Twenty years ago, Sam Roberts released his acclaimed sophomore album Chemical City and to celebrate the anniversary, Sam Roberts Band is playing a very special five city tour across Canada. Coincidentally, it was twenty years ago I first saw them live*, so I was excited that one of the stops on this tour was the Commodore Ballroom.
*A bonkers lineup of Jets Overhead, The Stills, Broken Social Scene, and Sam Roberts at Deer Lake Park!

With no opening act for the night, the stage filled with blue smoke and Sam Roberts Band took the stage, silhouetted by backlights as the iconic intro of “The Gate” filled the room as they launched into Chemical City in its entirety. From the crowd joining in on songs like “Bridge to Nowhere” and “With a Bullet”, to the soft acoustic “Uprising Down Under” and the hard hitting “The Bootleg Saint”, the band blast through with Sam only stopping briefly to talk about their history with Vancouver and recording this album in Australia. I was also happy to hear my favourites off the album, “The Resistance” which I haven’t heard live in some time, and the psychedelic 8+ minute jam “Mind Flood” (which was a little funny to hear so early in the set and not closing it out).

Sam took over the keys as the beautiful piano ballad “A Stone Would Cry Out” closed out the album, and after the band took a quick break they were back not just for an encore, but a whole other set packed with the hits.

Kicking off by getting everyone to dance to “Them Kids”, the sold out room joined in on almost every song, going all the way back to The Inhuman Condition with “Don’t Walk Away Eileen” and up to Lo-Fantasy’s “We’re All In This Together”. After the rollicking “Detroit ‘67” and the crowd loudly wondering “Where Have All the Good People Gone?”, Roberts paused once more to finish telling the story of Chemical City’s recording, including a b-side to the album with “Fall Before You Finish”.

And finally, after nearly two hours the band wrapped up the set with a couple more crowd pleasers, “Hard Road” and the biggest singalong of the night to “Brother Down”, ending with the band jamming as Roberts went up to the front row, hugging and high fiving everyone he could reach.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I always love a show where a band will play their album in full; be it a brand new one for their launch or celebrating an old favourite. And it’s especially fun when they can go on to a second set to remind you just how many bangers they’ve had over their career. I’ve seen Sam Roberts (Band) a handful of times over these last twenty years, and they always put on an incredible show full of energy as one of the best live rock bands in Canada.

setlist
(Chemical City)
The Gate
Bridge to Nowhere
With a Bullet
Mind Flood
Uprising Down Under
Mystified, Heavy
An American Draft Dodger in Thunder Bay
The Bootleg Saint
The Resistance
A Stone Would Cry Out
(The Hits)
Them Kids
Don’t Walk Away Eileen
We’re All in This Together
Detroit ‘67
Where Have All the Good People Gone?
Fall Before You Finish
Hard Road
Brother Down