Concerts Reviews
The Hives Turn the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver Into a Garage-Rock Circus
The Swedish rock ’n’ roll circus that is The Hives stormed into the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, BC on September 16, leaving no doubt that their reputation as one of the most electrifying live bands on the planet is still intact. What unfolded over the course of their 90-minute set was a full-contact spectacle, equal parts chaos and choreography, all wrapped in black suits that looked absurdly sharp for how sweaty things got.
First on the bill was Nashville’s Snooper, a punk band with a chaotic edge and plenty of energy. Their set was fast and noisy, perfect for waking up the crowd. With a mash-up of garage riffs, breakneck drumming, and a lead singer who couldn’t stop bouncing around the stage, they gave the room a jolt of raw adrenaline.
Shortly after 9pm, The Hives kicked off their set with “Enough Is Enough” before slamming straight into “Walk Idiot Walk” and “Rigor Mortis Radio.” The opening trio alone set the pace: relentless, fast, and loud. Frontman Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist wasted no time scaling the barricade, leaning into the crowd like a rock preacher daring his congregation to scream louder. Spoiler: they did.
By the fourth song, “Paint a Picture,” the band pulled one of their signature tricks: freezing mid-song, standing motionless for what felt like a full minute before detonating back into the riff. It’s part theatre, part prank, and exactly the kind of chaos that keeps a Hives set from ever feeling routine.
The crowd lost it for “Main Offender,” one of their oldest and most enduring anthems. Almqvist, drenched in sweat but still impossibly charming, decided this was the moment to poke fun at Vancouver’s reputation. “You’re too Canadian, too polite,” he teased, before demanding more volume. Later in the night, with sweat dripping from his brow, he deadpanned: “I didn’t know Vancouver was in the tropics!” The joke landed, because honestly, the Commodore felt like a sauna.
That back-and-forth between Almqvist and the audience is the lifeblood of a Hives show. He doesn’t just sing at people, he works them, like a carnival barker crossed with a punk-rock dictator. He ordered people to clap louder, scream harder, even sit down on the floor during “Tick Tick Boom” and jump at his command. And the fans obeyed, grinning the whole time.
The setlist leaned heavily on classics, with “Born A Rebel,” “Stick Up,” “Bogus Operandi,” and the ever-explosive “Hate to Say I Told You So.” Each song was delivered with the kind of precision that makes you forget how chaotic it all looks. The guitars were jagged, the basslines growled, and drummer Chris Dangerous lived up to his name, driving everything with a beat that never let up.
But the chaos wasn’t just sonic. Guitarist Nicholaus Arson was a spectacle all his own, twitching across the stage like he was possessed, tossing guitar picks, and at one point smearing one across his face before flicking it into the crowd like some holy relic. If you caught it, congratulations. You’re now blessed.
And then there are the “ninjas.” Yes, actual black-clad stagehands who scurried across the stage, swapping guitars, untangling cords, and disappearing into the shadows like roadie assassins. Only The Hives would turn basic stage logistics into a theatrical bit.
The crowd was already drenched and breathless by the time the band hit “OCDOD,” “I’m Alive,” and “Countdown to Shutdown.” Each landed like a shot of adrenaline. By the time they reached “Come On,” the audience was basically singing the entire track themselves.
The main set closed, as it almost always does, with “Tick Tick Boom.” Almqvist drew every ounce of drama out of it, stretching the intro, taunting the crowd, then unleashing absolute bedlam when the riff hit. The Ballroom floor shook as hundreds of people jumped in unison.
Of course, that wasn’t the end. The encore brought “Legalize Living,” “Bigger Hole to Fill,” and finally “The Hives Forever,” a self-mythologizing closer that doubles as a mission statement. It’s bold to end a set by declaring your own permanence, but after witnessing the mayhem they conjured, it didn’t feel like bragging. It felt like prophecy.
What makes The Hives different from so many other bands still coasting on 20-year-old hits is that their live show hasn’t dulled with age. If anything, it’s sharper. They’ve figured out how to take the raw spirit of garage rock and turn it into pure theatre without losing its edge. Every freeze, every kick, every mic swing feels chaotic in the moment but lands with perfect timing.
And Almqvist himself remains one of rock’s great frontmen: funny, commanding, and just unhinged enough to make you believe anything could happen. When he ordered the Vancouver crowd to scream louder, they did. When he told them to sit, they sat. When he demanded chaos, they delivered. Few singers can control the audience that way without pyrotechnics or elaborate stage sets. The Hives do it with charisma, sweat, and sheer nerve.
By the time the final chords of “The Hives Forever” rang out, the Commodore Ballroom was a mess of bodies sticky from heat, and ears ringing. Which is exactly how a Hives show is supposed to end.
Long live The Hives. Forever, forever The Hives.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
Upcoming Tour Dates:
09/19 Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades
09/20 San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
09/22 Del Mar, CA – The Sound
09/25 Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Palladium
10/16 Oslo, Norway – Sentrume Scene
10/18 Copenhagen, Denmark – KB Hall
10/21 Berlin, Germany – Colombia Halle
10/24 Munich, Germany – Zenith
10/25 Leipzig, Germany – Haus Auensee
10/26 Vienna, Austria – Gasometer
10/28 Zurich, Switzerland – Xtra
10/29 Milan, Italy – Alcatraz
10/31 Barcelona, Spain – Sant Jordi Club
11/02 Madrid, Spain – Wizink
11/04 Lisbon, Portugal – Sagres Campo Pequeno
11/19 Brussels, Belgium – Forest National
11/20 Paris, France – Le Zenith
11/22 Amsterdam, Netherlands – AFAS
11/24 Cardiff, UK – Utilitia Arena
11/26 Glasgow, UK – Ovo Hydro
11/28 Manchester, UK – Aviva Studios
11/29 London, UK – Alexandra Palace
12/01 Cologne, Germany – Palladium
12/02 Frankfurt, Germany – Jahrhunderthalle
12/03 Hamburg, Germany – Sporthalle
12/06 Stockholm, Sweden – Avicii Arena
More info on their website.
THE HIVES
SNOOPER
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: One Last Wedding – Summer Walker Ends Her Tour in Vancouver
For years, Summer Walker built her career on sounding like someone caught in the middle of heartbreak. Her songs lived in messy relationships, late-night regrets and emotional honesty that made listeners feel like they were reading pages from her diary. On Friday night at Rogers Arena, she brought that chapter to a close.
The Vancouver stop marked the final North American date of the Still Finally Over It Tour, and there was a fitting sense of finality hanging over the evening. Recent comments from Walker about taking a break from touring, and even considering retirement from the road, gave the performance a little more weight. Whether this was the last time Canadian fans will see her headline an arena remains to be seen, but she certainly treated it like the end of an era.
The evening opened with a smooth set from British R&B artist Odeal, whose laid-back blend of Afrobeats, soul and contemporary R&B eased the crowd into the night. His relaxed stage presence provided a fitting contrast to the theatrical production that would follow, and he was warmly received by fans arriving early. After Odeal wrapped up, the arena kept its energy high thanks to a backstage DJ who spun a string of familiar R&B and hip-hop hits. Instead of passively waiting for the headliner, much of Rogers Arena turned into a dance party, with fans singing along and dancing in the aisles well before Summer Walker made her entrance.
Walker opened with “Finally Over It,” emerging in an white wedding gown complete with an oversized train and an elderly groom seated beside her in a wheelchair. It was dramatic, and exactly the kind of theatrical symbolism that has defined the rollout for Finally Over It. The image said everything before she even sang a note: this was both a breakup story and a farewell to one.
It didn’t take long before the dress came off, revealing a sparkling corset bodysuit underneath as the show shifted into a glamorous cabaret. That transformation became the night’s central idea.
The production was easily the most ambitious of her career. Giant velvet curtains, vintage Hollywood visuals, feathered dancers, aerial performers, fire acts and costume changes turned the concert into something closer to musical theatre than a standard R&B show. Walker clearly knew the world she wanted to build.
There were moments where the transitions stretched a little too long. Between dance numbers, wardrobe changes and theatrical interludes, the pacing occasionally lost momentum. The show sometimes seemed almost too invested in its own spectacle. Then Walker would return to the stage for “Body,” “Playing Games” or “No Love,” and the energy instantly snapped back into place.
That speaks to the strength of her catalogue. Few artists in modern R&B have assembled such a consistent run of songs that audiences know word for word. Throughout the night, Rogers Arena became one giant choir, with thousands of fans carrying verses Walker barely needed to sing herself.
That leads to one of the show’s more complicated aspects. Walker leaned on backing tracks more than some concertgoers might expect. If you’re looking for powerhouse live vocals from start to finish, this isn’t that kind of show. The emphasis was always on atmosphere, storytelling and emotion rather than technical vocal performance. It won’t work for everyone, but it felt like a deliberate creative choice rather than a limitation. It seemed to work for the audience.
Ironically, the quieter moments ended up being the strongest. Acoustic performances stripped away the elaborate staging and showed why Walker became one of R&B’s defining voices in the first place. Without dancers or elaborate props competing for attention, songs like “Session 32” landed with great intimacy.
Midway through the concert, Walker left the main stage for a candlelit banquet table positioned among the crowd. Decorated with roses and wedding décor, it transformed part of the arena into an intimate reception hall. Walking through the audience to perform “Girls Need Love,” signing autographs and stopping to connect with fans along the way, she looked remarkably comfortable. That may have been the biggest surprise of the night as Walker has spent years openly discussing her struggles with anxiety and stage fright, often avoiding touring altogether. Watching her confidently navigate the arena, smiling, interacting with fans and commanding an elaborate production felt like a victory. The growth was visible.
The burlesque influences never overwhelmed the music. Instead, they mirrored the emotional journey running through the Over It trilogy. The wedding imagery, glamorous costumes and playful choreography all pointed toward the same conclusion: heartbreak doesn’t get the final word.
Closing with “FMT,” Walker brought the evening full circle. Thousands of phone lights filled Rogers Arena, giving warmth to the final moments.
For an artist who once seemed reluctant to stand in front of an audience at all, ending her biggest tour with a production this bold felt quietly triumphant. Summer Walker may be finally over the heartbreak that inspired her music. More importantly, she seems to have found peace with the stage itself. If this truly was the closing chapter of her time as a touring headliner, Vancouver got a fitting finale.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
SUMMER WALKER
ODEAL
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Concerts Reviews
LIVE REVIEW: A$AP Rocky Brought Arena-Sized Mayhem to Vancouver on Canada Day
Canada Day usually belongs to fireworks. This year, A$AP Rocky brought enough flames, sirens, helicopters, and controlled chaos to make his own case for stealing the holiday.
Stopping at Rogers Arena on July 1 for the Vancouver date of his Don’t Be Dumb Tour, the Harlem rapper delivered one of the year’s biggest arena spectacles. The music was only part of it. A$AP Rocky has never approached live performance like a standard rap show, and this production pushed even further into theatrical territory, blurring the line between concert, action movie, and dystopian art installation.
The evening didn’t begin without some frustration. Like many stops on the tour, there was no opening act, no warm-up DJ, and a long wait after doors opened before Rocky finally appeared. By the time the lights dropped, anticipation inside Rogers Arena had turned into impatience. Fortunately for A$AP, his audience (many of them clearly too young to remember the early A$AP Mob days firsthand) never seemed ready to give up on him.
When he finally arrived, he made sure nobody forgot it. Instead of walking onto the stage, A$AP Rocky emerged from the arena floor surrounded by dancers dressed as militarized officers while a helicopter hovered overhead with searchlights sweeping across the crowd. Within seconds, the floor dissolved into a massive mosh pit as he launched into “Trunks.” It was loud, disorienting, and exactly the sort of entrance the Don’t Be Dumb aesthetic has been building toward.
The surveillance-state imagery remained throughout the night. Upside-down flags, “Big Brother Is Always Watching” banners, flashing emergency lights, riot shields, and a microphone built into a megaphone reinforced the show’s themes of authority and resistance. Whether every fan followed the underlying message hardly mattered. The visuals worked because they never stopped moving. Every few minutes there seemed to be another surprise waiting around the corner.
A$AP Rocky soon reappeared hanging from a second helicopter suspended above the audience while another inflatable helicopter drifted around the arena. Pyrotechnics exploded across the stage. Lasers filled every corner of Rogers Arena. Nearly every song arrived with a new visual twist, making the production feel far bigger than the average arena rap show.
If anything, the scale occasionally threatened to overwhelm the music itself. Much of the first half leaned on material from this year’s Don’t Be Dumb. Songs like “Helicopter,” “Order of Protection,” “Punk Rocky,” and “STFU” fit naturally within the show’s militarized concept, even if some haven’t yet earned the instant crowd reaction of A$AP‘s older catalog. His delivery often rode alongside backing vocals rather than standing completely on its own, but that hardly slowed the momentum. This wasn’t a night built around technical precision. It was built around atmosphere. He even apologized for his raspy vocals, joking that he was “trying to keep it sexy for the ladies.”
The crowd responded just as much to the energy as to the songs themselves. White T-shirts spun through the air during repeated calls to “wave your shirt like a helicopter,” mosh pits opened almost on command, and fans matched A$AP Rocky‘s enthusiasm from the floor all the way into the upper bowl. For an artist who has spent much of the last several years making headlines through fashion, film, and family life alongside Rihanna, there was never much doubt that his fanbase had stayed loyal.
The strongest stretch of the night came once Rocky reached deeper into his catalogue. “Peso,” “Purple Swag,” “Goldie,” “Fashion Killa,” and “Everyday” reminded everyone why his influence stretches far beyond chart positions. These songs have aged remarkably well, finding a second life with younger audiences through streaming and social media without losing the dreamy, stylish swagger that made them stand out more than a decade ago.
A$AP Rocky balanced those quieter moments with plenty of personality. He joked with fans, encouraged the crowd to look after one another in the mosh pits, and closed the night with his trademark mix of humour and common sense, telling everyone not to drink and drive, and, naturally, “don’t be dumb.” It was a fitting ending.
The Don’t Be Dumb Tour occasionally feels like it’s trying to outdo itself. The helicopters, sirens, dancers, and constant visual overload can sometimes compete with the songs rather than support them. Yet A$AP Rocky somehow keeps everything from falling apart through sheer charisma. Even hidden beneath masks, oversized jackets, or hanging from a helicopter above the audience, his presence remains unmistakable.
On a day built around national celebration, Rogers Arena became home to a different kind of spectacle. Canada Day had fireworks outside. Inside, A$AP Rocky supplied enough of his own. The result wasn’t a perfect concert. It was something far more memorable: almost two hours of stylish chaos from one of hip-hop’s most distinctive performers, reminding Vancouver that very few artists can build a world around a live show the way he can.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
Upcoming Tour Dates:
Fri Jul 03 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
Sat Jul 04 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
Wed Jul 08 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Sat Jul 11 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
More information here.
A$AP ROCKY in VANCOUVER
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer