Small venue with a big name makes for a great night with one of Canada’s top pop-punk stars Billy Talent and they blew the roof off of the Midway in Edmonton. A one-off show in Edmonton for a Live Nation Juno party, we were treated to an intimate setting for Billy Talent. A sold-out crowd had the dance floor area just moshing and throbbing and singing along to their many hits including songs from the latest “Crisis Of Faith.” This stop was their last date in North America for some time as the band heads over to Europe and Great Britain for some late spring early summer dates. Fear not Talent fans, they will return in July for some summer music fest fun including Ottawa’s Bluesfest.
For the uninitiated, Billy Talent might sound like a stage name or the name of a TV show. This is not the case. Billy Talent is one of Canada’s hard-hitting rock/punk bands. They consist of lead vocalist Ben Kowalewicz, guitarist Ian D’Sa, bassist Jonathan Gallant, and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk. With no lineup changes since their inception (I should note their drummer Aaron has Multiple Sclerosis and is presently on hiatus and Jordan Hastings from Alexisonfire has been filling in since 2016), Billy Talent has sold over a million records in Canada alone, and over 2 million internationally.
Billy Talent hit the stage at Midway in a fury. Opening their show with the wildly popular “Devil in a Midnight Mass”, Midway and its attendees were swept into a tornado of moshing, dancing, headbanging, and singing. “This Suffering” continued the energy going. There were repeated moments of Ben holding up his microphone and having the entire crowd singing back. That was incredible to experience throughout the night. The next song “I Beg to Differ (This Will Get Better), which is from their newest album “Crisis of Faith” was met with the same cheers and applause. I have to say though, their new songs are not quite hitting the mark as someone who loves their first three albums, (Billy Talent, Billy Talent II, and Billy Talent III). This was by far the craziest show I have been to in a long time and the bar has been set extremely high for the rest of 2023.
Surprisingly, there were more songs from previous albums on their setlist than new songs from “Crisis of Faith”. I expected to hear the majority of their new songs, but they only had seven songs out of twenty-two performed from their newest release. Ian’s “signature” guitar sound that you know and love; compressed fuzz and high distortion from a bass guitar pedal, did not make a huge appearance on “Crisis of Faith”. Perhaps they realize their older songs are more popular and what people want to hear; and with a catalog of over 25 years of music, there is a lot to choose from. It was an incredible show, mixed brilliantly with FOH and Billy Talent knows how to put on an unforgettable concert.
For more on Billy Talent check out www.billytalent.com
Opening for Billy Talent was the musical project/alternative rock band OMBIIGIZI. They got the crowd warmed up for what was going to come, a rowdy and energetic show. To see where OMBIIIGIZI is headed next, take a look at www.ombiigizi.com
