Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: Luke Bryan Turns a Thursday Night in Ottawa Into a Country Party
People were already dancing and cheering as they walked to the line at the Canadian Tire Centre. That was probably the first sign that Luke Bryan’s Word On The Street Tour stop in Ottawa wasn’t going to feel much like a Thursday night.
Drew Baldridge got the night started while the arena was just starting to see people on their seats, but you wouldn’t have known it from watching him. He and his band played like the seats were already full. Covering Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” was also a pretty foolproof way to get an Ottawa crowd warmed up.
Lauren Watkins came next. Cowboy hats were becoming harder to avoid, people were starting to groove, and the arena was noticeably filling up. Like Baldridge before her, Watkins wasn’t trying to reinvent country music. She was there to celebrate it.
Then Lanie Gardner came flying out in sunglasses with a band that looked like they had collectively decided it was still 1993, and it worked. They hit hard from the start, and Gardner had the advantage of playing to an arena that was now getting close to what it would look like for the headliner. People were louder, drinks were flowing, and it finally felt like Luke Bryan was next.
Except he wasn’t. Not quite yet. Bryan was a little late getting onstage, so a DJ was tasked with keeping a packed Canadian Tire Centre entertained. Instead of killing the momentum, it turned the wait into its own little party. By the time the lights finally went down, people were more than ready.
And when he finally came out, the noise was unreal. The Canadian Tire Centre looked packed. For a Thursday night in Ottawa, that alone was impressive. When Bryan started playing, everyone in the building seemingly knew every word. That’s the difference between knowing someone has a lot of hits and actually seeing what those hits do to an arena.
Bryan has been one of the biggest country artists of his generation for long enough that these songs belong to his audience almost as much as they belong to him. There were moments where he could have stopped singing entirely and the show probably wouldn’t have missed a word.
The band deserves just as much credit for how good the night sounded. Everyone on that stage could play. The guitars were huge, the rhythm section hit hard, and the banjo or slide guitar rang through the entire arena in a way that was impossible to ignore.
Nothing about the show needed to be complicated. Luke Bryan showed up with a killer band, a ridiculous number of songs people knew by heart, and an arena full of fans who wanted to party. Sometimes that’s enough.
Actually, judging by the noise inside the Canadian Tire Centre, it was more than enough.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
LUKE BRYAN
LANIE GARDNER
LAUREN WATKINS
DREW BALDRIDGE
All Photo Credit: Gonzo Wassermann
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: Isaiah Rashad – Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip at Infosys Theater at MSG
Top Dawg Entertainment artist Isaiah Rashad delivered a cinematic, intimate set for his Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip tour, with opener Alemeda in support. His third studio album, It’s Been Awful, captures the weight most people carry quietly: the depths, the despair, the need for community, the desire for higher purpose, and the pulse to push forward. He gave us soulful vibes like “SUPAFICAL,” controlled the tempo with “DO I LOOK HIGH,” and dropped vulnerable reminders through songs like “ACT NORMAL,” inviting the crowd into his reality, in a real slow-burn, confessional kind of way.
The project has achieved critical acclaim since its debut, with “BOY IN RED” featuring SZA (another TDE heavyweight) in the conversation for a Grammy nomination for Best Melodic Rap Performance, and rumblings that the project itself may be up for Best Rap Album. For longtime listeners, it felt more like an honest catch-up. He’s been making dense, emotionally rich music since Cilvia Demo, balancing trippy production with hard truths about depression, addiction, and family strain. Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip doesn’t just celebrate a new album, it reinforces why his voice has always mattered.
With seven of his stops now in the books, Rashad finally brought the tour to New York. He’s been hosting special meet-and-greets, allowing the faithful to come in early and catch his soundcheck, ask him questions, and build a closer connection. That sense of openness is part of what makes him so compelling.
This tour felt like a campsite sideshow in the best way. The show kicked off with him stepping out in a blood-covered white tee, and from that moment his goal was to connect with the crowd: taking pictures with his disposable camera, dapping up people as if he knew them personally, and grounding himself in the moment. Every city has its own flavor, and he embraced us from the start. Alemeda thrashed alongside her guitarist, while Rashad brought super fans on stage to sing the hook of “CAMERAS,” and Sunny’s camera rolled road memories behind him throughout. The whole production had a cinematic rhythm, balancing humor, intimacy, and autobiography without ever losing its sense of fun.
I discovered Rashad years ago through “4r Da Squaw,” and hearing it live reminded me how impactful the early material remains. I immediately identified with it— the pain, the glory, and the ups and downs that inevitably come with trying to establish yourself. At the show, he played a bunch of deep-cut favorites like “Headshots (4r Da Locals)” and “Heavenly Father.” These blended seamlessly with the new material. Fans were rapping every word, listening closely, or crashing into mosh pits. The audible uproar during his performance of “SAME SH!T” and “AIN’T GIVIN’ UP” proved that every pocket of his catalog hits.
By the end of the night, he reminded us all that he would always “Lay with us, Pray with Us, and Stay with Us,” a fitting summary of both the night and his larger mission. With just twenty-two more stops to go before a full-circle anniversary show in Inglewood, fans need to lock in before he disappears on us again. Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip plays like a tribute to everything he’s survived, and a confident step toward whatever comes next.
Lil Sunny’s Awful Road Trip Setlist:
THE NEW SUBLIME
M.O.M.
SCARED 2 LOOK DOWN
FREE LUNCH
WAT U SED
PARK
BOY IN RED
SUPAFICAL
WEST SAVANNAH
HEAVENLY FATHER
HAPPY HOUR
CAMERAS
GTKY
AIN’T GIVIN’ UP
WAT’S WRONG
LAY WIT YA
SAME SHIT
HEADSHOTS
4R DA SQUAWDO I LOOK HIGH?
RIP YOUNG
11 tracks from It’s Been Awful
4 tracks from The House Is Burning
4 tracks from The Sun’s Tirade
2 tracks from Cilvia Demo
Review and Photos by Anthony Grant @gallerybytm
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: Angine de Poitrine Touches Down From Another Galaxy for Night 1 in Vancouver at The Pearl
Before the doors to The Pearl even open, downtown Vancouver is already starting to look a little different. Polka dots begin appearing in the crowd; one person here, a group there, until the black and white, circular patterned fits become almost impossible to miss. As more and more people make their way toward the venue, it becomes clear that something very strange is brewing.
That could only mean one thing: self-proclaimed space-time voyagers Klek and Khn de Poitrine are in town, and things are about to get weird.
After blowing up and going viral at an almost ridiculous rate this year, thanks in part to their KEXP appearance just down south in Seattle, Angine de Poitrine’s shows coming to town have become highly anticipated. And it’s not just prog fans showing up. Their strange, theatrical world has something for everyone: weird music lovers, fans of live visuals and performance, and anyone curious to see exactly what all the fuss is about. Seeing the alien brothers live in person, we can confirm that they do live up to the hype!
The show opened with fellow Montreal musician René Lussier, a jazz guitarist with a flair for theatrics as well. Accompanied by drummer Robbie Juster, the two performed some funky, jazzy tunes, complete with a few wonderfully weird gimmicks, including René wielding an electric toothbrush against his guitar to create some truly crazy sounds. It was a very fitting opening act for the wonderfully strange spectacle that was about to follow.
Angine De Poitrine is a band to experience up close and personal, which is why catching them at the Pearl was the perfect opportunity to see this band in their current form: strange yet intriguing, predictably unpredictable, theatrical and chaotic, and all while being completely and wonderfully bizarre in the best possible way. They know exactly who they are and what they are about.
They played a solid eight-song set over the course of about an hour and a bit, and that was all they needed to completely capture the room’s attention – not that the alien outfits didn’t do that already! What was cool to see was Khn de Poitrine’s brand new custom Godin microtonal double-neck guitar that only took 38 days to build – very impressive! From the bizarre sounds and wild instrumentation to the visual theatrics unfolding onstage, there never really was a moment to look away. The moment you did and looked back up again, they were either busting out a little hoppy dance, contacting the mothership through their glowing eyes and triangular-shaped honing mechanisms, or doing something else that made you question whether you were still at a concert or had accidentally wandered into some kind of intergalactic transmission.
Angine De Poitrine exists somewhere between experimental music, performance art, and an alien transmission that somehow learned how to groove. Thank you to Angine de Poitrine for being their truly authentic selves and for being the kind of gloriously wacky beacon of light this world could use a little more of right now!
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
ANGINE DE POITRINE
All Photo Credit: Heather Horncastle