Currently touring in support of their fourth (4th) studio effort titled “Dead Silence,” Canadian melodic punk band Billy Talent played before a near capacity crowd at the Rapids Theatre on Sunday night. Celebrating their 20th anniversary together, the band gave one of the most energetic performances this reviewer has seen by any band in 2013.
Starting off with the pulverizing “Devil in a Midnight Mass,” worked the crowd into a frenzy and pretty much stayed that way throughout the set. Vocalist Benjamin Kowalewicz had the crowd eating from the palm of his hand from the very beginning. The only gaffe (if you can call it that) was when Kowalewicz antagonized the crowd by bragging about how the Toronto Maple Leafs were in first (1st) place and poked fun at the Buffalo Sabres. Guitarist Ian D’sa’s also proclaimed this love of the Maple Leaf as his F ender guitar had the insignia on it.
They enjoyed doing a song that according to Kowalewicz, they have not performed in 5 to 7 years in “Lies” from their first self titled CD. The meat of this show was primarily focused on new material and again, judging by the crowd reaction, you couldn’t tell that at all here. Six songs off of the new album were played, including the fist pumping “Viking Death March.” The crowd was singing every word to every song. D’sa and bassist Jonathan Gallant provide wonderful harmonies to the powerful and melodic vocals of Benjamin Kowalewicz.
Kowalewicz thanked the crowd for coming out on a Sunday and joked “well, what else are you going to do since Breaking Bad was over?” Kowalewicz even acknowledged a young fan in the audience (turns out he was 7 years old) who happened to be attending his first concert. Kowalewicz stated the band was honored to be his first show and went into the last song before the encore in “Try Honesty.”
Again, a great show and great band who are playing to arenas in Canada. We were lucky to see them in a more intimate setting, and a perfect setting I might add, in the Rapids Theatre.
Setlist:
Devil in a Midnight Mass
Viking Death March
The Ex
Love Was Still Around
This Suffering
Show Me the Way
Rusted from the Rain
Lies
Surrender
Running Across the Tracks
Diamond on a Landmine
This is How it Goes
Prisoners of Today
River Below
Try Honesty
Encore:
Devil on My Shoulder
Fallen Leaves
Surprise Surprise
Red Flag
We would like to thank Dale from Billy Talent’s Management for the credentials to review the show.
