Category Archives: Entertainment

Roll the clock back to 2016 to 2006, Canada got “Weak in the Knees” for young, Toronto-based, newcomer Serena Ryder. Since her breakthrough album If Your Memory Serves You Well Serena has gone on to win six JUNO Awards, a Muchmusic Video Award and a Canadian Film Award. This past May Serena released her sixth, and highest charting, studio album Utopia. 

Finland’s extreme metal superstars Children of Bodom brought their 20 Years Down & Dirty to Ottawa on Wednesday night and things were bound to get crazy!

The progressive death metal band Uncured from New York opened the metal night at the absolutely packed Bronson Centre.

The second to hit the stage was Lost Society from Jyvaskyla, Finland. The young band has an insane amount of positive energy on stage, and their short but solid set was sure to warm up any trash metal fans in the audience with influences from Megadeth and Pantera.

Lost Society at Bronson Centre. Photo by Laura Collins.

The much anticipated Dutch horror metal band Carach Angren entered the stage surrounded by ghostly holograms was sure to be a memorable performance. The haunting synth combined with the heavy guitar riffs and some extreme drumming combined with singer Dennis Droomer’s guttural vocals left more than a few people collecting their jaws off the floor and wanting to see more of the theatrical band.

Carach Angren at Bronson Centre. Photo by Laura Collins.

It’s hard to believe it has been 20 years since Children of Bodom released their debut album Something Wild. The front man Alexi Laiho seems to be in the best shape ever and making his larger than life guitar solos look absolutely effortless.

Children of Bodom at Bronson Centre. Photo by Laura Collins.

The band has been on the road most of the year, touring in Europe in the spring, and bringing in the North American leg of the tour in October, having only two shows left in Canada after the Ottawa show. There was no sign tiredness showing from any of the band members as they put on a show that turned the ecstatic Bronson Centre crowd into a giant mosh pit and a flow of crowd surfers going through the floor for most of the second half of the show.

It has been a while since I’ve seen such a passionate audience, singing almost every song from word to word. Laiho was clearly enjoying his time on stage as well, encouraging the crowd to be louder.

Children of Bodom is one of the biggest bands to come out of the promised land of metal bands, and showed us what it takes to conquer the world, over and over.

Setlist:

1. Deadnight Warrior
2. In The Shadows
3. Needled 24/7
4. Hatebreeder
5. Lake Bodom
6. Warheart
7. Hate Me!
8. Red Light In My Eyes Part 2
9. Downfall
10. Everytime I Die
11. Children of Bodom
12. Hate Crew Deathroll
13. Bed of Razors
14. Kissing the Shadows

Encore:

1. The Nail
2. Towards Dead End

By Laura Collins.

Weeks of video teasers and anticipation finally paid off on Saturday night at Mavericks at the Eagleson CD release party. The Ottawa heavy hitters pushed out a two song EP that is bound to rock your socks off.

The Hamilton based husband and wife duo Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland, better known as Whitehorse, are known for their passionate performances on stage, and it was no different on Tuesday night at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

After months of preparation and anticipation the Grey Cup Festival has finally arrived in Ottawa. The Grey Cup itself will make its arrival in the city tomorrow and the main events will kick off starting Thursday. Here’s a rundown of what you can do for FREE over the next few days at the Grey Cup Festival.

The BC rockers Theory of a Deadman have announced a fifteen date Canadian tour starting February 25th in Vancouver, and finishing May 13th in Halifax.

The band released their most recent album Wake Up Call in October, and are just finishing a headlining tour in the U.S.

The band is addressing issues related to prescription drugs on a music video for “Rx”.

“When I got divorced, I went and saw a therapist and the first thing she said was, ‘I want to put you on some Beta blockers or some sort of anti-depressant stuff’ and I’m like, ‘No! No Way! What? How is that the first thing you want to do?’” front man Tyler Connolly said in an interview with Billboard. “I just feel like something’s wrong and I felt like the song needed to be written and people needed to hear it,” he added.

“Wake Up Call” is Theory of a Deadman’s sixth studio album and a follow-up to 2014’s “Savages.” The band has had several radio hits, such as “Bad Girlfriend,” “Lowlife,” “So Happy” and “By the Way,” and “Angel” and “Drown” from the 2014 album.

Theory of a Deadman features Tyler Connolly (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Brenner (rhythm guitar), Dean Back (bass) and Joey Dandeneau (drums).

All the Canadian tour dates below:

Feb 25, 2018 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver

Feb 27, 2018 Esplanade Theatre, Medicine Hat

Feb 28, 2018 Casino Regina, Regina

Mar 01, 2018 Grey Eagle Casino, Calgary

Mar 03, 2018 O’Brians, Saskatoon

Mar 05, 2018 Western Manitoba Centennial, Brandon

Mar 06, 2018 Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, Thunder Bay

May 02, 2018 Scotia Bank Convention Centre, Niagara Falls, NY

May 03, 2018 Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto

May 04, 2018 Mavricks Music HallBarrie

May 07, 2018 Bronson Centre, Ottawa

May 08, 2018 MTELUS, Montreal

May 10, 2018 The Playhouse Theatre, Frederictona

May 11, 2018 Casino NB, Moncton

May 13, 2018 Casino NS, Halifax

The annual, four day touring festival Taste of Iceland arrived in Toronto on November 9-12th to highlight the best of Icelandic culture, and showcasing the Nordic nation’s cuisine, music, art, film and literature in free events around the city.

After a false start last week we believe a major Boots and Hearts lineup announcement is imminent and can come as soon as tomorrow (Thursday) morning.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of talking to Lauren Alaina mere days before her Canadian debut as part of Dallas Smith’s Side Effects tour. Over the course of the interview Lauren opened up about personal struggles after American Idol as well as the tragic events of Route 91 Harvest Festival. This was one of my favourite interviews and easily one of the most personal interviews I’ve ever done. 

Monster Spectacular, the ultimate sports and entertainment spectacle mixing racing, showmanship and the ultimate fan experience into one incredible, action packed live show, announced that it will roar into Kingston on Friday, June 8 and Ottawa on Saturday, June 9. Monster Spectacular will electrify the crowd with breathtaking stunts and the power of the world’s most popular monster trucks, including current World champion Overkill Evolution, Black Stallion, Bounty Hunter, Anger Management, the new truck Iron Outlaw and Canadian monster truck Train Wreck from Lions Head, Ont.