Billy Talent – Live in Vancouver (7/30/16)

I still remember the date. May 27, 2003. Sum 41 were playing at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton back when I was the tender age of 15. Opening for them was a then-unknown band from Toronto called Billy Talent who almost stole the show. By September of that year, Try Honesty was taking over the airwaves and they were on the way to becoming the biggest band in Canada. Over the next eight years I saw them close to a dozen times and some of my favourite concert memories were courtesy of the Toronto four piece.

Over the last five years, I only saw them once. Schedules mismatched, touring slowed and – honestly – I never even listened to Dead Silence more than once. Waking up on Saturday morning,  the day after their fifth album (Afraid of Heights) was officially released – I was surprised to see that my former favourite band was playing an invite-only, win to get in secret show at The Roxy in Vancouver and, deep down, I knew I couldn’t miss it.

So eight hours later I found myself squashed among a mismatch of lucky winners at the 27-year old venue anxiously awaiting the arrival of the band for what turned out to be, to date, the best show of 2016.

In the five years since I last saw them, Billy Talent hasn’t lost their edge or live presence. I was saddened to not see Aaron Solowoniuk behind the kit (due to medical reasons associated with his MS), but Alexisonfire‘s Jordan Hastings was a suitable filler in the meantime. Frontman Ben Kowalewicz put his foot up on the barrier, taking his signature pose and the band dove right into Devil In A Midnight Mass as the packed crowd went off.

Despite playing in support of Afraid Of Heights, they leaned more towards their older material much to the joys and cheers of the crowd. Kowalewicz did the occasional speech, praising Canada, Vancouver and Gay pride, taunting Canucks fans and condemning the fucked up nature of  the world between cuts like River Below, Fallen Leaves, Surrender, Devil on My Shoulder, Rusted From The Rain, Living In The Shadows and Saint Veronika. Their three song encore ramped up with Red Flag and ended with Viking Death March and throughout the night they dropped a few new cuts – Big Red Gun, Louder Than The DJ and The Crutch – and even did a heartfelt  tribute to Gord Downie with a Tragically Hip cover.

Ignoring the songs or the speeches,  it was the energy that made this show what it was. Yes, a certain nostalgia element heightened everything, the realization that I still remembered every lyric despite not listening to the self-titled album in years forced me to smile; but more than that,  there was a spark in the air. Billy Talent felt that and expanded on it. The small venue, the rabid crowd, the surprisingly solid sound, made the night instantly memorable.

In a year of, quite frankly, mediocre and forgettable concerts – Billy Talent at the Roxy on July 30th served as a reminder for why I go to concerts in the first place. For an hour and a half, you felt alive and nothing could stop you.

I left the show and walked down a packed Granville Street drenched in sweat and a smile on my face, the way it’s supposed to be after a show. And to think, I only found out about the show ten hours before.

Fuck the bouncers though, they were assholes.