Concerts Photos
Jinjer Brings Duél Tour to the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver
Jinjer brought an evening of relentless metal to Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom on July 8, turning the historic venue into a sea of circle pits and crowd surfers during a stop on the band’s Duél Tour.
Before the Ukrainian quartet took the stage, Crystal Lake and Entheos did more than warm up the crowd. Japan’s Crystal Lake delivered a blistering set packed with crushing riffs and nonstop energy, wasting no time between songs as they tore through tracks from The Weight of Sound. Their performance had the first pits of the night spinning well before the headliner arrived.
Entheos raised the intensity another level. Frontwoman Chaney Crabb was impossible to look away from, effortlessly shifting between soaring clean vocals and ferocious growls while commanding every inch of the stage. The band’s technical precision never came at the expense of raw energy. By the end of their set, the Commodore crowd was fully locked in.
When the lights dimmed and the Jinjer logo appeared on the big screen, the room erupted. Opening with “Duél” before rolling into “Green Serpent” and “Fast Draw.” The band clearly showing to everyone why they’ve become one of modern metal’s most respected live acts.
Tatiana Shmayluk remains one of the genre’s most captivating performers. Her seamless transitions between haunting clean vocals and thunderous growls continue to feel almost unreal in a live setting. Behind her, guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov, bassist Eugene Abdukhanov, and drummer Vladislav Ulasevich played with remarkable precision, locking together through the band’s complex arrangements without missing a beat.
The set balanced material from Duél with fan favourites like “Teacher, Teacher!,” “I Speak Astronomy,” “Perennial,” and the always powerful “Pisces.” Throughout the night, the crowd responded with nonstop moshing, headbanging, and crowd surfing, matching the band’s intensity from start to finish.
Closing with an encore of “Sit Stay Roll Over,” Jinjer left the Commodore exhausted but wanting more.
One thing worth mentioning from the media pit: readers will notice there are no close-up photos of Shmayluk’s face accompanying this article. During the opening songs, she repeatedly shielded her face from photographers with her hand or by turning away whenever cameras were pointed in her direction. As a photographer, that created an uncomfortable situation. While our outlet had been approved to photograph the show, I wasn’t comfortable continuing to shoot someone who appeared to be signaling that they didn’t want to be photographed. I left the photo pit after the second song instead of staying for the usual three-song limit. It’s difficult to know what prompted the change, especially since photographers at earlier dates on the tour and during previous Jinjer tours didn’t appear to encounter the same situation. Her stage presence seemed to relax as the set went on, but the opening moments left an awkward impression that stood in contrast to an otherwise outstanding performance.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
JINJER
ETHEOS
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
Concerts Photos
Arlo Parks Brings Her ‘Desire Tour’ to the Pearl in Vancouver
Arlo Parks brought her Desire Tour to Vancouver’s The Pearl on September 22, turning the intimate venue into something much bigger than its walls suggested. In support of her third album, Ambiguous Desire, Parks delivered a set that traded some of her earlier introspection for movement, warmth and a genuine sense of connection.
She opened with “Heaven,” immediately filling the room with energy. Parks moved across the small stage with an ease that matched her soft vocals, while low lighting and haze created the kind of atmosphere that has become part of her live identity. By the time the chorus arrived, the crowd was fully in it.
That sense of connection became the defining feature of the night. Parks was joined by just two musicians, yet the stripped-down setup never felt too small. During “Get Go,” the audience took over the vocals.
The shift in energy reflects Ambiguous Desire, Parks’ third album and the follow-up to 2023’s My Soft Machine. Her Mercury Prize-winning debut, Collapsed in Sunbeams, captured isolation, young love and the uncertainty of growing up. The new record keeps that emotional honesty but gives those feelings somewhere to move.
“2SIDED” brought the set to a fitting close, capturing the album’s push and pull between giving love and wondering if it is being returned.
Arlo Parks had given Vancouver a dance party, but more than that, she created a room where people could simply feel close to one another.
Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!
ARLO PARKS
BAIRD
All Photo Credit: Caroline Charruyer