Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: The Red Clay Strays Bring the Grateful Tour to Rogers Arena
The Red Clay Strays brought their Grateful Tour to Vancouver on August 30, supported by Wyatt Flores and Sweet Talk. I’ll admit it: before Sunday night, my familiarity with The Red Clay Strays went about as far as “Wondering Why.”
I knew the Alabama band had become one of the fastest-rising names in country and Southern rock, and I knew Brandon Coleman had a reputation for being the kind of frontman people compared to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and just about every other cool guy to ever stand behind a microphone. But there is always a risk when walking into a show knowing only the hit. Sometimes you spend the night waiting for the one song you recognize, but that was not the case at Rogers Arena.
Sweet Talk and Wyatt Flores got things going, giving the night a strong foundation before the headliners took over. Flores, in particular, already had plenty of fans in the building, and his set helped get the arena moving early. By the time The Red Clay Strays walked onstage, the room was ready.
The band opened with “Demons in Your Choir,” immediately showing why its sound has connected with so many people. The Red Clay Strays do not sit comfortably inside one genre. There is country in their music, obviously, but there is Southern rock, gospel, blues and plenty of old-school rock and roll mixed in. Trying to neatly categorize them feels a little beside the point.
What stood out most to me was how little the band seemed interested in playing up the scale of the room. 18 months ago, they were playing 2 sold out shows at the Commodore Ballroom, making the jump to Rogers Arena in 2026 pretty striking. Rogers Arena is a massive space, and this is the biggest kind of stage The Red Clay Strays have started playing regularly. But they never felt like they were trying to become a generic arena band overnight.
Of course, Coleman is hard to ignore. The Elvis comparisons make sense on a surface level: the pompadour, the old-school style and the way he moves around the stage all bring those comparisons to mind. But the more I watched him, the less useful those comparisons became. Coleman has his own way of commanding a stage, and his voice is the real deal.
There were several moments throughout the night when he let loose on a note and cut through everything around him. It was not polished in a way that felt overly perfect, either. There was grit in his voice, and sometimes a little roughness, which made the stronger moments hit harder.
The band moved through songs including “Stone’s Throw,” “Walking Away,” “Devil in My Ear,” “Ghosts” and “People Hatin’,” with the musicians remaining impressively tight throughout. They have reportedly been playing together in one form or another for years, and that connection was easy to see.
When it was time for “Wondering Why,” Rogers Arena predictably lost its mind. The opening moments were enough to turn the audience into one enormous singalong, and one of those goosebump moments. Even as someone who came into the show with limited knowledge of the band’s catalog, I could not help but get caught up in it. Thankfully, the show did not lose momentum after its biggest song. In fact, I found some of the strongest material came later.
“Drowning” and “I’m Still Fine” gave Coleman some of his best vocal moments of the night, while “Moments” slowed things down without killing the energy. That is not always easy in an arena show. The quieter songs can sometimes disappear in a room that size, but the audience stayed with them.
They ended with “Fool’s Gold,” “Wanna Be Loved,” “Grateful” and “No One Else Like Me,” sending the crowd home after a generous and well-paced set.
The Red Clay Strays are clearly in the middle of a major rise. Their Grateful Tour has taken them into some of the biggest venues of their career, and the rooms will probably keep getting bigger. The good news, at least based on what I saw in Vancouver, is that they have not lost the thing that got them here.
Head here for more information about The Red Clay Strays’ Grateful Tour.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
THE RED CLAY STRAYS
WYATT FLORES
SWEET TALK
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
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