Heart at the Budweiser Stage

Each year Toronto’s Budweiser Stage manages to gather up a number of high profile acts to play for the summer. From country favourites to rock icons, it’s very rare to see a bad year at this venue. But this year, something is missing; the lack of female representation. Out of the 52 shows scheduled this year, only six women are headliners. This meaning that it’s just them at the top of the bill, not sharing a spot with another act. In a time where women are still pressing for equality, it’s frustrating to still see a lack of representation.

This is not to say it’s the venue’s fault. You can look at any other amphitheatre in North America this year and you’ll likely see a similar trend. Thankfully we’re moving away from that, but we still have a ways to go. Despite this, it was incredibly refreshing on Sunday night to see an all-female line up featuring 70s rock band Heart, as well as Sheryl Crow and Elle King.*

The venue was packed with all sorts of age groups, from people who grew up with Heart to some who said they discovered them through playing Guitar Hero. People were dancing in the aisles and cheers-ing their beers to what would be a fantastic night.

Sheryl Crow kicked off her set with just her, her guitar and her backing band as she played some new songs off her upcoming album, while also dabbling into some of her greatest hits. As soon as she played songs like Soak Up the Sun and If It Makes You Happy, the audience practically jumped out of their seats to dance and sway along. Finishing her set with Everyday is a Winding Road, the audience gave Crow a standing ovation.

Heart opened their set with Rockin’ Heaven Down before jumping right into Magic Man, two fierce tracks back-to-back that showcased sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson’s showmanship, and making sure they had the audience’s full attention.

In the middle of the set, the Wilson sisters did a series of covers: Simon & Garfunkel’s The Boxer, Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, and Yes’ Your Move. An interesting choice seeing as most bands will only do one cover at best, as opposed to having multiple together, let alone grouped together so closely. Nevertheless, they performed beautiful renditions of them, with a light show for Floyd and Nancy taking lead on The Boxer.

The show continued with deep cuts like Back to Avalon and Dog and Butterfly, but they also smashed out some of the hits like Crazy On You and Alone, which electrified the venue.

The encore saw Heart play a cover of Led Zeppelin’s The Battle of Evermore, where the whole band gathered in the centre of the stage and played their respective instrument before launching into the guitar shredding Barracuda. Finally, ending the night with What About Love.

More acts from the 70s and 80s are touring again, and for some, it’s challenging. Their voices don’t hold up, some look bored, and others are so obviously doing it for the money. But Heart has just that-heart. Ann Wilson can still wail like she did in the 70s, and Nancy is still killing it on the guitar, barely having to look at the chords she’s playing. Before this tour, the Wilson sisters had a bit of a falling out, and it was uncertain what the future of Heart would look like. But after Sunday’s show, Heart’s future very much lives on, and with that, they’re paving the way for a legacy of kick-ass women in music.

*The writer did not get to see Elle King

The Offspring at Echo Beach

AS PREVIOUSLY SEEN ON BESTFAN-AUGUST 2014

Most punk shows are typically hosted at the same type of venues. A dive bar with a musty smell in the air, sticky floors, and a lot of sweaty kids pushing on top of each other trying to find their way to the front, where the band is crammed on a small stage jumping around and screaming about antigovernment. But last night, Toronto’s Echo Beach (the furthest thing from a punk venue) held a raging show with four punk-rock bands all from California who have respectively been around for the past three decades.

Calling it ‘The Summer Nationals Tour’, The VandalsPennywiseBad Religion, and headliners, The Offspring are taking North America by storm with their punk persona and preaching their lyrics to the masses.

The Offspring are touring in celebration of the 20th anniversary of their first major studio album, Smash. The band’s main set was playing the full album in its entirety.

The first act on was The Vandals who played with crude humour and fast music, keeping the audience clapping and singing along. One highlight during their set was when two girls at the barricade threw their underwear on stage. Attached, was a note that said “I threw my panties, now toss me the setlist”. This got plenty of laughs from the band and crowd, although no setlist was tossed to them [the girls].

Up next was Pennywise. Following along the same lines as The Vandals, Pennywise played a fast paced set with slight banter in between, and talking about how pleased they were to be in Canada.

After Pennywise, Bad Religion took the stage, and if people weren’t already incredibly excited to be seeing The Offspring, they lost their minds for Bad Religion. Once they hit the stage, fists were going in the air, the crowd surfing increased drastically, and more power chords were being played heavier and faster.

By 9:20 p.m., the crowd was getting antsy with anticipation as they began to chant for The Offspring. Technicians were fooling around with the lights, which caused the crowd to be left on their toes, awaiting unexpectedly for the band to come on.

But by 9:30 p.m., the voice over from “Time to Relax,” the introduction, and technically the first song off Smash, began to play. Fans recited the monologue as the band came on stage.

Lead singer Dexter Holland and guitarist Kevin “Noodles” Wasserman, spent the majority of the set providing slight banter in between songs. Aside from the usual “we’re happy to be in Canada” and “how are you guys doing?”, The Offspring primarily just played one song after the other, where as most bands would talk with the crowd more. Additionally, they stuck to playing the proper length of their set, as opposed to extending songs for guitar or drum solos.

Upon completion of Smash, the band left to return for an encore of their more later releases including “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”, “You’re Gonna Go Far Kid”, and “The Kids Aren’t Alright”, among others.

The audience was beyond enthused to be part of the crowd for this show. During favourite songs, friends would wrap their arms around the neck of their friends to sway back and forth in complete bliss. There were interesting age demographics at this concert. From people in their mid-twenties, teenagers, adults, to even young kids with their parents. That being said, the crowd was incredibly rowdy with mosh pits, circle pits, beer cans being thrown around, and people passing around drugs, prompting for more security in and around the venue.

Overall, these four bands have proven that even though they’re getting much older, they can still play as if they were the 20-somethings in the small clubs they once played many years ago. In a world where punk music has been swept under the rug and overthrown by top 40’s music, it’s refreshing to see that these classic bands are still just as relevant as they were 20-30 years ago.

The Summer Nationals Tour is continuing to play the rest of North America until the middle of September. For more information on when The Offspring and co. are coming to your city, check out www.offspring.com.