Sloan: A Tour de Force @ Commodore Ballroom -- November 15, 2025

If I’m being honest, I’ve always been a more casual fan of Sloan. Most of their singles are incredible bangers, going back to the 1900s, but I’ve only dipped in and out of their full albums through the years. That said, I did check out the new one, Based on the Best Seller, and when I realised it’s been about 16 years since the last time I saw the Canadian rock legends live, I knew I needed to fix that with the Vancouver stop of ‘A Tour de Force’ at the Commodore Ballroom. 

There was no opening act for the night, as the house lights went down and the screens flanking the stage showed the “Coming Attractions”, fake short trailers for movies based on a few of the songs off the new album, before the “Feature Presentation” as Chris Murphy, Jay Ferguson, Patrick Pentland, and Andrew Scott took the stage, joined by Gregory Macdonald backing them up on, well, everything.

The Haligonian band started off with “Capitol Cooler” and “Live Forever” from their latest release, before weaving through nearly all of their fourteen(!) albums. Going from one of my favourites, “The Other Man” with its moody narrative off Pretty Together, to the incredibly infectious “Ill Placed Trust” from Never Hear the End of It, and the impeccable melody of “Lines You Amend” from One Chord to Another.

In true Sloan fashion, members rotated around and each took lead vocals for their songs, the others joining in excellent harmonies. Murphey even replacing Scott on the drums when he came up to sing songs like “Baxter” (after being serenaded by the audience due to it being his birthday).

They wrapped up the first half of the night with “Unkind” before announcing they’d be back, and after a half hour intermission the band returned (just in time, as the crowd was starting to get antsy) with my highlight from the new album “Dream Destroyer”.

They kept the energy up through the second half of the evening, from raucous songs like “All Used Up” to more laid back “Witch’s Wand”, and the bouncy “The Rest of My Life” which transitioned perfectly into their energetic smash single “Money City Maniacs”, the stage lights turning red and the whole crowd yelling along.

But they still had a few left in them as they were back with the deep cut “Snowsuit Sound” followed by another one of my favourites, the snarky “Underwhelmed” which one again had the sold out room joining in, and then leading into “The Good in Everyone” for a joyous finale.

It was a very fun show, with Sloan proving to fans old and new just why they’ve earned their status over the last three decades. And hopefully I won’t make it another sixteen years before seeing them again!

set two
Dream Destroyer
Congratulations
Fortune Teller
No Damn Fears
I Can’t Sleep
The Dogs
All Used Up
Witch’s Wand
The Rest of My Life
Money City Maniacs
(encore)
Snowsuit Sound
Underwhelmed
The Good in Everyone

set one
Capitol Cooler
Live Forever
Scratch the Surface
Right to Roam
The Other Man
Ill Placed Trust
Baxter
Traces 
Dream It All Over Again
All I Am Is All You're Not
So Far Down
The Lines You Amend
Take It In
Unkind

Sloan @ Commodore -- 12/15/09

Well, I certainly did not mean to not update for a week, but that's what happens when your computer goes kerblewy. But better late than never, here's my writeup for the Sloan show last week.

I don't know how it was that I had never seen Sloan live before. Maybe cos I've always been a more casual fan, but despite hearing countless times of their excellence live, I just never got (or took) the chance. Well, when I heard they were playing at the Commodore (and for only $20!) I knew I had to rectify this mistake.

The first of two opening bands of the night was Fine Mist. A boy/girl duo from Vancouver who, ironically or not, seemed to come straight out of an eighth grade talent show, Casio Keyboard beats and all. most of the songs consisted of a looped beat and the two of them singing, and, well, if the crowd's reaction (apathy) was any indication, more than a few people felt the way I did.

Magneta Lane was up next. I had seen them before a couple years ago with Small Sins, but didn't really remember too much of them. They weren't bad, but had a kind of Generic All-Girl Band sound to them (which is hard to describe, but if you heard it you'd know). Some catchy stuff, but a few of the songs were a bit same-y.

And finally, Sloan! They started out proving they weren't taking any crap by kicking out not one but two people for general jackassery (I think) by the time the second song was over. They focused most of the set on the new EP, Hit & Run, and some of the older hits. Even though I wasn't yet familiar with the new EP, that didn't stop me from enjoying the hell out of the show. Incredibly tight, swapping instruments throughout the night and fantastically engaging, they proved why they're so highly regarded as a live band. Even the old songs they made fresh, but not unrecognizable. At one point segueing from The Other Man right into Money City Maniacs, both songs were great live, with the latter having some nifty siren-like lighting -- resulting in the pic here; those are lights, not pyrotechnics. They ended the main set with an insanely energetic She Says What She Means, and came back for a few more older songs in the encore, including Coax Me, which say the lead singer of Magneta Lane come out to help on vocals. They finished off the night with The Good In Everyone which, again, tore the place down.
Even though they played for about an hour and a half, the set seemed way too short. I know they have a massive catalogue of songs, so I didn't expect to hear everything I wanted, but there were a few I wish they had done. That aside, it was still a great set from a legendary Canadian band.