PHOTOS: Sam Roberts Band @ Commodore Ballroom - April 16, 2026

Sam Roberts Band
Commodore Ballroom
April 16, 2026

Christine McAvoy Photography

Sam Roberts Band: Chemical City 20th Anniversary Tour @ Commodore Ballroom -- April 16, 2026

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

Sam Roberts Band with Brandon Wolfe Scott @ Commodore -- February 24, 2024

With their new album out a few months ago, Sam Roberts Band hit the road for The Adventures of Ben Blank Tour. Their Vancouver stop was a return to the Commodore Ballroom for a pair of shows. 

Opening the evening was Brandon Wolfe Scott, the Vancouver singer performing some of his solo material. He hit the stage with his backing band and launched into “In Stride” off last year’s EP Slow Transmission, treating the gathering crowd to his chill, throwback vibes.
He ‘got his Bob Dylan on’ by pulling out the harmonica for “Fade Out”, and his soft voice lilted over the crowd on the dreamy “Burden on your Shoulder”, before finishing off his short opening set with “Something Real”.
Whether it’s solo or with his band, Yukon Blonde, it’s always a treat to see Scott play, and he was a great pick for starting out the night. 

It wasn’t long before the lights dimmed and the screen behind the stage filled with the Ben Blank album art, as Sam Roberts Band took the stage, starting off with a bang. First my fave off the new album “Afterlife”, then “With A Bullet”, and getting everyone to dance with “Them Kids”.

Reminding us of not only the band’s depth, but also longevity, they hit songs from all over their career, from classics like “Where Have All the Good People Gone?” which had the sold out room joining in, to the warm “Picture of Love”, the first single off the new album. 

The set ebbed and flowed, not only musically, but also thematically. On a heartfelt “Cascades”, Sam opined “Ooh I need you, Baby in the worst way”, only to follow that up by spitting out “And if this is true then I don't need you, I don't need anyone” on “Metal Skin”.

Other highlights – and more singing along – included “Hard Road”, which exploded into the frenetic “Dead End”, and the three-song-punch that capped off the set, “Bridge to Nowhere”, “Love At the End of the World”, and the early hit, “Don't Walk Away Eileen”. 

But of course, they were back for more, proving that “We're All in This Together” before Roberts put his guitar aside to dance around the stage and lead the crowd in singing with “Brother Down”. Finally, they wrapped up with possibly my favourite Sam Roberts song (and one which I wasn’t even sure they were going to play), the 8+ minute psychedelic journey of “Mind Flood”, with wailing guitars, intense keys, and drumming that thumped into your very core, the band going all out for a satisfying ending.

It’s been a minute since I’ve seen Sam Roberts Band play live (and even longer since a non-festival show), And after two hours of rock & roll, with the crowd in the palm of their collective hands the entire time, and hit after hit, this night was a great reminder of just how strong the band is live.

Sam Roberts Band setlist
Afterlife
With a Bullet
Them Kids
Bad Country
Where Have All the Good People Gone?
I Like the Way You Talk About the Future
Projection
Take Me Away
Let It In 
Picture Of Love
Cascades
Metal Skin
Hard Road
Dead End
Spellbound
Bridge to Nowhere
Love At the End of the World
Don't Walk Away Eileen
(encore)
We're All in This Together
Everybody Needs Love
Brother Down
Mind Flood

Brandon Wolfe Scott setlist
In Stride
Our Back Garden
Fade Out
Way Way Down
Slow Transmission
Burden On Your Shoulders
Something Real

Sam Roberts @ Commodore -- 02/27/15

It's been a few years since I last saw Sam Roberts and his Band play live, and apparently nine years since they last graced the stage of the Commodore Ballroom. Which is probably why they were playing back to back sold-out shows this weekend, on the heels of last year's latest album, Lo-Fantasy. 

I caught the first of the two nights, unfortunately missing both local acts that opened the show, Pigeon Park and The River & The Road. 


I arriving just in time for Sam Roberts Band to hit the stage, with a giant LED screen behind the band. Most of the time the screen had shapes, colours, and patterns to go along with the songs, but a few times it had something more specific; old clips of Detroit in 1967 for the appropriate song, or a direct feed from a camera that was sitting on stage, pointing out into the crowd.

The Montreal band delved into Lo-Fantasy early with "Shapeshifters" and "Human Heat" kicking things off, before hitting songs from all previous albums (and showcasing just how many hits the band has). There was lots of singing along throughout the night, which started early with "Where Have All The Good People Gone?" and lots of dancing (well, weak-moshing/jumping, perhaps to prove that "Them Kids" did not, in fact, know how to dance to rock 'n' roll). Other highlights included the jangly keyboard of "Detroit '67", the driving, anthemic "Kid Icarus", and the dark and kind of brooding mood of "I Feel You".

"Chasing the Light" closed out the main set, but instead of the normal silence to tease the inevitable encore, there had glitchy, synth beats pumping out with a video on the big screen, leading up to a countdown for the band to reappear. They promised the crowd "We're All in This Together" before one last singalong, "Brother Down", that ended with Sam jumping into the photo pit to get right up with the crowd, and even grabbing the camera that fed to the big screen and playing cinematographer.

That ending right there would have been pretty good, but they weren't quite done. After an hour and a half, they still had one song left in the tank. One song that is not only my favourite Sam Roberts song, but unarguably their most epic, the ten-minute long "Mind Flood". The song ebbed and flowed with swirling psychedelic guitars and cacophonous drums, to built to an intense climax for the perfect ending to the show.

setlist

Shapeshifters, Human Heat, The Last Crusade, Where Have All The Good People Gone?, Golden Hour, Fixed to Ruin, Let It In, Detroit '67, Metal Skin, Kid Icarus, I Feel You, Hard Road, Them Kids, Bridge to Nowhere, Chasing the Light. 
(encore) We're All In This Together, Never Enough, Brother Down, Mind Flood.