Concerts Reviews
AC/DC Brings the Thunder to Vancouver with their ‘Power Up Tour’
There is a point where a band stops being simply a band and becomes part of the architecture of rock music. AC/DC crossed that line a long time ago.
At BC Place on August 13, the Australian hard-rock institution brought its Power Up Tour to Vancouver for a night built around the things AC/DC has spent more than five decades doing better than almost anyone: giant riffs, simple choruses, loud guitars and absolutely no interest in pretending it needs to be anything else.
The Pretty Reckless had the unenviable job of warming up a stadium full of people who had come primarily to see one band. Taylor Momsen and company handled it well. The band had already played BC Place with AC/DC the previous year, so the venue was familiar territory, and their dark, muscular rock gave the evening a harder modern edge before AC/DC took over.
Momsen remains a compelling frontwoman. She has the kind of voice that can go from a rough growl to something surprisingly controlled without losing its bite. The Pretty Reckless worked through songs including “Death by Rock and Roll,” “Follow Me Down,” “Make Me Wanna Die” and “Going to Hell,” making a solid case for their place on a tour where the headliner could easily swallow an opening act whole.
Then it was time for AC/DC. The opening notes of “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)” were enough to make the point. There was no elaborate buildup or some cinematic explanation of what was about to happen. Angus Young walked out in his schoolboy uniform, picked up his Gibson SG and started playing.
That’s the AC/DC trick. They make the obvious feel good. Young is 71 now, and Brian Johnson is 78. Those numbers are hard to ignore for about five minutes. Then Young starts moving. He still has the strange, almost cartoonish physicality that has made him such an effective performer. The duckwalk remains intact. So does the ability to disappear into a guitar solo and somehow make a stadium watch one small figure instead of the enormous production surrounding him.
Johnson has changed more noticeably. His voice carries more wear than it did decades ago, and some of the higher passages have lost a bit of their old bite. Yet there is something fitting about hearing that weathered voice attack these songs now. “Back in Black” doesn’t need to sound exactly like the 1980 recording. Neither does “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” Johnson sings them like someone who has lived with these songs for most of his adult life. The audience knows every word anyway.
“Thunderstruck” turned BC Place into a sea of raised arms. “Hells Bells” brought out the giant bell and all the expected theatrics. “Highway to Hell” needed almost no encouragement from the band; the crowd did most of the work. This is where AC/DC has an advantage over younger stadium acts. There is no learning curve ast hese songs have been sitting in people’s heads for decades.
The Power Up material, including “Demon Fire” and “Shot in the Dark,” fits into the set without disrupting its momentum. Still, the older songs are where the night really catches fire. “Shoot to Thrill,” “Sin City,” “High Voltage,” “Riff Raff” and “You Shook Me All Night Long” are simply too deeply embedded in the band’s history to compete with.
“Let There Be Rock” became Angus Young’s playground. His extended solo was indulgent and ridiculous, but that’s exactly what it needed to be. A shorter version might have been more sensible, but nobody came to AC/DC for sensible.
There is something almost refreshing about how little the band cares about reinvention. AC/DC has no new sound to unveil and no grand statement about where rock music is going next. It knows where it came from, knows what its audience wants and has decided that is enough.
By the time “T.N.T.” arrived, BC Place was already primed for the inevitable finale. Then came “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You),” with the cannons firing and the stadium turning into one enormous, deafening salute.
AC/DC isn’t trying to prove that it is still the future of rock. The band has become something more stubborn than that: a living reminder that a great riff doesn’t age nearly as quickly as the people playing it. Five decades in, Angus Young still wants you to turn it up. Vancouver was happy to oblige.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
Upcoming Power Up Tour Dates:
Thu Aug 27 Atlanta, GA Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Mon Aug 31 Houston, TX NRG Stadium
Fri Sep 04 South Bend, IN Notre Dame Stadium
Tue Sep 08 St. Louis, MO The Dome at America’s Center
Sat Sep 12 Montreal, QC Parc Jean-Drapeau
Wed Sep 16 Toronto, ON Rogers Stadium
Fri Sep 25 East Rutherford, NJ MetLife Stadium
Tue Sep 29 Philadelphia, PA Lincoln Financial Field
More information here.
AC/DC
THE PRETTY RECKLESS
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer | @frogphotography
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: Mario Hats, R&B Hits, and Bryson Tiller – The Neo Trapsoul Tour Hits Vancouver
There was no shortage of entertainment before Bryson Tiller even stepped onstage at Rogers Arena on October 30. With Austin Millz, Ty Dolla $ign and Majid Jordan on the bill, Vancouver got a pretty generous serving of R&B and hip-hop before the headliner arrived. By the time Tiller finally took over, the crowd was ready. And judging by the number of Mario hats scattered throughout the arena, plenty of fans had come prepared for more than just the music.
The Neo Trapsoul Tour has become something of a Mario-themed party, thanks to Tiller‘s viral Halloween costume from a few years ago. The running joke has turned into a full-fledged concert challenge, with fans bringing Mario hats to Austin Millz in hopes of earning upgraded pit tickets or even backstage access from Tiller. Vancouver clearly got the memo. Mario costumes, red hats and signs could be spotted throughout the crowd, with fans hoping to catch Millz‘s attention.
The evening started with Millz behind the decks, setting the pace with an upbeat DJ set. It was his birthday, giving the Vancouver stop an extra reason to celebrate. Ty Dolla $ign followed, arriving in costume for the Halloween-eve show. His appearance brought a change of energy, leaning into the hip-hop side of the lineup with a set built around familiar hits, plenty of crowd participation, and a walk among the crowd.
Majid Jordan took things in another direction. The Toronto duo brought its atmospheric brand of R&B to Rogers Arena, offering a smoother contrast to the preceding sets. Their performance was a reminder of just how much ground the lineup covered musically. With songs like “Hold On, We’re Going Home” and “Stars Align,” the duo had no trouble getting the audience singing along.
Millz returned to the soundboard for another quick DJ set after Majid Jordan, keeping the energy up and the crowd occupied as the arena waited for Tiller.
The headliner arrived with a catalogue that has spent the better part of a decade becoming part of people’s lives. The tour celebrates the legacy of T R A P S O U L, the 2015 debut that helped establish Tiller as one of the defining voices in contemporary R&B. Its blend of hazy production, trap-influenced beats and vulnerable songwriting still feels recognizable today, even as the genre has moved through countless trends since its release.
There was plenty of material from the album, but Tiller wasn’t interested in making the night a straight anniversary performance. His set moved through different stages of his career, mixing the slower, more intimate R&B that first attracted fans with the harder-edged material from his later releases, all with a Dune-adjacent theme backed by an incredible production.
When “Don’t” arrived, the audience was ready to take over. The same happened with “Exchange,” “Could’ve Been” and “Playing Games.” These are songs that don’t need much introduction anymore. Tiller could have easily stepped back and let Rogers Arena handle the vocals, and there were moments when the crowd seemed more than happy to do exactly that.
That’s the interesting part about celebrating T R A P S O U L ten years later. For some, these songs are reminders of a particular time in their lives. For others, they’re simply great R&B records that have managed to stick around. Either way, the reaction was immediate.
Tiller‘s newer material gave the performance some necessary movement. The contrast between his soulful, slower tracks and the more aggressive production of his recent work kept the set from becoming one long nostalgia trip. His 2025 double album, Solace & The Vices, explored those two sides of his sound, with Solace leaning into R&B and The Vices taking a more rap-driven approach. That split was reflected in the concert, showing an artist who hasn’t been content to recreate the same album for the last decade.
The Mario hats added a fun bit of personality to an otherwise familiar arena concert format. It’s a small thing, but these kinds of fan-driven traditions give a tour its own identity. And with Vancouver being the second-to-last stop of the North American leg before Tiller heads to Europe in November, the crowd had plenty of reason to make the most of the night.
Ten years after T R A P S O U L introduced Bryson Tiller to the world, its songs still carry plenty of weight. The challenge for any artist with an album that influential is finding a way to celebrate it without becoming trapped by it. In Vancouver, Tiller showed he has more to offer than memories of 2015. The old songs still hit, the newer material has its place, and apparently, a Mario hat might get you closer to the stage.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
Head here for more information about Bryson Tiller – The Neo Trapsoul Tour.
BRYSON TILLER
MAJID JORDAN
TY DOLLA $IGN
AUSTIN MILLZ
FANS
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: Simple Plan End the ‘Bigger Than You Think!’ Tour on a High Note in Paris
Last Saturday was Halloween, and what better way to celebrate than by going to a Simple Plan show, with hundreds of people dressed up as the Scooby Gang. To make matters even better, the sold-out concert was the closing show of their Bigger Than You Think! tour, ending four and a half weeks with a bang. With two openers and over two hours of music, the evening was packed with high energy and full of nostalgia.
First of the night was Charlotte Sands, a powerhouse of a voice taking over the stage at 7:30pm accompanied only by her drummer. The singer started off strong by performing “None of My Business”, a song from her newest album Satellite. She then followed with “pity” and “use me”, two songs off can we start over?, her sophomore album.
Before singing “Afterlife”, Charlotte Sands asked the audience to put their phone lights on, and soon enough the entire arena was illuminated with people’s flashlights, making the performance emotional and memorable. Back when she first released this single over a year ago, the singer dedicated it to her fans, posting snippets of the song over videos of her with her fans – this moment served as a beautiful reminder that everyone can connect to its lyrics.
Before closing out her set with “Hush”, Charlotte Sands performed “neckdeep” – a song which proved to be incredibly fitting as she used it as a segue to introduce the next act, UK pop-punk band Neck Deep.
Charlotte Sands will be back in Paris on April 12 for her own headline show, and tickets are already on sale.
Up next on stage were Neck Deep, making a grand entrance with their matching blue wigs, worn by both the band and their crew. Indeed, the band paid homage to Charlotte Sands by dressing up like her for Halloween, even introducing themselves as “Neck Deep aka Charlotte Sands aka Neck Deep”. Beginning their set with “Dumbstruck Dumbf**ck”, the energy only went up from there and, soon enough, at least two circle pits were forming in the venue. Lead singer Ben Barlow encouraged fans to let loose and the crowd did not hesitate, as crowd surfers made their way to the sounds of “Motion Sickness” or “Can’t Keep Up The Roots”.
Presenting themselves as “a generic pop-punk band”, a label they’re proud to reclaim as a clap-back to haters, Neck Deep explained that they’re also more than that, as they went on to sing their ballad “When You Know”. Ben Barlow then asked people to make women-only mosh pits for “She’s A God”, making sure men kept out and for the women to enjoy the moment.
Finally, Neck Deep closed out their set with two fan favorites: “December (Again)” and “In Bloom”.
Despite the twenty-minute break in between sets, the energy never died down thanks to a perfectly curated playlist full of French classics. From Renaud to “La Tribu de Dana”, French fans were already singing and dancing before the quartet from Quebec even got on stage – and it only got louder from then on. Starting off with “I’d Do Anything” and “Nothing Changes”, the pyrotechnics, confetti and LED screens made the experience fun and enthralling. By the time “Shut Up” played, everyone was jumping and screaming along. The band then went on to play the French version of “Jet Lag”, to the pleasure of the Parisian audience.
Both new and long-term fans were celebrated throughout the concert by lead singer Pierre Bouvier. He made sure to emphasize that whether you’ve been here for 20 or 10 years, since 2002 or 2022, everyone was welcome and the band was thankful nonetheless.
One of the highlights of the evening was the band giving away two tickets for their hometown show next February, including two plane tickets to Canada, to a lucky fan randomly selected in the audience. They went on to sing “Summer Paradise”, launching giant balloons in the crowd.
The atmosphere quieted down a bit next, as Pierre Bouvier went across the venue to sing “Untitled” alone on a piano. Taking advantage of the emotional moment, the singer explained how much of a dream it is for them to play here. Continuing with a mashup of “Crazy”, “Perfect World”, “Save You” and “This Song Saved My Life”, Pierre walked his way back to the main stage, high fiving and hugging fans.
The mood picked back up from where it left off and the millennial anthems continued next, as the band played the hit song from Shrek’s soundtrack, “All Star”, followed by Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” and The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside”.
Finally came the highly expected moment of this show. “This is Halloween night, you know what time it is”, the band announced as people dressed as Scoobydoo started running onstage from all over the floor. Soon enough, the entire stage was filled with hundreds of people, in what seemed like an endless parade.
As the end of the night was looming to a close, Simple Plan took another moment to reminisce and express their gratitude to their audience. From their first show in the French capital back in 2003 to their multiple shows at Le Bataclan over the years, Pierre expressed how heartwarming it is for them to get to play so many concerts here, especially considering they’re “our cousins from across the big lake”. Before the concert even ended, the band was already looking forward to coming back. After four and half weeks on the road, they told the French crowd they couldn’t think of a better place to end their tour, as that night was their biggest sold-out headline show in Europe.
After drummer Chuck Comeau crowd surfed for the second half of “I’m Just A Kid”, Pierre played a snippet of Green Day’s “Basket Case”. The concert (and the tour) finished off strong with “Perfect”.
One thing’s for sure: Simple Plan knows how to deliver a high-energy show full of nostalgic hits. Whether you grew up listening to their songs or only discovered them recently, the band’s discography resonates with everyone and will make you sing and dance along. Just like they said, we’re already looking forward to the next show.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
SIMPLE PLAN
NECK DEEP
CHARLOTTE SANDS
All Photo Credit: Manon Pothin