Concerts Photos
Emei Brings the Drama to Vancouver on Her Birthday on the ‘Night at the Opera’ Tour
Theatre was always going to be part of Emei’s world. The Chinese-American pop singer has described herself as a lifelong “theater kid,” and at the Vogue Theatre on October 3, that side of her was impossible to miss. Her Night At The Opera tour lived up to its name, turning the Vancouver stop into a colourful, theatrical production that happened to fall on Emei’s birthday.
The night opened with Madelline, whose theatrical pop was an easy match for the evening. She grabbed the room quickly with strong showmanship, upbeat songs and sticky melodies, wrapped in a playful cabaret aesthetic. The audience clearly understood the assignment too, with plenty of fans showing up dressed for the occasion.
Once Emei took the stage, the show unfolded in acts, complete with dancers and enough visual drama to keep the audience guessing. Songs from Night At The Opera sat comfortably alongside older favourites, including “Late to the Party,” “Scatterbrain” and “Love Me Not.”
The birthday theme became part of the show itself. After “Irresponsible,” fans raised handmade banners for Emei, turning the room into a giant birthday card.
Then came the kind of concert moment no production meeting can plan for. During “Late to the Party,” technical problems brought the performance to a stop. Rather than let the silence take over, Emei turned the delay into roughly ten minutes of completely unplanned entertainment. She answered questions from the crowd, talked about her current Lady Gaga obsession and her appreciation for getting some sleep on the tour bus, accepted a crocheted duck from a fan and posed for a group photo with the audience. Of course, the crowd sang “Happy Birthday” too. Once the technical issue was sorted, Emei simply restarted the song and carried on.
Later, during “You Are Bad,” Emei and her two musicians froze onstage as her dancers used the moment to surprise her with a birthday sash. Party hats followed for the guitarist and drummer, prompting another round of “Happy Birthday” from the crowd. An interlude featuring Emei briefly hitting the drums kept the theatrical momentum moving.
The whole thing could have felt chaotic. Instead, it felt personal. I last saw Emei at All Things Go in Toronto in 2025, and I was really excited to her on her own headlining tour. Her command of the stage and her ability to pull a crowd into her world have grown since then. She has the songs, the theatrical instincts and the live confidence to back them up.
If this is only Act 1, I’m very looking forward to see what Emei does next.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
EMEI
MADELLINE
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Concerts Photos
Jungle Turns Pacific Coliseum Into a Seventies Dance Floor
British electronic funk outfit Jungle brought its Sunshine World Tour to Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum on October 2, turning the arena into something that felt far removed from 2026. For a couple of hours, the band’s mix of funk, disco, soul and psychedelic pop made the place feel like a very stylish party from the 1970s that somehow landed in East Vancouver.
For anyone new to Jungle, the project was formed in London in 2013 by childhood friends Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland. What started as a mysterious duo became a full live band, with vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Lydia Kitto becoming a key part of the lineup. Across five albums, including their Mercury Prize-nominated debut and their latest record, Sunshine, Jungle have built a sound that feels rooted in the past without getting stuck there.
Jungle appeared behind long curtains, revealing a stage setup that looked like a mid-century modern conversation pit. It was an appropriately retro setting for a band that has made old-school grooves feel current. “Smile” got things moving immediately, and the crowd rarely stopped from there.
Tracks including “Heavy, California,” “PROBLEMZ,” “Beat 54 (All Good Now)” and “The Wave” kept the energy high. The band moved between instruments with ease, rarely stopping long enough for the momentum to disappear. Kitto was a standout throughout, her vocals cutting cleanly through the layered instrumentation while her presence added another dimension to the performance.
The production was just as important. Teal, orange, red and blue lighting shifted with the music, creating everything from soft, dreamy moments to full-on dance-floor chaos. Fog and sharp beams of light gave the Pacific Coliseum a cinematic quality without distracting from the musicians.
Then came “Back on 74,” the obvious crowd favourite. The song’s Fosse-inspired video has become one of Jungle’s defining visual moments, and Kitto and the backing vocalists brought some of that choreography to the stage with sharp poses, curved shoulders and expressive hand movements. The audience knew every move and every word.
By the time “Keep Moving” and “Busy Earnin’” arrived as the two-song encore, there was little question that Vancouver was still ready for more. The band had spent the night keeping everyone on their feet, and the final notes were met with cheers, whistles and a Coliseum full of people who probably weren’t quite ready to return to 2026.
Jungle may make music inspired by another era, but their live show doesn’t feel nostalgic for nostalgia’s sake. It feels alive. And last night, Vancouver was more than happy to keep moving.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
JUNGLE
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer
Concerts Photos
Chance The Rapper Brings ‘Coloring Book Ten Anniversary Tour’ to Vancouver
Chance The Rapper brought Coloring Book back to life in Vancouver, taking over the Freedom Mobile Arch at the PNE for a night that felt like both a celebration and a trip back in time. The Chicago born rapper is currently marking ten years of Coloring Book, the 2016 mixtape that became a defining project in his career and helped push independent music further into the mainstream. There was something special about watching Chance perform music that has been with his fans for a decade. You could see how much these songs still mean to people just by looking around the crowd. There were hands in the air, people singing along, and moments where it felt like Chance barely needed to say anything because the audience already knew exactly what was coming.
Photographing the show gave me a completely different way of experiencing that energy. Through my lens, I found myself paying attention to the smaller details , his expressions between verses, the way he moved around the stage, the lighting changing around him, and the reactions coming from the crowd. Chance is naturally expressive when he performs, and as a photographer, that gave me so many different moments to look for rather than simply trying to capture the biggest moment of each song.
What I also loved was that the performance wasn’t only about nostalgia. Chance has always mixed hip-hop with elements of gospel, soul, and jazz, and hearing that musical identity in a live setting gave the night a lot of warmth and personality. Even with a project celebrating its tenth anniversary at the centre of the show, the music didn’t feel stuck in the past.
Getting the opportunity to photograph Chance The Rapper was one of those experiences where I occasionally had to remind myself to look beyond the viewfinder and actually take in what was happening in front of me. Capturing an artist celebrating such an important chapter of his career, surrounded by a Vancouver crowd that clearly still has a lot of love for these songs, made this a memorable night to shoot. Some concerts are about getting the perfect photo; this one was just as much about capturing the feeling behind it.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
CHANCE THE RAPPER
All Photo Credit: Raphael Arthur