The Beaches @ Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Arena-- October 25, 2025

It’s been incredible to see the meteoric rise of Toronto’s The Beaches. A couple years ago I was pleasantly surprised when they sold out the Orpheum, and now they’re playing their first arena-headlining shows with the No Hard Feelings Tour in celebration of their new album. The tour kicked off the previous night in Victoria before the band returned to Vancouver for a sold out(!) show at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre.

Opening the night was Valley, also from Toronto. I only caught part of their set, but they were more on the ‘pop’ end of the ‘alternative pop’ scale, with songs like “Baby is a Cowboy” which saw drummer Karah James on vocals, and singer Rob Laska getting everyone to join in on “Bop Ba”. They were maybe a little too pop for my own taste, but were definitely a good choice to warm the crowd up.

The stage was then set for The Beaches, as a voicemail played over the speakers — which would recur throughout the set to introduce other songs — and Jordan Miller, Kylie Miller, Leandra Earl, and Eliza Enman-McDaniel immediately rocked out with with “Last Girls at the Party”.

The first time I saw The Beaches, I was immediately taken by their energy, and a bigger stage just meant more. They made use of the space as the members all sang, danced, and/or shred back & forth and on the catwalk platform (well, Eliza behind the drums didn’t more around much, but still matched the rest of the band’s energy). They also included the audience, with Jordan giving an overshare and also inviting up a member of the crowd to do the same before “Did I Say Too Much”, and later making her way along the front row to sing directly to people, before bestowing someone a sash emblazoned with “Jocelyn” for the titular song.

Other highlights included the infectious “Fine, Let’s Get Married”, the simmering intensity of “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid”, and Leandra introducing “Lesbian of the Year” with a heartwarming story about coming out later in life and the advice she got from Tegan Quin, before a gorgeous performance with just her on keys and Jordan singing.

Late in the set they took a moment to thank long-time fans before ripping through a few older favourites like the “T-Shirt”, the crowd joining in on a certain anatomical lyric, and “Money”. And then the main set came to an end with the huge hit, “Blame Brett” as I got chills when the sold out crowd started singing along almost perfectly.

But of course they were back out for a couple more: one of my faves off the new album the acerbic “I Wore You Better”, “Sorry for Your Loss” dedicated to the LA Dodgers, and finally a reprise of “Last Girls at the Party” to bookend the set.

There are a lot of bands in Canada who feel like they are ‘arena worthy’, and it’s always great when one breaks through and fulfills that potential. Not that I had any doubts, but The Beaches were completely at home on the big stage, with a few thousand people hanging on their every note.

setlist
Last Girls at the Party
Touch Myself
Me & Me
Cigarette
Grow Up Tomorrow
Shower Beer
Did I Say Too Much
Fine, Let’s Get Married
Dirty Laundry
Can I Call You in the Morning?
What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Paranoid
Everything Is Boring
Lesbian of the Year
Edge of the Earth
T-Shirt
Fascination
Blow Up
Give It Up
Money
Jocelyn
Takes One to Know One
Blame Brett
(encore)
I Wore You Better
Sorry for Your Loss
Last Girls at the Party (reprise)

the message left on one of the big screens at the end of the show

Weekly Photo Roundup - February 08, 2017 ft. Frank Turner, Arkells, Holy Hum, Louise Burns

Weekly Photo Roundup for the week preceding February 8, 2017

It's the return of the End of Winter/Spring Concert Season! I know it's not spring yet (clearly if you look outside right now), but February and March sees a time where lots of Canadian bands are doing the voyage across the country.

To prove my fact, Arkells returned to Vancouver last week, one day to the year that they were performing in 2016 at the Commodore. This time they were at the Dougie at UBC and brought along Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls. Check out Kirk's full recap by clicking here & see the photos above.

Also this week, Louise Burns had her album (Young Mopes) release show at the Lido, with guest Holy Hum. The Lido was packed (with a lineup outside in the blustery winter weather) and the music was excellent - get your hands on Louise's new album by clicking here.

Check out the concert calendar for what is coming up this week!

Photos by Christine McAvoy

Arkells @ Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Arena-- 02/01/17

Watching a band grow from playing the Biltmore to Venue to the Commodore to festivals and now arenas is something special. And that's the journey I've followed of one of Canada's hardest working bands, Arkells. They kicked off the Canadian portion of their Morning Report tour last night at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Arena last night, their first ever show headlining an arena. 

And the brought along with them a special guest, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls. Turner started on stage along with "I Still Believe", The Sleeping Souls slowly joining him to launch into a big singalong, the first of the night with the rapidly filling floor section joining in. And if you follow either/both bands on social media, you have seen their friendship, so it's no surprise that during the very first song Max from Arkells came out to play a bit of harmonica.
The rest of the set was filled with high energy Brit-Rock with Turner's almost-manic stage presence, with songs like the defiant "Photosynthesis" and the incredibly catchy "Recovery". 
Part way through the set, Turner brought a girl onstage to play a harmonica solo, the twist being it was a random fan from the front row who had pretty much never played harmonica
(I offhandedly joked he "Bruce Springsteen'd a Courtney Cox" which would turn out to be eerily prescient later on).
As the set came to a close, Turner went into the crowd with "Four Simple Words" starting off as a slow waltz as Frank went into the thick of the crowd to dance with random people, before hitting the throttle as the song turned punk for a fiery ending. 
After thanking us again Frank & the band left the stage to while Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" played, and I hope that's the case because I liked what I saw. 

As the floor and the stands continued to fill, it was soon time for the Hamilton fivesome, Arkells, taking the stage to Edwin Starr's "War" and kicking off with a song perhaps chosen specifically for Vancouver, "A Little Rain (A Song For Pete)". 
From the raucous songs like "Oh, The Boss is Coming" to "And Then Some" with the band acoustically huddled together; the dark and brooding "Passenger Seat" to the gospel-tinged "Drake's Dad" -- which saw frontman Max Kerman smack in the middle of the crowd -- the band played for about two hours, pulling from all their albums, never losing steam. Especially Max, who I don't think stopped moving for more than 30 seconds. 

They also had a few special guests through the set; first Frank Turner come out and "defend his PhD in Rock 'n' Roll" by putting him on the spot to sing some Springsteen (remember what I said earlier?), and Said the Whale's Tyler Bancroft was out to play guitar for "My Heart's Always Yours". And then in a true "Dancing in the Dark" moment, Max pulled up a girl from the front row to dance with him to "Dirty Blonde" before all the lights went out while the band encouraged everyone to literally dance like no one was watching. 

They finished off the main set with Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls back out to join them on "Private School", but of course that wasn't going to be it. The encore began with an acoustic rendition of "Whistleblower", the band rejoining Max one by one, before one last singalong of the night, and the biggest yet, "Leather Jacket". 

It's been years since I've been to an arena show -- to be honest, I'm not really a big fan of them -- but if anyone's going to bring me out to an arena, it's Arkells. The sound wasn't nearly as bad as I was fearing, and of course the band was explosive on stage. They've always been one of my favourite bands to watch live, and it was such a joy seeing them rock the big stage. 

setlist
A Little Rain (A Song For Pete)
Came to Light
Michigan Left
Savannah
Passenger Seat
Never Thought That This Would Happen
11:11
Making Due
Hung Up
And Then Some
Oh, The Boss Is Coming
Pulling Punches
Drake's Dad
The Ballad of Hugo Chavez
My Heart's Always Yours
Book Club
On Paper
Dirty Blonde
Private School
(encore)
Whistleblower
Cynical Bastards
Leather Jacket