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: AC/DC – Hell’s Still Bellin’
AC/DC. Christ. What’s left to say? Everything’s been said, screamed, tattooed on someone’s bicep already. Doesn’t matter. That’s the whole racket, they never changed, never blinked, and more than fifty years later they’re still the loudest gang in the room.
Growing up, they felt ancient already. I am a 2001 kid. Turns out the joke’s on me: they’re still out there, riffing like it’s ’79, refusing to retire into legend status.
Princess Auto Stadium was packed with about 35000 attendees. Everyone was wearing red twinkling devil’s horns. To warm up the night, The Pretty Reckless started with one of the hits “Death by Rock and Roll.” Some support acts play like they’re grateful for the slot. Taylor Momsen played like she owns the stadium. The hair falling forward, somehow the less you can see of her face the more magnetic she gets. Stage presence isn’t something you learn. She’s just got it.
The band didn’t sound like an opener. Every riff landed with the swagger “Going To Hell” and “Since You’re Gone” kept it burning, and “About You” brought it down to something rawer before the lights cut. By the time The Pretty Reckless walked off, the audience were already screaming AC/DC! AC/DC!
Winnipeggers stood stunned through AC/DC‘s whole set. Angus Young, 71 years old still in that signature blue schoolboy uniform and yellow-and-blue cap, ran wild across the stage, duck-walking like no time had passed at all, genuinely, a dream come true to watch in person.
Meanwhile, the rest of the band, rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, bassist Chris Chaney and drummer Matt Laug stayed largely in the background, keeping the engine running for Angus and Johnson to tear apart.
The production matched the legend, “Hells Bells” arrived with an actual giant bell hanging over the stage. The setlist ran deep: “Thunderstruck,” “Have a Drink on Me,” “Shot in the Dark,” “Stiff Upper Lip,” “Highway to Hell,” “Jailbreak,” “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.” Almost every song sounded just as good as the album version. The crowd tore their vocal cords apart singing along to “You Shook Me All Night Long” and “TNT.” “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” closed things out with cannons blasting into the night sky.
The house lights came up and nobody moved right away. Smoke still hanging over the stage, ears ringing, horns still lit up red across the stands. Bands this old aren’t supposed to sound this dangerous. They aren’t supposed to still mean it. But AC/DC never got the memo about slowing down, and honestly, thank God for that. I walked out hoarse, deaf, and completely satisfied.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
AC/DC
THE PRETTY RECKLESS
All Photo Credit: Nischal Karki
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: Party On, Vancouver: Dogstar Sells Out the Vogue Theatre
The Vogue Theatre was packed wall to wall on September 16 as Dogstar rolled into Vancouver, and the excitement was impossible to miss. New York rock band The Backfires kicked things off with a lively opening set, warming up the room before Bret Domrose, Robert Mailhouse and Keanu Reeves stepped onto the stage. Naturally, hundreds of phones immediately went up when Reeves appeared, because Vancouver was not about to let this extremely Keanu moment go undocumented.
Reeves held down the bass, Domrose took on guitar and vocals, and Mailhouse powered the night from behind the drums. While one member may come with a little more star power, Dogstar quickly felt like a proper three-piece instead of a celebrity side project. The chemistry between them was relaxed and natural, with plenty of smiles, glances and little interactions that made it clear they were genuinely happy to be playing together. Reeves frequently wandered across the stage to jam alongside his bandmates, occasionally making his way toward the front and sending another wave of phones into the air.
Dogstar’s story stretches back to Los Angeles in 1991, when Reeves and Mailhouse first started making music together. Domrose later joined the band, and the trio released two albums before going their separate ways in 2002. More than two decades later, they reunited, returned to the stage and released Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees in 2023. Now, with their latest album All In Now and another tour underway, Dogstar are giving this chapter of the band far more than a quick nostalgia lap.
The set began with “Siren,” immediately setting an easygoing alt-rock tone for the night. Their cover of The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait” brought an extra burst of familiarity, while “Punch the Sky” landed with the kind of energy made for a full theatre. Rather than pausing for long speeches, the band kept things moving, letting the music and their chemistry do most of the talking. Domrose’s vocals stayed at the centre of the songs, Mailhouse gave them plenty of drive, and Reeves appeared completely locked into the groove on bass.
Yes, people cheered whenever Reeves moved closer to the edge of the stage. Yes, there was an undeniable thrill in seeing the internet’s favourite human casually rocking out a few feet away. But the attention did not stay on him alone. Domrose and Mailhouse were just as essential to the show, and together the trio delivered a performance that felt tight without becoming overly polished. There was still room for the songs to breathe, for the band to play off one another and for the night to feel a little spontaneous.
A fun surprise arrived during the encore with a roaring cover of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter.” The band shared that they had only performed it live once before, making it a particularly unexpected way to close the night. The Vogue responded accordingly, singing, cheering and soaking up every last second before the trio left the stage.
More than 30 years after forming, and over two decades after calling it quits, Dogstar are back on the road and clearly having a great time together. That sense of fun was infectious, turning the sold-out show into something warmer and more memorable than a simple celebrity sighting. Vancouver may have arrived ready to see Keanu Reeves play bass, but by the end of the night, Dogstar had given the crowd plenty of reasons to stay invested in the whole band.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
DOGSTAR
THE BACKFIRES
All Photo Credit: Heather Horncastle