About: Els Durnford

Avril Lavigne @ Scotiabank Center in Halifax

Approaching the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax there was no mistaking the crowd heading to the show. Many lined up around the corner eagerly awaiting to get in donned plaid skirts, fishnets, and fingerless gloves. As a twenty-something music lover I grew up listening to Avril and was surprised to see the age range in the crowd of passionate Avril fans.

Thursday night started off with a favorite of mine, The Beaches. The Toronto based rock band brings to the stage with lots of energy, and typically have on flashy outfits you can always count on them for a fast paced set filled with hair flips and high kicks. The crowd who were still mingling around when the set started quickly tried to find their seats once they could hear what they were missing and the arena filled up. The Beaches have a number of summer dates set for 2022 including festivals like Ottawa Bluesfest and Festival d’été de Québec in July, plus their “Future Lovers” tour stars in Toronto in August.

Avril kicked things off with balloons which have been a signature piece of the Bite Me Tour. The crowd took to their feet and kicked off the night with two songs from her new Love Sux album, Cannonball and Bite Me. Shooting off confetti and releasing large balloons, the audience was loving the show. The energy really kicked up when she jumped into throwbacks like What the Hell from her Goodbye Lullaby album. The show was high energy, filled with a balance of nostalgia and throwbacks with lots of new songs (2022 marks the 20 year anniversary of Avril’s Let Go album which has a number of well known hits including Sk8r Boi and Complicated).

This was the last stop on this leg of Avril’s Bite Me Tour, but she has more dates scheduled throughout the summer including Madison Square Garden in NYC Jun 28th and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on July 6th. Avril will be touring well into 2023 globally and her full tour schedule can be found HERE.

Set List: 

Cannonball

Bite Me

What the Hell

Here’s to Never Growing Up

Complicated

My Happy Ending

Smile

Losing Grip

Love it When You Hate Me

Hello Kitty

Girlfriend

Thursday night brought a full crowd to the Rebecca Cohn Theater on Dalhousie University’s campus. A long time coming, and after two  cancellations, this show’s original opening act was replaced by Manitoba’s Field Guide  who filled the room with his music that told stories of late nights out with friends and lost relationships.

Field Guide @ Rebecca Cohn Theater May 12 2022

Bahamas started their set with an unexpected, but highly appropriate, in-flight captain’s message informing the passengers (audience). He outlined expected flight time and general show conditions and how the flight would not run longer than expected indicating that no encore would be happening. A fitting start to a show that followed such a turbulent path to finally land on a mid-May three-night Still Sad Tour Series at the Rebecca Cohn. Originally scheduled for January, and then rescheduled for April, good things are worth the wait and the masked up crowd was happy to finally hear the show they had waited for.

Alfie Jurvanen, the Canadian singer-songwriter Originally from Barrie Ontario, Alfie talked candidly about life on the East Coast. Even though he looked much different than the last time I saw him play on the Earth Tones tour at the National Arts Center in Ottawa, he sounded exactly as I remembered with his catchy beats and lyrics filled with stories. The music provides a calming fun environment where audience members swayed and excitedly pulled out phones to capture and share their favorite songs.

Bahamas’ Still Sad Tour is the tour for the album Sad Hunk which was released in the Fall of 2020. Bahamas will take to the road playing multiple shows and summer festivals in Canada and the US. The full list of upcoming dates is available HERE.  Bahamas also has a pre-sale on for a Live to Tap 12′ vinyl available HERE.

April Fools! Globetrotters win again, both on the court and in our hearts. The hilarious showcase of basketball and fun, keeps the audience going from start to finish.

Saturday night had Ottawa lined up down the block and around the corner on Bank Street. Babylon Nightclub played host to popular artist Canadian artist, Grandson. The sold out show had a mixed genre line up of Just John, The Blue Stones, and headliner Grandson.

Cirque Musica Holiday will bring audiences on a journey into a world of “Wonderland” with unforgettable visuals and amazing acrobats, aerialists, hilarious hijinks and holiday cheer. This is the perfect opportunity for the entire family to experience great holiday music, LIVE, while enjoying spectacular costumes, production, and an edge of your seat circus experience. We caught up with this amazing production over the weekend at TD Place in Ottawa. 

Gordon Lightfoot celebrated his 80th Birthday on tour, with a Sunday night stop in Ottawa. The full house in Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre rang him in, after a couple failed attempts, to sing the Canadian legend Happy Birthday.

Saturday night a ‘chill crowd’ filled the theatre at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa for Bahamas with Tim Baker. The back to back shows drew a full house each night. The night started off with St John’s native, Tim Baker. Previously the front-man of Hey Rosetta!, Tim has begun touring on his own, writing and performing new content since the band played their final shows last Christmas. Tim’s sound and voice are known around the world, however he holds a special place on the East Coast. Many of the Hey Rosetta! songs that he wrote and performed with that band are very music considered anthems in the Maritime provinces.

Ah Shania. Canada’s Country Queen. The Canadian Tire Centre was packed on Monday night as Shania Twain made a NOW tour stop in Ottawa.

Ah May in Montreal.. the sun is out, the birds are singing, and the sounds of punk music fill the streets downtown. Pouzza Fest in Montreal marks the unofficial start to festival season with over 175 bands performing different venues all weekend long. Kick off each day started early with punk yoga and meditation, and went until the other early, with secret shows starting as late/early as 2am.

The 2018 East Coast Music Awards brought together the finest musicians the East Coast has to offer. Many faces recognized across the country, others perhaps not as familiar. All talented just the same. This years festival showcased much of that talent through nights of music at local venues, as well as showcasing within the awards show itself. The intimate feel of the event meant that artists were seen wandering other shows and spaces making them accessible to talk to, get to know, and hear about what’s coming up.