Billy Talent’s genuine, self-aware concert rocks the Burt Block Party

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This article was published 13/08/2023 (1123 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Halfway through an incredible set that closed out Weekend 1 of the Burt Block Party, Billy Talent’s lead singer and songwriter Ben Kowalewicz paused during the performance of the band’s biggest hit, Try Honesty, to get a bit sentimental with the enthusiastic crowd.

While his bandmates played on, he pointed from the outdoor stage to the Burton Cummings Theatre and noted that it had been 20 years since they played their first show there, opening for Sum 41, back when no one knew who Billy Talent was. Kowalewicz further noted that it was also the band’s 30th anniversary of playing together and joked that this makes them officially old, but more importantly, extremely grateful for the longevity they’ve enjoyed.

The audience for the second of five outdoor Block Party shows were already on board. Even though there were shirts on sale for the band’s 20^th anniversary, Billy Talent had all the energy and fanfare of a band in their prime, offering 20 songs from all six of their albums.

Beneath overhead screens displaying church-window stained glass, the band started their headlining set with Devil in a Midnight Mass, the crowd singing every word and jumping up and down to this first single from their 2006 quadruple-platinum Billy Talent II.

They drew again from this album with This Suffering before turning to their most recent, 2022’s Crisis of Faith, for Beg to Differ (This Will Get Better). It’s an optimistic sort-of sequel to one of the most popular songs from their self-titled debut album, Nothing to Lose. The crowd took notice as seemingly everyone knew the words to this newer track.

Frontman Kowalewicz commanded the stage throughout the night with his high-pitched, yet controlled and melodic voice, as he moved around the stage to take in all of the Block Party crowd. The band’s rich chemistry was on display with backing vocals from original band members Ian D’Sa – guitar player and fellow primary songwriter – and bassist Jonathan Gallant.

After a few more recent songs, they played River Below, returning to their quadruple-platinum debut, joined by the entire crowd belting every word at the top of their lungs.

A welcome surprise came when they played the first track from that first album, This Is How It Goes, a song they rarely play at shows, complete with moving visuals on the background screens reminiscent of the album cover.

Before embarking on a final quartet of songs, all over a decade old, Kowalewicz had one last joke for the crowd:

“We’re debuting a brand-new track that you guys have never heard before. We know everyone loves coming to concerts to see bands play new songs,” Kowalewicz said tongue-in-cheek before playing the undeniably catchy song from 2006’s Billy Talent II, Fallen Leaves, followed by a track from their third album, Billy Talent III, Devil on my Shoulder, in which they orchestrated a wildly successful call-and-response with the crowd repeatedly singing “over and over.”

Noting that it had come to the time in the show when they usually pretend to leave and come back out for encores, they journeyed into the heavy-hitting Viking Death March from the 2012 album Dead Silence. They closed with Red Flag, the biggest single from their second album, achieving what looked like peak bliss for both the band and crowd.

In fact, fans were smiling from the start of the night amid food trucks including Little Pizza Heaven and a 92.1 CITI FM kiosk conducting a draw to win a signed guitar from the band. There were also jumbo-sized checkerboards, Connect Four and Jenga.

Meisha and the Spanks, a two-piece Calgary band, opened the evening around 6 p.m. They were like a reverse-White Stripes with Meisha acting as the female guitar-playing singer with a voice that sounded like a combination of Glen Danzig and Janis Joplin, and Sean Hamilton as the energetic, male percussionist.

Next up were the Flatliners, a high-energy hardcore ska band out of Richmond Hill, Ont. Lead Singer Chris Cresswell had a great sense of humour, mentioning that he took joy from seeing some people in the crowd eat hotdogs while sitting in lounge chairs. The band was reminiscent of ‘90s/2000s ska band Less Than Jake, and Cresswell successfully alternated between screaming and singing, sounding as though he could have filled in as a frontman for Billy Talent or legendary pop punk band Blink-182.

The final opening act was Comeback Kid, a popular hardcore punk band that originated in Winnipeg. They came out hotter than a flamethrower, jumping and screaming on stage to the point where it seemed as though lead singer Andrew Neufeld’s vocal cords could tear at any moment. The band seamlessly transitioned from emo music, reminiscent of the genre’s peak in the mid-2000s, to metal and punk as the most rowdy and aggressive act of the night.

This was the second of five Block Party shows over two weekends, the final three shows running next Friday through Sunday. For full lineups and ticket info, go to burtoncummingstheatre.ca/burtblockparty.