Great Lake Swimmers & Elliott BROOD @ Biltmore Cabaret -- October 23, 2025

Two Canadian folk rock powerhouses joined forced earlier this month on a jaunt through western Canada for The Ballads and Badlands Tour. And since Elliott BROOD is always a fun, raucous show, and the last time I saw Great Lake Swimmers was more than ten years ago when they played a secret show at the Vancouver Aquarium in front of the beluga tank (no, really!), I wasn’t going to miss it when they hit the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver.

I got to the venue just before Elliott BROOD was supposed to go on, and to my shock a Vancouver show was running early. But luckily it was still their first song, “Need to Know”, as the band joked they were getting a slow song out of the way first. And the trio of Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet, and Stephen Pitkin stuck to that promise, ramping up the energy with “Dig A Little Hole” and hardly looking back.

They hit songs off their recent dual EP project, Town & Country, like “Blueberry Wine” and a rollicking ode to Windsor, Ontario with “Rose City”. As well as digging back to some fan favourites, with people singing (or yelling) along with the breezy “Northern Air”, the soaring “The Valley Town”, and of course, the cacophonous “Write it All Down for You”.

The band whipping the crowd into a frenzy as they wrapped up their set with “Wind and Snow” once more getting everyone clapping along, a dedicated few in the crowd going for the entire song!

After a quick turnaround, Great Lake Swimmers took the stage, singer & guitarist Tony Dekker joined by Ryan Granville-Martin on drums & bass and Colleen Brown on just about everything, both chiming in on backup vocals as well. (I forgot Brown was with the band at the moment, so that was a nice surprise!)

The trio kicked off the set with the first three songs off the newly released Caught Light, starting with the gorgeous harmonies of “One More Dance Around The Sun”, and weaved through most of the album throughout the set; Tony’s soft voice filling the room on the title track and stellar “A Distant Star” being standouts. They also delved into the band’s two-decade history, with “Your Rocky Spine” which recently (finally) went gold, “Still” off the Lost Channels album, and even all the way back to the first release, with Tony playing “Moving Pictures, Silent Films” on his own.

The main set ended off with the classic “Pulling on a Line” and the crowd softly joining in on the chorus. At that point, I’m not sure if there was a miscommunication, but moments after they left the house lights went up… only for Tony to jump back on stage to say they had one more treat for the audience. That being both bands teaming up for a fun cover of “End of the Line” by Traveling Wilburys, which ended the night with one last giant singalong.

Seeing either one of those sets on their own would have been a good night. But putting both bands together, especially with them joining up at the end*, was quite the treat!

*and you know I consider ‘both bands jam together for a cover song’ one of the only acceptable versions of an encore!

Elliott BROOD setlist
Need to Know
Dig A Little Hole
Bird Dog
Owen Sound
Northern Air
Without Again
French Exit
Bluebird Wine
Rose City
C'Mon Let's Go
Stay Out
The Valley Town
The Banjo Song
Write it All Down for You
Wind and Snow

Great Lake Swimmers setlist
One More Dance Around The Sun
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong
For You To Come Around
Changing Colours
Everything Is Moving So Fast
Caught Light
Your Rocky Spine
Moving Pictures, Silent Films
Youth Not Wasted
Endless Detours
Still
A Distant Star
Pulling on a Line
(encore; both bands)
End of the Line [Traveling Wilburys cover]

PHOTOS: Elliott BROOD and Shred Kelly @ Biltmore Cabaret - October 06, 2023

Eliott BROOD with Shred Kelly
Biltmore Cabaret
Ocotober 06, 2023

(see Kirk’s review by clicking here)

Photos by Christine McAvoy

Elliott BROOD with Shred Kelly @ Biltmore Cabaret -- October 06, 2023

Sometimes, two bands touring together just makes sense. And that was definitely the case with Elliott BROOD and Shred Kelly on their “Across the Great Divide” tour. While the two bands have played on the odd show before, I don’t believe they’ve been through Vancouver together, so I was very happy to see them come to town. And especially because they were hitting up the Biltmore Cabaret, since (somehow) I hadn't caught a show there in about three and a half years(!).

The early show started with Shred Kelly hitting the stage as the crowd gathered, the Fernie band kicking off with a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”, before launching into the explosive “New Black”.

From there the band hardly slowed down, Tim Newton’s blurry hands over the banjo and Sage McBride’s finger flying over keys on songs, while their voiced intertwined, on songs like “The Bear” and “Archipelago”.

With a new album, Blurry Vision, on the horizon, the band teased a couple songs from it; a heartbreaking tune called “Days We Have Left” and “Nothing For A While”, which was a nearly seven minute tour de force that somehow managed to ramp up the already-high energy. And that energy carried through to the last couple songs, the frenzied “Cabin Fever” and a raucous “Sing to the Night” to cap off their set.

After a pretty quick turnaround, Elliott BROOD hit the stage, the trio of Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet, and Stephen Pitkin starting strong with a couple big singalongs and perennial faves, “Without You” and their cross-country hit, “Oh, Alberta”.

With a set that spanned their 20 year career, the band went back to their early days for songs like “Only at Home” and the gritty “Wolfgang”, to newer “Bird Dog” and “Out Walkin’”. Other highlights included the soaring “Northern Air”, another raucous singalong to “The Valley Town”, and a deceptively jaunty song about murder, “Dig a Little Hole”.

Not to be outdone, they also teased a few songs from their own upcoming album, Town, with “Stars Align”, “Dried Up” and “Rose City”, an ode their home town of Windsor, Ontario — Casey introducing it with a wry smile, claiming it was about the best city in Canada, which predictably got a… mixed reaction from the crowd.

As the set drew to an end, the band invited Shred Kelly back on stage for a fun cover of Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls”, before unveiling a surprise for the audience. In a move they haven't done in quite some time, they passed out their iconic wooden spoons & tin pans throughout the crowd, so folks could join in on the percussion (and of course, yelling along) to “Write It All Down For You”.

That ended the main set, but both bands were quickly back before the curfew for one last singalong, “Miss You Now”, a heart filled song to cap off the night.

Both bands on their own have a fun and vibrant live show, but putting them together brought out the best in each. Hopefully this tour won’t be the last time they all share the stage together.

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Shred Kelly setlist
For What It's Worth [Buffalo Springfield cover]
New Black
Jupiter (Any Other Way)
The Bear
Long Way from Your Heart
Take Me Home
Days We Have Left
Archipelago
Nothing For A While
Didn't Know
Cabin Fever
Sing to the Night

Elliott BROOD setlist
Without Again
Oh, Alberta
Out Walkin’
Dog a Little Hole
Better Times
Stars Align
Wolfgang
Bird Dog
Northern Air
Only at Home
Nothing Left
Rose City
Dried Up
The Valley Town
The Bridge
Fat Bottom Girls [Queen cover w/ Shred Kelly]
Write It All Down For You
(encore)
Miss You Now

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PHOTOS: Johnny 99, Elliott BROOD @ The Hollywood Theatre - June 03, 2022

Johnny 99, Elliott BROOD
The Hollywood Theatre
June 03, 2022

>Read Kirk’s recap here<

Christine McAvoy Photography

Elliott BROOD @ Hollywood Theatre -- June 03, 2022

It’s been a minute since the last time Toronto’s Elliott BROOD were in Vancouver, but after they released Keeper in 2020 — their first new album in three years — they were hitting the road with their “Out and About” tour, with a stop at the Hollywood Theatre.

Opening the show was Johnny 99, which was kind of fitting, as John Sponarski’s first live show as a solo performer was opening for Elliott BROOD in 2013! Joined by Scott Smith on pedal steel and Kendel Carson on guitar & violin, and also backing vocals, Johnny joked he would “soft-rock us to sleep” with a collection of country-tinged love songs. Playing off his recently released album, Words Left Unsaid, he did just that, pouring his heart out over his twangy guitar, with highlights including the incredibly catchy “I Wanna Go With My Boots On”.

It wasn’t long before the three members of Elliott BROOD hit the stage, the voices & guitars of Mark Sasso and Casey Laforet blending together perfectly, with Stephen Pitkin’s drumming holding everything up.

Their set of dark-folk-rock started on the calmer side — for them, anyway — with songs like “Dig a Little Hole” and the rollicking “Out Walkin’”, as well as some newer tunes. But as they went on, they slowly grew and built the intensity. Favourites like “Without Again” and the soaring “Northern Air” ramped up the energy before breaking with the boot-stomping “Oh, Alberta” and going non-stop to the end.

They got the crowd joining in, first with “This Valley Town” and then the ultimate singalong “Write It All Down For You”, shouts of “hey! hey! hey!” filling the room, before they ended off the main set with “The Banjo Song”.

But as you would expect, they were back moments later for a few more; first a cover that they put out last year, yet another big singalong, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” originally by Gary Portnoy — and best known as the theme for Cheers. And finally, they capped off the night and sent everyone home with “The Bridge” off their debut full length Ambassador.

I always love a live set that feels like it has a “flow” or sense of progression, and this show was a great example of that. As they took their leave, they promised they would be back sooner than the last time, and I certainly hope that’s the case.