The midway point of Festival Country Lotbinière has arrived and, for once, not a rain cloud to be seen and even our old friend the sun made an appearance in the afternoon to welcome thousands of country fans to the grounds behind the Saint-Agapit arena. But not before another full afternoon of performances on the KIA stage which featured up and coming country acts from across Quebec.
Jameson Rodgers, Travis Denning and Owen Riegling brave the rain and cold on opening night of Festival Country Lotbinière
We’re back for our annual pilgrimage to Saint-Agapit, Quebec for the 2023 edition of Festival Country Lotbinière. Once again, this year, weather is the talk of the town as cold wet weather has dominated. Thankfully for organizers country fans in Quebec have proven that they will show up in rain, hail, sleet and snow and a bit of cold and wet weather didn’t dampen the spirits much.
The Decible Magazine Tour Decimates Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre
On Wednesday night, Vancouver was lucky enough to be the third Canadian stop on the annual Decibel Magazine Tour.
Hailed as the longest-running Metal tour in North America, this prolific showcase has brought bands like Obituary, Morbid Angel and Enslaved to cities across the continent for over ten years.
Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox VisualsCattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
The 2023 tour perfectly blended black and death metal with its lineup consisting of Dark Funeral, Cattle Decapitation, along with up-and-coming heavy-hitters 200 Stab Wounds and Black Braid.
Between the crushing atmospherics, gruesome vocals, and downright nasty riffs, there was little room for any disappointment.
Highlights included: Black Braid’s culturally rich performance that was both beautiful and educational. As they wove traditional indigenous instruments, songs, and storytelling throughout raw and atmospheric black metal soundscapes.
200 Stab Wounds never fail to put on a brutal set with tight instrumentation and neck-breaking riffs, this band is a real testament to the new wave of Death Metal and just how tough it is.
Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox VisualsCattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
Obviously, Cattle Decapitation was just insane. Travis Ryan is otherworldly live, foaming at the mouth and creating noises no human should be able to. It’s not just Ryan that makes this band hard to believe, but every member is a tenacious beast with their instrument – all coming together to form one wretched conglomerate of sound that is honestly mind-boggling to bear witness to.
Sadly, I had to depart before Dark Funeral hit the stage. But, I was lucky enough to catch them back in November wit Cattle Decapitation, and I know for a fact they are a band everyone must see at least once.
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Cattle Decapitation- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- 200 Stab Wounds- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
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- Black Braid- Vancouver – Vogue Theatre June 2023 – Paradox Visuals
Sepultura and Kreator Bring Metal Mayhem to Vancouver
Last week fans at the Commodore Ballroom closed out the month of May with a night of metal mayhem, thanks to Sepultura, Kreator, Death Angel and Spirit World.
It’s been several years since both Kreator and Sepultura visited Vancouver, and they did not disappoint. Both bands were equipped with stacked setlists, riddled with hits and new material, along with fierce energy and tenacious instrumentation.
From coaxing circle pits to promoting walls of death and egging on crowd-surfers, the fans were feral and did whatever the band told them to, it was amazing to see!
Dierks Bentley – Gravel & Gold tour stopped at the Budweiser Stage
Last week Dierks Bentley kicked off his Gravel and Gold Tour 2023 in Toronto at the Budweiser Stage. The show opened with the Bluegrass sound of Molly Tuttle and her band. The California native got the crowd going with music from her Grammy winning album. The sounds of the banjo, fiddle and mandolin along with the amazing harmonies got the crowd on their feet.
Megadeth’s Symphony of Destruction in Ottawa
On a sunny Tuesday evening, I parked my car in the Canadian Tire Centre parking lot and made my way to Gate 3 where media enters. I couldn’t help but notice the HAIL SATAN! license plate covers as I walked through the lot. Guess who was in town.
Rêves Come True in Ottawa
Beautiful spring weather has finally arrived in Ottawa and the evening of May 8 was the perfect night for the Algonquin college Spring Launch concert featuring two Canadian Juno Award Winners, Preston Pablo https://www.prestonpablo.com/ and Rêve https://www.revemtlmusic.com/ .
Carcass Crush Vancouver
Extreme metal pioneers, Carcass, brought their unique brand of Death n Roll to Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom on Wednesday, bringing together a myriad of metal heads.
With a vast discography, ranging from grindcore to melodic death metal, and everything in between, revolutionaries Bill Steer and Jeff Walker, force-fed fans all of the best parts of Carcass throughout a 16-song set. And man, were we feasting.
From classics like “This Mortal Coil” And “Corporal Jigsore Quandry” to “Kelly’s Meat Emporium” and “316L Grade Surgical Steel” – the set list catered to fans of every Carcass era, despite it being dubbed the Torn Arteries tour. The band breezed through the song’s technicalities with ease and flair.
Though Walker and Steer are far from on their way out, you’d think after four decades of trailblazing they’d of slowed up. However, that’s far from the case. The pair, and their newest lineup additions, performed with such tenacity and prowess that if you closed your eyes you’d think it was their 20-year-old selves on stage.
Not only was the precision of the set a highlight, but the energy radiating from each member was truly remarkable. It didn’t feel like one of those “make-a-buck” tours, that you’ve come to expect from bands 40 years into their careers. The gratitude and love for their craft, and fans, was palpable. Not just from Carcass, but every band.
Each act to hit the stage commanded the room, creating a unifying ambiance that one really can only experience at a metal show. While Carcass was undoubtedly the highlight, one of the coolest things about this show was the diversity in the lineup. Sure, these bands all played some form of metal, but they were also fantastic representations of their niche sub-genre and Carcass’ influence on the genre as a whole.
Supported by party thrash legends, Municipal Waste, the groove-stricken Sacred Reich, and Texas death metal titans, Creeping Death, the attention to detail of this bill cannot go unnoticed. Every band delivered a crushing set, leaving the audience rabid and famished for more.
Whether we were headbanging to the point of whiplash with Creeping Death and Sacred Reich or guzzling beers and crowd surfing with Municipal Waste – this show and all the musicians who were a part of it, was not only perfection but an incredible look at the growth of metal music.
Lee Brice brought his beer drinking opportunity tour to Kingston
I’ve only really considered myself a “Country Music” fan for about that last 15-16 years and even at that I’m often drawn more to the Canadian indie scene. That said Lee Brice has long been an artist on my bucket list that I’ve been wanting to see and this past week I got the best of both worlds as Lee Brice along with two rising stars on the Canadian Indie scene, Josh Ross and Tenille Arts, paid a visit to Eastern Ontario, first with a stop at Canadian Tire Centre followed by a stop at Kingston’s Leon’s Centre.
Suddenly Ottawa Sees KT Tunstall
Last night, music fans in Ottawa were treated to an unforgettable concert featuring KT Tunstall and opener Pre-Loved.
