song of the album (but not the last song of the night, “cos we’re fucking professionals” they joked) as they stepped off mic and Amy conducted the entire theatre to a beautiful singalong of “Calendar Girl”

Honestly, I would have been satisfied if they had ended there, but they promised a few more “bangers”, going into the raw emotion of “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It” and the incredibly danceable “We Don’t Want Your Body”. After teasing they would be back in just a few months time, the band belted out ever-relevant “Take Me to the Riot” followed by another singalong to an old favourite, “Elevator Love Letter” capping off the main set.

But the lights stayed dimmed and they were soon back with the haunting “Dead Hearts” and “The Passenger” dedicated to Torquil’s daughter, niece, and nephew in the crowd, and finally ending the nearly-two-hour set with “From the Night”.

During his opening slot, Kevin Drew talked up his long-time friendship with Stars, saying he had never met a more passionate band. And this night was a perfect example. Even without the tangible proof of Torq stopping the show to make sure someone was okay, you could feel the love pouring off the stage. Love each and every member has for each other, for their music, and espeially for the fans. And a love that the sold out room very much reciprocated.

Stars setlist
Your Ex-Lover is Dead
Set Yourself on Fire
Ageless Beauty
Reunion
The Big Fight
What I’m Trying to Say
One More Night
Sleep Tonight
The First Five Times
He Lied About Death
Celebration Guns
Soft Revolution
Calendar Girl
Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It
We Don’t Want Your Body
Capelton Hill
Take Me to the Riot
Elevator Love Letter
(encore)
Dead Hearts
The Passenger
From the Night

Kevin Drew setlist
Residential Love Song
You in Your Were
Can't Find My Heart
World Sick
Party Oven
Sweetest Kill
Good Sex

Sunset Rubdown @ Rickshaw Theatre -- October 10, 2024

Even after last year’s reunion show(s) and a whole brand new album, there’s a part of me that still can’t believe Sunset Rubdown is back. But after the release of Always Happy to Explode a few weeks ago, the band has once again hit the road, starting their tour here in Vancouver at the Rickshaw.

Opening the night was Sister Ray, who I only caught the last few songs of, walking in to singer Ella Coyes’ soft vocals, and a haunting song, before they picked up a guitar for a more upbeat tune. After joking, since we’re friends now they wanted to hear everyone’s secrets (be it at the merch table or over DMs), they capped off with a song that I didn’t catch the name of, but liked the heartfelt lyrics. I’ll definitely have to check out their latest EP Teeth, and keep an ear out for them in the future.

It wasn’t long before Sunset Rubdown flashed on the screens flanking the stage, and the band came out, Spencer Krug and Camilla Wynne both on keys & vocals, Nicholas Merz on bass, and Jordan Robson-Cramer on drums (later joined by Eli browning to fill in on drums when Jordan took over guitar).

Starting with “Worm” off the new album, the band played a set that wove through their catalogue, all the way back to “A Day In The Graveyard II”, with songs ranging from the restrained “Losing Light” to the manic “Snake’s Got A Leg”; sometimes capturing all that in one, like “Shut Up I Am Dreaming Of Places Where Lovers Have Wings”, which went from calm stillness to a thrashing wave, crashing upon the shore and back.

Other highlights included Krug’s distinct vocals blending with Wynne on the seasonally appropriate “Ghoulish Hearts” and the absolute earworm “Reappearing Rat” from the new album, as well as a pair of personal favourites from Random Spirit Lover, the creepy “Winged/Wicked Things” and “The Mending of the Gown” with its ridiculously chaotic energy.

After nearly an hour and a half, the set came to a close with “The Men Are Called Horsemen There”, but after making the crowd work for it, the band was pulled back for an encore with one last song, “Stadiums and Shrines II”, thanking everyone for coming once again.

A couple times throughout the night, the band joked that since it was the first show of the tour, they didn’t have a firm setlist, so would just play everything and people could leave whenever they wanted. I have a feeling that if they did make good on that promise, the room would have been full until the wee hours of the morning (I know I would have stuck around).

setlist
Worm
Snowball
Cliché Town
Silver Moons
Snake’s Got A Leg III
Us Ones In Between
Ghoulish Hearts
Candles
Shut Up I Am Dreaming Of Places Where Lovers Have Wings
A Day In The Graveyard II
Losing Light
Reappearing Rat
Winged/Wicked Things
The Mending of the Gown
The Men Are Called Horsemen There
(encore)
Stadiums and Shrines II

PHOTOS: Rich Aucoin @ Fox Cabaret - October 03, 2024

Rich Aucoin
Fox Cabaret
October 03, 2024

Photos by Christine McAvoy

Click here to read Kirk’s recap!

Rich Aucoin @ Fox Cabaret -- October 03, 2024

This too shall pass, all good thing must come to an end, and other such clichés.

I say this because Rich Aucoin is now on the last tour of his legendary parachute show. A few years ago, Rich announced he would be winding down this version of his live show, now its finally happening. And anyone who’s seen a Rich Aucoin post on this blog before will know how fun they are, so of course there was no way I was going to miss it.

With no opening act, the night started with Rich announcing the plan; first a Synthetic Set, comprised of songs off his latest series of albums of the same name, followed by an intermission, and then the Classic Set.

So it began with Rich behind his synth, trippy patterns flashing on screen behind him, as he started off with “Release”, and then wound through tracks from his Synthetic albums. The instrumentals zipped from dizzying highs to glitchy breakdowns, Rich rarely breaking between songs as they lead seamlessly into each other, whipping the crowd into a dancing storm.

During the break, a photo montage filled the screen, reminiscing of the last decade-plus of shows, accompanied by songs like “Good Riddance”, before a ten minute countdown hit to hype everyone up.

As the timer ticked down to zero, the show began with the usual “trailers”, a series of fun clips, memes, viral videos, and old school Canadiana (House Hippo, anyone?) before the audience summoned the narrator — David Attenborough this year, although past narrators Arnold Schwarzenegger and Michael Caine made cameos. With all that excitement building, it was time for the Feature Presentation, as the opening credits hit, shouting out people in the room with fun facts attached, staring off with Rich telling us we need a “New Nostalgia”.

From there, Rich — joined by phenomenal drummer Tony Dallas — blasted through a set of his high energy, incredibly fun, and often thought provoking tunes, spanning his entire career, from “At War With the Cynics (An Opening)” to “Kayfabe” and everything in-between. He squeezed in as many songs as possible, even doing mashups and medleys, pairing songs with thematic similarities, like “How it Breaks” & “Watching, Wishing, Waiting” or “Four More Years” & “Want to Believe”. Throughout the whole show, the crowd sang with no reservations, as he conducted everyone to shout along with “Undead” and “Brian Wilson is A.L.i.V.E.”, the big screen almost always including lyrics.

Along with those lyrics, the screen behind Rich also featured a selection of visuals, from static images to his music videos, to thematically appropriate clips. He even harkened back to some of his early shows while showing parts of How the Grinch Stole Christmas syncing up to songs like “10,342 Cuts for the US (An Exploding)” from his Personal Publication EP, written to sync up with the animated classic.

As usual, Rich was teeming with energy. When not behind the synth he was bounding across the stage, and often into the crowd to sing with everyone (it’s no wonder he’s retiring the show, I was exhausted just watching!) And the crowd was very much reciprocating that energy, no more evident than during “Are You Experiencing?” as the parachute came out for everyone to dance under, while screaming along “When you give it all up, you get it back”.

The set came to a close with perennial (and personal) favourite “It” but Rich had one last surprise, leaving everyone with a singalong to another fun mashup. But this time not any of his own songs; the tune of “Stand by Me”, accompanied by the lyrics to “All Star”.

And so the set came to a close, with Rich in the middle of the crowd, promising that even though this era is coming to an end, he would definitely be back in a new form, be it his synth show or a brand new experience.

And I can’t wait to see whatever it is.