Concerts Reviews
From Tears to “Barbie Girl”: Aqua Lights Up Vancouver
The Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver looked more like a neon-lit time capsule Friday night as Aqua kicked off the first date of their Canadian tour. A sold-out crowd filled the historic room to see a band that hold so many memories. It was a reunion with the late-’90s dance-pop group that defined an era of glitter, Euro beats, and tongue-in-cheek bubblegum.
Before the strobes, the pulsing bass, and the candy-coated anthems, the show opened quietly with “Aquarius.” Lene Nystrøm walked onstage with her husband, Søren Rasted, seated at the piano. No beats. No giant cartoon visuals. Just her voice. She was visibly emotional as she sang the night’s first notes, her expression wavering between a smile and tears. It was a striking way to begin: the woman who once sang “Life in plastic, it’s fantastic” starting the night bare and vulnerable.
That didn’t last long, though. By the time René Dif bounded onto the stage for “Back to the 80’s,” the vibe flipped from tender to explosive. Dif, part frontman and part hype man, made it his mission to keep the room moving. He sprinted from side to side, threw high-fives, and at one point went in the crowd to take selfies with fans. If Nystrøm brought the heart, Dif brought the chaos. Together, they were unstoppable.
The setlist was a greatest-hits candy bag, balanced with some deep cuts for the diehards. After easing in, the group hit their early stride with “Around the World” and “My Oh My.” By then, people were dancing in the aisles. Ushers didn’t even bother asking them to back to their seats. The Orpheum had turned into a Eurodance club.
“Turn Back Time” was one of the night’s most powerful moments. Stripped back, it showed just how well Aqua could step outside their usual bounce and deliver something soulful. The darker mood carried into “My Mamma Said,” where Nystrøm’s voice soared over minimal instrumentation, drawing one of the loudest ovations of the night.
Of course, Aqua knew their audience came for the big, sugary hits. “Doctor Jones” brought a chorus of thousands shouting along to the “Doctor Jones, wake up now!” hook. “Cartoon Heroes” turned the theatre into a technicolor singalong, with Dif hamming it up like a Saturday morning cartoon villain. And yes, “Barbie Girl” arrived late in the main set, phones going up instantly. Twenty-eight years after its release, it still works.
One unexpected twist came during René’s mid-show DJ set, which acted as a bridge while the rest of the band caught their breath. It wasn’t long, just enough to keep the energy high, but it showed how seamlessly Aqua has adapted their late-’90s sound to the EDM-heavy landscape of today.
The encore sealed the deal. After “Lollipop (Candyman),” the band closed with “Roses Are Red,” their very first single. It was a perfect full-circle moment, showing that Aqua is a band with history and the kind of staying power most ’90s acts could only dream of.
Between songs, both Nystrøm and Dif shared their gratitude. They recalled playing Vancouver just last summer as part of the PNE Summer Night Concerts and spoke warmly about how Canada has always supported them.
Not everything worked perfectly. The AI-generated graphics displayed on the massive screen behind them felt out of place, like filler from a metaverse startup rather than a pop band with their own distinct visual identity.
Aqua’s story is often reduced to “Barbie Girl” and its kitsch factor, but this show made clear that their impact runs deeper. They’ve sold over 38 million albums worldwide, racked up a billion YouTube views, and last year earned Grammy nominations thanks to their collaboration with Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice. They are not a nostalgia act desperately milking one song. They’re still a global force, and their Vancouver return proved it. If this is how Aqua starts their Canadian tour, the rest of the country is in for a wild ride.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
Upcoming Tour Dates:
09/09 Edmonton, AB
09/10 Edmonton, AB
09/12 Calgary, AB
09/15 Saskatoon, SK
09/16 Winnipeg, MB
09/19 Toronto, ON
09/20 Ottawa, ON
09/22 Moncton, NB
09/24 Pickering, ON
09/26 Windsor, ON
09/27 Hamilton, ON
09/28 Kitchener, ON
More info on their website.
AQUA
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: The Paper Kites Bring Warmth and Quiet Charm to Vancouver
On May 20th, Australian folk band The Paper Kites brought an intimate night of their warm indie folk tones to The Centre for Performing Arts.
The band is touring in support of their newest album, If You Go There, I Hope You Find It, which sees them lean further into their warm, atmospheric indie-folk sound, delivering a reflective and intimate collection shaped by themes of home, longing and quiet hope. Compared to their last record, At The Roadhouse, which leaned into a more Americana sound, this feels more of a return to form for the band. Tunes are reminiscent of some of their earlier Twelvefour and On the Train Ride Home material that put them on the map.
At 9:00 pm, the lights dimmed in the auditorium and with no grand entrance, the band took the stage to a roar of the audience, opening with the first track of If You Go There, I Hope You Find It “Morning Gum”. In the classic Paper Kites fashion, the whole group stood around lead singer Sam Bentley’s microphone for a stripped-down intro, before tending to their main instruments and kicking in their full sound.
The Paper Kites continued to preview some of their new material, like “Change of the Wind” and “Every Town,” while mixing in some of their best on At The Roadhouse, like “Till the Flame Turns Blue” and “Black & Thunder.”
For a cover of Colin Hay’s “I Just Don’t Think I’ll Ever Get Over You”, Sam brought out opener, Donovan Woods, to help him perform the song acoustically. Showing off some of his charisma, Sam joked about breaking the number one rule and asking Hay what his song was about — ultimately getting the response that it was about drinking Whisky to get through some of the hard times. The pair delivered a beautiful rendition of the song, blending soothing vocal harmonies that earned a roaring response from the audience.
Sam introduced the band: Christina Lacy on guitar and keyboards, his brother Josh Bentley on drums, Sam Rasmussen on bass guitar and synthesizers, and David Powys on “just about everything,” including guitar, banjo, lap steel, and bongos.
The frontman reinforced just how grateful the band was to be back in Vancouver, which they have been visiting for the better part of 13 years now. He talked about their humble beginnings playing the Biltmore Cabaret and staying at the Patricia Hotel, the now SRO that sits on the cusp of the East Hastings area — definitely an eye opener for the Australian group. Getting stuck in the snow in Wyoming, The Paper Kites had to cancel their Portland show, with the band admittedly upset as they hadn’t had to cancel a show in their tenure as a group. With some hustle, The Paper Kites were able to make it to Vancouver — again, Sam expressing his deepest gratitude for fans making it out to the gig.
To a roar of the crowd, the Aussie musicians came back out for a two-song encore, starting with their hit “Bloom,” with fans helping out the band with the choruses. David Powys got a moment to shine with a tasteful banjo solo that stole the show. Ending the night, Sam egged the crowd to get on their feet as they closed with the feel-good song, “When The Lavender Blooms.”
The Paper Kites delivered an intimate collection of songs, seamlessly capturing the crowd’s hearts from the beginning. With the Centre being a 1800 capacity venue, the band has a way of making you feel like you’re in a bar, with their charm and stripped back sound. Sam shared the sentiment that each time they return, the crowds seem to grow — and it’s clear that whenever The Paper Kites are in town, passionate fans show up, with more joining every time.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
THE PAPER KITES
All Photo Credit: Hunter Soo
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: The Last Dinner Party Turned Vancouver’s Orpheum Into Their Own Gothic Playground
There’s a thin line between theatrical and try-hard. The Last Dinner Party spend most of their live show sprinting directly at that line, then somehow vaulting over it without falling flat on their face. At the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver on May 19, the band’s From The Pyre Tour felt huge, dramatic, occasionally ridiculous, and fully convincing anyway.
That’s harder to pull off than people give them credit for. A lot of bands borrow aesthetics: velvet curtains, religious imagery, corsets, vintage silhouettes, tragic womanhood as performance art. The Last Dinner Party actually build a world around those ideas and commit to it so fully that the audience starts behaving like they’ve entered the same universe. Walking into the Orpheum before the show felt like arriving late to an elaborate costume party where everyone had been assigned a literary archetype ahead of time with lace gloves, ribboned dresses, heavy boots, and tiny opera binoculars. One woman looked like she’d escaped from a haunted manor in 1872 ; another looked ready to front an early-2000s emo band. Somehow both made sense.
The Last Dinner Party opened with “Agnus Dei,” and immediately the whole production snapped into focus. The towering drapery, faux-stone staging, dim cathedral lighting, and the band’s carefully styled costumes could have overwhelmed the actual music in weaker hands. Instead, it sharpened it. The set design wasn’t decoration, it functioned like an extension of the songs themselves.
Frontwoman Abigail Morris remains one of the most magnetic performers working right now partly because she never performs like she’s above any of this. Plenty of singers can command a room. Morris pulls people into one. She spent nearly two hours stalking across the stage, throwing herself into songs with total conviction, then suddenly grinning between tracks like she still can’t believe the band got this big this fast. That balance matters as without it, the band’s maximalism could easily turn self-serious. Instead, the show constantly breathed.
The run of “Count the Ways,” “The Feminine Urge,” and “Caesar on a TV Screen” early in the set was absurdly strong. Guitarist Emily Roberts shredded through riffs with a refreshingly unpolished swagger compared to a lot of modern indie rock’s obsession with restraint. There were moments during “Caesar on a TV Screen” where the entire show tipped into full glam-rock spectacle. Big gestures, big harmonies, big emotions, and no apology for any of it.
Midway through the set, things got darker and more interesting. Songs from From The Pyre carried far more weight live than they do on record, especially “Woman Is a Tree” and “Rifle.” The quieter moments felt genuinely tense inside the Orpheum. You could hear the room lock in. During the eerie vocal opening of “Woman Is a Tree,” the band gathered close together beneath dim lighting while shadowy bird imagery hovered overhead. It was one of the night’s best moments.
The absence of bassist Georgia Davies, who remains off tour recovering from injury, was acknowledged warmly. Touring bassist Max Lilley handled the material well, though Davies’ absence still felt noticeable in a band this chemistry-driven. The Last Dinner Party work best when they feel like five personalities colliding together at once.
Keyboardist Aurora Nishevci quietly stole several moments throughout the night, especially during “I Hold Your Anger,” which landed with force live. The band’s harmonies remain their secret weapon. Beneath all the theatricality and visual ambition, they’re still an exceptionally tight musicianship-first band.
Before launching into “Nothing Matters,” Morris asked the crowd to put their phones away for one song. The people listened and suddenly the room felt freer and less self-conscious. The balcony shook during the chorus as people screamed every word back at the stage.
The encore leaned fully into chaos. “This Is the Killer Speaking” arrived with dance instructions and country-western absurdity. By the time the band closed with an “Agnus Dei” reprise, the crowd looked exhausted and completely won over.
The Last Dinner Party are already very good. What makes this tour exciting is that they still feel slightly dangerous around the edges. There are moments where the ambition threatens to spill over, moments where things nearly become too theatrical or too sentimental. But they should protect that feeling at all costs.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
Upcoming From The Pyre Tour Dates:
05/20 Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall %
05/22 Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo %
05/26 Sacramento, CA – Channel 24 %
05/27 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater %
05/29 Los Angeles, CA – Orpheum Theatre %
05/31 Del Mar, CA – The Sound %
06/02 Denver, CO – Mission Ballroom %
06/04 Des Moines, IA – Val Air Ballroom %
06/05 Saint Paul, MN – Palace Theatre %
06/07 Detroit, MI – Masonic Jack White Theatre %
06/09 Columbus, OH – KEMBA Live! %
06/10 Nashville, TN – The Pinnacle %
06/12 Charlotte, NC – The Fillmore Charlotte %
06/13 Atlanta, GA – The Eastern %
% with Automatic
More information here.
THE LAST DINNER PARTY
AUTOMATIC
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer