Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: Weezer Turns Vancouver’s Rogers Arena Into a Backyard Party on “The Gathering” Tour
There was something almost too fitting about Weezer calling this tour The Gathering. At Rogers Arena on September 12, the band brought together multiple generations of fans, three decades of songs, a few long-forgotten favourites and enough ridiculous stage antics to make the whole thing feel less like a standard arena concert and more like a very expensive backyard party.
“All are welcome” is the tour’s tagline, and the crowd made a pretty good case for it. There were longtime fans who grew up with The Blue Album and Pinkerton, younger fans discovering the band through TikTok, and plenty of people somewhere in between. Weezer has somehow become one of those bands that can belong to several generations at once.
The evening started with Silversun Pickups, who wasted little time getting the arena moving. Brian Aubert’s distinctive vocals cut through a set built around the band’s thick guitars and driving rhythms. “Panic Switch” and “Lazy Eye” were obvious highlights, but newer material fit comfortably alongside the classics.
The Shins followed, and their set felt like a completely different kind of nostalgia trip. James Mercer and company sounded remarkably polished, working through songs from across their catalog, including “Caring Is Creepy,” “New Slang,” “Sleeping Lessons” and “Simple Song.” The crowd did plenty of the singing on the bigger songs, turning the arena into something far more intimate than its size would suggest.
Then it was time for Weezer. The stage setup immediately made the arena feel strange in the best possible way. A suburban house sat at the centre of the stage, surrounded by the sort of backyard details that should look ridiculous inside Rogers Arena but somehow worked (this seems to be trend these days with Noah Kahan and J Cole also having houses in their stage production). The whole thing was built for the band’s particular brand of geeky humour and absurdity.
Weezer opened with “Shine Again,” from this year’s Gold Album, before launching into “Surf Wax America.” From there, the set moved all over the band’s history. “Hash Pipe,” “The Good Life,” “Beverly Hills,” “Pork and Beans,” “My Name Is Jonas,” “Undone – The Sweater Song,” “Say It Ain’t So” and “Buddy Holly” were all there, but the set was far more interesting than a greatest-hits parade.
The band pulled out “Keep Fishin’” and “Slob” from Maladroit, with the latter making its first appearance in the set since 2005. “No Other One” returned after several years away, and “Lonely Girl” was another welcome deep cut. For a band with this many hits, Weezer clearly didn’t feel obligated to play it safe.
The Pinkerton portion was another highlight, fitting for the album’s 30th anniversary. Six songs from the record made the set, including “Falling for You,” “Pink Triangle,” “Tired of Sex” and “El Scorcho.” The latter got a Vancouver-specific lyrical tweak, a small touch that made the performance feel like a show rather than a reproduction of an old setlist.
The best part, though, was when the band stopped behaving like a conventional rock band.
During the acoustic section, Rivers Cuomo moved to keyboards, Patrick Wilson picked up an acoustic guitar and Brian Bell played clarinet. Cuomo later moved behind the drum kit for “Pork and Beans.”
Silversun Pickups bassist Nikki Monninger returned to the stage for three songs with Cuomo, including “We Might as Well Be Strangers,” “Go Away” and “I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams.” The latter two have found a surprising second life with younger listeners thanks to TikTok, giving the show another generational crossover that probably would have seemed absurd a decade ago.
And that is what made The Gathering work. Weezer could have built this tour around nostalgia alone. Instead, the band used nostalgia as the foundation and then kept messing with it.
There were hits. There were deep cuts. There were instrument swaps, guest appearances, jokes and plenty of Cuomo’s familiar antics. Most of all, there was a sense that the band understood exactly what its audience wanted without letting that dictate the entire night.
Weezer may have spent much of its career figuring out where it fits. In Vancouver, it looked pretty comfortable exactly where it was: somewhere between the past, the present and a suburban backyard that somehow ended up inside Rogers Arena. That’s a pretty good gathering.
Head here for The Gathering tour dates and ticket information.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
WEEZER
THE SHINS
SILVERSUN PICKUPS
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: LP Brings ‘All Is Not Lost’ Tour to Vancouver
On September 5, multi platinum singer-songwriter LP brought the All Is Not Lost Tour to Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre, delivering a performance that moved effortlessly between vulnerability, power, and pure rock-and-roll energy. The night also carried a special significance: the tour celebrates the 10th anniversary of Lost on You, the record that helped transform LP from a respected songwriter into a global phenomenon.
Known professionally as LP, Laura Pergolizzi has spent years carving out a space that is uniquely their own. Before becoming internationally recognized as a recording artist, LP established themselves as a songwriter for major artists including Rihanna, Christina Aguilera, and Celine Dion. Their own breakthrough came with “Lost on You,” which went to No. 1 in 18 countries and eventually surpassed one billion Spotify streams.
Inside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, LP’s music felt much more immediate. Their unmistakable voice moved from restrained and intimate to explosive within moments, giving songs such as “Muddy Waters,” “The One That You Love,” and “Lost on You” a sense of urgency that is difficult to recreate outside of a live setting.
The evening’s setlist reflected both sides of LP’s career. The first part moved through newer material and familiar favourites, including “Shelly,” “Tokyo Sunrise,” “Love Is All I Have,” and “Chasing & Waiting.” Later, the performance shifted toward the Lost on You celebration, bringing some of LP’s most recognizable songs into the spotlight.
It was the kind of moment that makes a concert feel bigger than the room. The song that introduced LP’s voice to millions became a shared experience between artist and audience, with the theatre singing along to every familiar line. After nearly a decade of the song living its own life around the world, hearing it performed in a packed Vancouver theatre gave it a renewed sense of intimacy.
From behind the camera, there was another layer to the experience. Photographing LP meant constantly watching for the moments between the obvious ones. The dramatic poses and powerful vocals naturally create striking frames, but some of the strongest images came from the quieter details, the concentration before a verse, a hand wrapped around the microphone, a fleeting expression beneath the stage lights.
LP is an artist who gives a photographer plenty to work with. Their movement across the stage feels instinctive rather than choreographed, and their performance style carries the same unpredictability as their voice. One moment can feel completely still; the next can explode into movement.
That contrast became one of the defining visual elements of the Vancouver show. The Queen Elizabeth Theatre also suited the performance. Rather than feeling distant or oversized, the venue allowed the audience to remain close to the emotional centre of the show. LP could command the room without having to overwhelm it.
There was also a sense of celebration throughout the night. Ten years after Lost on You, LP is still performing the songs that changed the trajectory of their career while continuing to introduce audiences to what’s next. The tour combines material from the upcoming album with a special presentation of Lost on You in its entirety, making the show feel like both a look backward and a step forward.
That balance is what made the Vancouver performance so compelling. LP isn’t simply revisiting an old record. They are showing how those songs have evolved with them and how they continue to resonate with an audience that has grown alongside their music.
By the final moments of the night, the feeling in the theatre was less like watching an artist celebrate an anniversary and more like witnessing a career still in motion.
For me, photographing LP in Vancouver was an opportunity to capture that evolution in real time: the voice, the movement, the vulnerability, and the electricity that has made LP such a distinctive live performer.
Ten years after Lost on You, the LP still has something to say and judging by the way Vancouver listened, people are still more than willing to hear it.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
LP
All Photo Credit: Raphael Arthur
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: Icons Deep Purple & Kansas Bring A Legendary Celebratory Night of Surprises To Abbotsford’s Rogers Forum
I don’t say this lightly, but both Deep Purple and Kansas absolutely put on a hell of a show. Since 1968, Deep Purple have basically been the godfathers of live rock performance. Don’t believe me? Go look up their Guinness World Record for “loudest concert,” which they snagged back in 1972. That same energy, that same wall of sound, made the trip across five decades and landed right here for the band’s headlining North American tour stop in Abbotsford. Original drummer Ian Paice is still holding it down, now joined by guitarist Simon McBride, bassist Roger Glover, keyboardist Don Airey, and vocalist Ian Gillan. Sure, only one original member remains, but somehow the whole group still nails the spirit of what made Deep Purple, well, Deep Purple.
They tore through 16 tracks that night. “Smoke on the Water” got the loudest reaction of the evening, no surprise there. “Diablo” and “Perfect Strangers” also landed big, and “Highway Star” kicked the whole thing off on an absolute high. And when I say the crowd was into it, I mean it. Fans who’ve followed this band for almost fifty years were pressed right up against the barrier trying to get as close as possible. That closeness paid off too, with an incredible light show and Simon McBride ripping through solo after solo. Honestly, McBride was the highlight more than once, stepping up so Gillan could catch his breath between songs. Given how much those vocals demand, that rest was more than earned.
Like I said, “Smoke on the Water” was the main event for Abbotsford. It’s one thing to describe it, but actually watching the buildup, seeing the bandmates grinning at each other because they knew exactly what was coming, that was priceless. Then those notes kicked in. You know the ones. Every Guitar Center employee’s nightmare. The whole arena became one voice, singing along to a guitar riff like it was a chorus. It was the moment of the night, the kind of thing every rock fan dreams about experiencing live. That wave of energy carried all the way through to the final song, “Hush.” If you were a millennial who spent way too much time on Guitar Hero 2, hearing this one live gave you full goosebumps. This was the band’s first big hit back in 1968, and in 2026 it still hits just as hard. The crowd treated it like more than an encore. It felt like everyone in that room knew they might not get another chance to see Deep Purple live, and they soaked in every second of it. When the house lights finally came up, Abbotsford just stood there in awe. Deep Purple‘s legendary status was on full display, and nobody in that crowd wanted the night to end.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
DEEP PURPLE
KANSAS
All Photo Credit: Marquise Monno