Billy Talent II 20th Anniversary Concert in Toronto at RBC amphitheatre did not disappoint. Joined by Hollerado and Death From Above 1979, Billy Talent served up an unforgettable, sold out event! This mid-summer concert landed amid wildfire smoke-choke outs and severe thunderstorm warnings, so it was to our benefit the sun finally poked through clouds mid-afternoon Saturday. Fortunately for this crowd, another type of ‘natural force’ hit the stage, after what seemed like an unprecedented, apocalyptic week of Canadian Summer!
Arguably one of the biggest concerts of the summer season in Toronto started off with pure feel good vibes from Hollerado. Hollerado is a Canadian indie rock band from Ottawa, Ontario. Formed in 2007, the band consists of Menno Versteeg, Nixon Boyd, Dean Baxter, and Jake Boyd.
After taking a moment to pose with the event sign, I made my way to my front-and-centre section seat while they played their familiar (and my most favorite) song “Juliette”. I find myself singing the song often (it’s an ear-worm); definitely get it on your summer playlist. This was all the start of a spectacular night to come…
Death From Above 1979 – Still Giving Everything They’ve Got
I first saw Death from Above 1979 in Ottawa opening for Billy Talent with Metric 20 years ago! Since then, they are a staple on my workout playlist and it’s seldom that I go for a run or hit the heavy bag without listening to one of their high energy songs. They played some of their biggest hits like “Romantic Rights” “Going Steady” “Trainwreck 1979” and one of my all time favorites “Little Girl”. True to form, they sounded exceptional.
While they looked visibly older than the last time I saw them live, their ability to bring the house down remains strong! These guys rock so hard. Happy they played a ton of hits.
Sweet set.
Billy Talent Bring the Noise!
The headlining act, Billy Talent, kick things off in Celebratory fashion and they have a lot to celebrate. The concert centers around the 20th anniversary of their hit album Billy Talent II which came out in 2006. This hit Canadian rock group is proudly selling out a 16,000 seat Venue with more than 2 decades of performances under their belt and never sounded better. Armed with a supercharged set, they played all the songs on BT2 & some encores from the early days as BT. Noticeably, Ben Kowalewicz’ voice is still intact, and his ability to scream has not waned at all. In fact, it can be said that they are still in their prime, performance wise. In fact, Kowalewicz seems to be aging backward; with no visible signs of aging whatsoever.
Benjamin Kowalewicz’ energy is unmatched. This front man gives every ounce of energy he has in the tank. He jumped, screamed, head banged, ran around, and sang every song pitch perfect. This guy made me tired for him! He is so on point he can be seen regularly ditching his in-ear piece to interact with the crowd and hear the raw sound of The Venue. Ben Kowalewicz doesn’t even need an ear piece! He still sounds straight out of the studio armed with raw power and mega watt speakers to amplify it.
Ben also took several moments during the show to express gratitude, to invite everyone to watch out for each other, and told people that “if you see anybody fall to please help them up”.
Later in the show, a touching moment when Kowalewicz momentarily stopped a song intro to introduce their first drummer who worked on all that particular material with them back in the day in the early 2000s.
Billy Talent’s original drummer, Aaron Solowoniuk, is still with the band but had to step away from the drum kit in 2016 due to a severe relapse of multiple sclerosis (MS). While he occasionally performs a song or two, Alexisonfire drummer Jordan Hastings was brought in. It was a touching moment to bring the original drummer into the spotlight, and there were several times throughout the evening when the front man made a point to highlight the crew, concertgoers, and bandmates over himself.
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- Billy Talent Set
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- Billy Talent July 18 Toronto
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- Billy Talent Toronto
The Encore…Set Visuals and More!
Billy Talent did a huge 4 song encore … And included some of their first known hits like “Try Honesty”.
On top of such a high energy performance, the visuals for the show were stunning. I notice that many visuals seem weather related. For example, stormy plains, expansive cloud filled views, a lightning storm, then, fire appeared to overtake the stage. There were a lot of themes around ‘force of nature’, which is also what could be said about Billy Talent. This powerful force of nature had no political messaging or commentary embedded in the show. This was truly an event to bring everyone together, regardless of background age, gender or beliefs. Thank you so much Billy Talent keep rocking!
Billy Talent II: 20th Anniversary Concert – Five star Show! ☆☆☆☆☆
