Tony Kakko - SONATA ARCTICA
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR CONCERTWORKS
Concertworks had me out on the prowl once again to catch the buzz on Saturday November 26th's show at the Starlite Room, as Edmonton hosted some of Finland's finest, Sonata Arctica and their guests: Leaves' Eyes, Omnium Gatherum and, Edmonton's very own Solborn, making this a wicked power metal feature for Edmonton music fans.
Simone Simons - EPICA
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR CONCERTWORKS
With much delay, I've finally mustered up just enough motivation to plug out a gallery and write another one of my famous half-assed blogs, I've also had the time to collect a few thoughts on a show which hosted Epica, one of Europe's biggest power metal sensations, earlier this month. Accompanied by Italy's Fleshgod Apocalypse, Russia's Arkona and, fellow Canadian's in The Agonist, who all played key parts in filling up Edmonton's Ranch Roadhouse on Sunday November 13th with eager metal fans.
Mike Millan - CALLING ALL CAPTAINS
Happy Halloween to all of my spooky friends out there! I kicked off my somewhat uneventful Halloween weekend in the best way possible, which left me in good spirits for the remainder of the weekend. My friends in one of the coolest pop punk bands in Edmonton, Calling All Captains were opening up a show on Friday night in the basement bar of the Starlite Room, Brixx Bar & Grill, which ended up being a really wild show.
The guys asked me to take a few behind the scenes shots of them setting up their gear for their set, so this being the first time I've ever really done something like that at a show, I tried my best to not get in the way while they prepped and primed everything before show time.
It was so refreshing to see people reacting so passionately to local music, and supporting their local scene in ways that everyone did on Friday night. It's not often that you see people stage diving to local bands... But it's certainly a wicked sight to see when it does happen, especially when the venue is packed full of people. Things like that always give me hope for our local scene, despite its constant fluctuation, I believe we've reached a plateau of healthiness in terms of supporting our local musicians all across the board.
However, Calling All Captains crushed all expectations I had for that evening, and I couldn't have been happier to be there to freeze those memories for them. The guys played one of the best sets that I've ever seen them put on, and that just makes the pleasure of being there to catch the action that much sweeter.
Deryck Whibley - SUM 41
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR CONCERTWORKS.CA
Punk rock legends, Sum 41, graced Alberta's capital with a knock out of a performance in Edmonton's newly-renovated Union Hall on Tuesday night, playing to a completely sold out venue, jam packed with excited concert goers. Thanks to the energetic opening sets performed by As It Is and Senses Fail, the house was ready to rock right from the get go.
Before Sum 41's time to shine, the screen back lining the stage at Union Hall came to life, displaying various tour video clips of the band from some of their most memorable times on stage throughout their 20 year career. The recognizable main riff of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" began to flood through the monitors, causing an outburst of excited shouts and screams from the audience.
At last, as the band took to the stage, the full house of excited fans began to roar. Immediately starting things off with a bang, the band boomed into "The Hell Song" resulting in hundreds of voices singing the words back to the band. This behavior continued on as the five-piece broke into "Over My Head (Better Off Dead)". Sum 41 kicked the show off with force, escalating the concert experience with worm rolling crowd surfers and a frenzy of moshing in the pits below.
Continuing on through their hefty 22 song set, Sum 41 played various tracks spanning their 20 year career, a large portion of which consisted of tracks from their newest album "13 Voices" but of course, this gig wouldn't have been a walk down memory lane if they didn't play any classics, so thankfully, they crushed it with a handful of their hits, and also included two covers during their performance, playing only the intro of Rage Against The Machine's "Bulls on Parade", and then Queen's "We Will Rock You", before at last, putting the cherry on top of the show with, probably their most anticipated song, and their big rock-n-roll finish "Fat Lip", which the singing voices of Edmonton truly gave it all they had left to make sure the band could hear them. Judging by the huge smiles on all five of their faces, Sum 41 heard, and approved.
Joe Storm & Lzzy Hale - HALESTORM
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR VANDALA MAGAZINE
Girl power was strong at the rock show in the heart of Edmonton's downtown area last night, as femme-fatale tour line up consisting of powerhouses Halestorm, Lita Ford, and Dorothy brought those who gathered in the beautiful Winspear Centre to their knees, and made them beg for more.
TEGAN & SARA
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR VANDALA MAGAZINE
Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre was full of both young and old faces, all prepared for a night full of tunes, courtesy of Canadian twin-pop-sensations, Tegan and Sara. As the Vancouverite sisters delivered the perfect pop performance to kick off the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend, voices of the hundreds of concert goers who gathered at the front of the stage could be heard singing the lyrics to every song over the booms of the band, causing contagious smiles to erupt on the faces of those on stage.
GHOST
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR EXCLAIM!.CA
Halloween arrived early this year in Calgary, as Sweden's infamous, anonymous, satanic musical sensation, Ghost, graced the stage at MacEwan Hall to a packed Tuesday night crowd. Numerous fans could be seen wearing their best Ghost-inspired costumes, many faces were painted like skulls in honour of the band's only visage.
As church-like choir and organ music filled the room, five of the six anonymous band members each took to their place at their instrument onstage, silhouetted against thick fog, with beams of purple and red lighting shining upon them, creating an eerie mood for concertgoers. As the lights began to settle, the band immediately boomed into their 15-song set with "Square Hammer," resulting in a deafening eruption of joyous cheers from the audience. Then, they amplified as the staple figure, and frontman of the band, Papa Emeritus III, appeared front and centre in full mock pope-attire and began to unleash his hauntingly beautiful voice upon the crowd.
As the night progressed, the anonymous sextet clergy had their loyal fans greedily eating out of the palms of their hands as they sang along loudly to each song. Many fan favourites dominated the setlist: "From the Pinnacle to the Pit," "Secular Haze," "Body and Blood" and "Year Zero" all satisfied the many long-time fans.
With a quick wardrobe change from Satanic pope to maestro, Papa Emeritus III began to conduct the audience with a wave of his hands, and in return, voices echoed throughout the Hall, repeating the chorus to hit song "Cirice" in unison, giving the song a truly spooky vibe. Then, millions of pieces of metallic confetti and dollar bills with Papa's face on them rained from the air as the band glided into "Mummy Dust."
Ending the night on a strong note with "Monstrance Clock," the singing voices of Ghost's audience still echoed throughout the room, as the choral ending to the band's big rock'n'roll finish began to fade out, leaving only the voices of the concertgoers to fill the silence, putting the cherry on top of this night of ritual and worship.
Jesse Kongos - KONGOS
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR EXCLAIM!.CA
Edmonton's Union Hall played host to the one and only KONGOS last night, as they tore up the stage with harmonious excellence, with The Joy Formidable rockin' along at their side.
I was particularly looking forward to this gig after catching the gentlemen of KONGOS at SONiCBOOM 2015. Despite the dreary weather that tried to put a damper on the festival that year, KONGOS still managed to put on a wickedly entertaining set. This time in Edmonton, the brothers did just that, with a little extra "ooph" to get the ball rolling, and to keep the anticipation amped throughout the crowd.
The music was on point, the energy in the room was great, and yet, my photographers-brain still wandered to things that most concert goers don't notice, or pay any mind to... Lighting. I've always been a sucker for good, creative light set ups at concerts (as many fellow concert photographers are) and the light show that KONGOS had programmed last night, though challenging at times, proved to be no less than creative. With light beaming on the band as each member took turns singing lead vocals throughout the set, the literal spotlight would illuminate each member in a way that complimented the mood that the band was trying to portray with each of their songs, making my job of catching the guys in action a little easier.
All in all, last night's show was great. The energy in the room was more than what you'd expect at a week day rock concert, and everyone, on the stage, and within sight of the stage seemed to have smiles on their faces and appeared to be having a great time. Of course, as those of you who regularly follow my blog postings know, sights such as this, makes me one happy gal.
Jeff Waters - ANNIHILATOR
As 2016's local festival season has come to a close, this past weekend held host to an epic milestone for the local metal community, not only in Calgary, Alberta, but for western Canadian music festivals in general. As Calgary Metalfest embarked on yeah number five of delivering an annual weekend that's jam packed with wicked bands of all kinds, spread out among multiple days and venues across the city of Calgary.
This years main draw brought a massive flock of Canadian metal fans to Calgary's Flames Central on Saturday September 17th, to bare witness to a historic night of Canadian metal, as some of our nations forefathers and heaviest hitters in thrash metal stormed the stage all in one night. With Ottawa's very own, Annihilator headlining Saturday night, amping up the crowd and leading the charge were Exciter, Sacrifice and Razor, each delivering nostalgic forms of thrash metal to the masses, all the while, breathing new life into their songs of old.
The room maintained a level of excitement beyond expectation, as a constant frenzy of headbanging hair and moshing would ensue for each performance. Beyond the usual metal-concert-behavior, the unity of western Canadian metal music fans was the most pleasant sight to see. These local festivals are really just one big, fun, family reunion for many people involved in the Canadian metal community, and these united times are what will always keep us together and going strong, and that, is something that I wouldn't trade the world for! Here's to another five glorious years, Calgary Metalfest!
THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT
PHOTOGRAPHED FOR VANDALA MAGAZINE
Gracing the stage of the Starlite Room in the midst of Labour Day long weekend, beloved fellow Canadian's of the Devin Townsend Project boomed into Edmonton, laying down a wicked 14 song set to a sold out house.
Anticipation was rising throughout the night, as Calgary's Divinity, and San Francisco's Fallujah warmed up the audience with songs of consistent beauty and neck-breaking speed. As fog began to fill the room, concert goers were tightly packed on the floor of the Starlite Room, slowly inching their way forward towards the stage. As the lights dimmed, the crowd began to roar, consecutively louder, as each member of the Devin Townsend Project took to their place on stage. At deafening levels, the audience beamed as Devin Townsend himself, took his place front and center.
Exchanging smiles with nearby audience members, the band slammed into Ocean Machine's 'Night', causing an outburst of singing voices to echo around the venue, before rolling into Ziltoid the Omniscient's 'By Your Command', which resulted in a frenzy of headbanging across the floor, and unfolding the excitement even more so with 'Failure' from the soon to be released album, Transcendence.
Rolling on throughout the set, Devin and his band played a number of fan favorite tracks, 'Hyperdrive', 'March of the Poozers', and 'Kingdom' to name a few, as well as a handful of songs such as: 'Higher', 'Stormbending' and 'Secret Sciences', from their newest record, Transcendence. It was obvious that the audience received hearing these new tracks for the first time well, as murmurs of eagerness to hear the rest of what the album had in store could be heard among fans in the crowd.
As each member of the band left the stage momentarily, Devin appeared alone, silhouetted against beams of white light. Speaking to the crowd with sentiment, as if he were speaking to an old friend; All the while, expressing his appreciation for everyone who made it to the show. Armed with an acoustic guitar, Devin flew solo as he played the familiar melodies of 'Ih-Ah!'. His hauntingly-beautiful voice soared through the Starlite Room, as the audience began to sing along and clap to the rhythm of the song. Exchanging smiles with his band mates at the side of the stage, he welcomed each of them back to their places before tying their performance together with 'Grace', their final song of the night.
After the last hammering chorus of 'Grace' had left the bodies of singing audience members, Devin bid his farewells by shaking the hands of nearby concert goers, thanking them for their endless support while also being on the receiving end of thanks for his genius; Overall casting a memorable evening of sentimental musical enjoyment for all who gathered at the Starlite Room on Sunday night.
