Megadeth, Anthrax & Exodus Live in Edmonton February 21st 2026

  An old school thrash metal triple bill of Megadeth headlining with openers Anthrax and Exodus, hell yeah, count me in. When this show was announced, it was a must see for me.

 So Cuz, Nazz and I were off to see this show at the dreaded Rogers Place here in Edmonton. With tickets under a hundred bucks for this, even if we were in the upper deck, that's alright, the price was right to see these three bands. This was the fifth show of Megadeth's cross Canada tour.

 Starting out the evening was Bay area thrash pioneers Exodus. I was super stoked to finally get to see Exodus live. And the band did what they were supposed to do, they got the crowd thrashing and moshing right from the get go. Though their sound was a little muddy, at least from where we were sitting. Nonetheless, it was great to see Gary Holt ripping it up on stage. After reading his memoir A Fabulous Disaster: From the Garage to Madison Square Garden, we're very lucky that he is still playing, not only with his band Exodus, but he also plays guitar in Slayer.

 The second song into their set was the title song from their 1985 album Bonded By Blood. Man it was awesome to hear that song in concert. Lead vocalist Rob Dukes who is on his second stint as lead vocalist sounded great. Following that song with "The Beatings Will Continue (Until Morale Improves)", we were off to a great start. The second last song of their way too short half hour set was "The Toxic Waltz" another song I was stoked that they played, the band teased us with the opening riff of the Slayer song "Raining Blood" before breaking into Toxic Waltz. Closing their six song set with another song from their debut album playing "Strike Of the Beast". A good portion of the crowd were in their seats for Exodus,other than those that were in the ridiculously long line-ups for $70 t-shirts. We were in for an evening of loud thrash metal.

Exodus.

 Next band up was New York band Anthrax, another old school thrash band that have been doing this since 1981 with their debut album Fistful Of Metal coming out in 1984. This would be my 4th time seeing Anthrax live and the band I was most looking forward to seeing again out of this triple bill. Last time I saw them in concert was in 2005 on the Gigantour, coincidentally was with Megadeth.

 Anthrax hit the stage running opening their set with "Among The Living", a great start with Scott "Not Ian ripping it up and lead singer Joey Belladonna sounding and looking great, the guy hasn't aged one bit. Then an oldie "A.I.R." from the Spreading The Disease album, they actually played two songs from that album which was great to hear, the other one being "Madhouse", again the pit in front of the stage was in full mosh. Third song in was the Joe Jackson cover of "Got The Time" which was heavy as fuck. Then into "Caught In A Mosh", Anthrax were killing it. Another cool surprise was hearing them do "Metal Thrashing Mad" from their 1984 debut album Fistful Of Metal, an album that Joey Belladonna wasn't even the singer on. Other songs played in the hour long set were "Indians", "I Am The Law" and "Antisocial". Such an amazing set from these thrash veterans.

Anthrax.

 Headlining the evening of course was Megadeth. This would be my 6th time seeing Megadeth in concert, and like every other time I have seen them, Dave Mustaine has always got a different band backing him up. Megadeth just released was it is supposedly going to be his last album ever the self titled album which is their seventeenth album. This is also going to be the last tour that they are doing. I highly doubt that, but time will tell.

 The band opened with a new song called "Tipping Point", the first thing I noticed though was that the sound was incredibly muddy. I thought maybe it was just because of where we were sitting, but having talked to a few others that were at the show, they said the same thing. Another thing I noticed, especially from where we were seated was how bare the stage was. Dave later in the show mentioned that one of their production trailers was involved in an accident on the way to Edmonton, so that might explain it. It took the band about five songs before the sound got better.

 I also found Dave's vocals not to all that great, but then he has never really had a strong voice to start with. But he has also been through throat cancer in 2019 and is now cancer free, which is awesome to hear. So it's understandable why his vocals might not be all that strong and why he is calling this years tour his last.

 The last Megadeth album I have bought was 1992's Countdown To Extinction, so there were some songs played that I'm not familiar with. Megadeth did do a good job of covering their career, even playing "Mechanix" a song from their very first album Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good. I was very happy to hear a couple songs from the Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? album, which is my favourite album of theirs, those songs being "Peace Sells" and "Wake Up Dead". They also did some songs from the Rust In Peace album which was a strong album, the ones I recall were "Hangar 18", "Holy Wars" and "Tornado Of Souls". Also played was "In My Darkest Hour" from the So Far, So Good...So What album. I'd liked to have heard a few more from that album, but to no avail. Of course he had to play "Symphony Of Destruction" and "Sweating Bullets". The guitarist he has with him on this tour a guy by the name of Teemu Mantysaari was really fucking good. Another new song he did from their latest album was "Let There Be Shred" which I find to be a very corny song. All and all though the crowd of, my guess being about 10,000 thoroughly enjoyed themselves. A fun show of three thrash metal legendary bands. Good times!!!

Megadeth.

T-shirt front.

T-shirt back.

 

 

Western Death Ballads Live at Blakbar February 15th 2026

 

 A few weeks ago my buddies A-Bomb, Buzzard and I went to the Sunday afternoon Western Death Ballads show at the Blakbar on Whyte Avenue here in Edmonton.

 I've always said that afternoon shows would be a cool thing. You get the people that are still drunk from the night before and those that have started early and then there are the older folks that like an early start and don't want to be up late. Not on a Sunday though, unless of course it's a long weekend, like this show was. Monday was Family Day here in Alberta, so this show worked for us. That, and we are all big fans of local band Western Death Ballads. For a 1pm start the venue was full, so ya, afternoon shows do work.

 There were a whole bunch of local artists on the bill with each artist doing two rotating 15 minute sets. The only artist/band that really did anything for me was the band we were there to see and that was Western Death Ballads. This would be the 4th time seeing them play. It made for a long afternoon waiting to see WDB do there two, too short sets, but it did make for an afternoon of a whole bunch of beers drank. Western Death Ballads were great as usual. Can't wait to see them play an actual headlining set. A fun way to make the best of a Sunday afternoon. I know it's not much of a review, but the show was a few weeks ago, so I'm just summing things up. 

Western Death Ballads.

February 25th

  My ticket stub from the time I saw the Edmonton ska band Mad Bomber Society play the Pawn Shop here in Edmonton on February 25th, 2012. This show was an album release party for Mad Bomber's album Buthers, Stomper's & Cheats. Opening the show was  locals The Chokeouts.

February 21st

 It was on February 21st, 2012 that I saw Deep Purple play Rexall Place in Edmonton. This show was awesome but played to only about 4000 people.

Big Sugar Live in Edmonton February 12th 2026

  Last Thursday my buddy A-Bomb, Buzzard and I went to see Big Sugar at what used to be Union Hall but has now been re-branded as the Pawn Shop Live. The band is on the road doing an evening with Big Sugar where they play the Hemi-Vision album in it's entirety for the first set and then a bunch of other songs for the second set. I guess you would call it a 30th anniversary tour for the Hemi album. Hard to believe it's been thirty years since that album came out.

 No opening act, just an evening with. So nice to see Big Sugar back as a three piece rock n' roll band. Gordie Johnson on guitar, Anders Derup on bass and holding down the beat is Root Valach. The band opened with "Diggin' a Hole" the opener of the Hemi-Vision album, and of course a rockin' fucking tune. the into "Opem Up Baby", cool, they aren't doing the album from start to finish in order of the album. I liked that. After playing all of that album. There was a short intermission, then another set in which they mixed it up good.

 I was very happy to hear four or five songs from their 2001 album Brothers & Sisters, Are You Ready?. I've always loved that album, it came out at a time where I was going through some shit in my life and it really resonated with me. Would love to see them tour for that album and play it in it's entirety. Anyways, it was awesome to hear "All Hell For A Basement", "Red Rover", "So Not Over" and "Nicotina (She's All That)". I was surprised though that they only played one song from their album Five Hundred Pounds, that song being "Ride Like Hell".

 A great evening of loud rock n' roll. It had been a while since I have paid to see Big Sugar, they've done lots of free shows in the city over the years, but with them back to a three piece and rocking like they are. I'd certainly pay to see them again.

 And the show being at the newly branded Pawn Shop Live bar formerly Union Hall, nothing has changed there, same old set up. A decent crowd for this show, not sold out by any means, the upper deck of the bar was closed off. But the main floor was quite full. All and all a great show. Good times!!!

Big Sugar.

 Having seen Big Sugar 17 times, it got me to thinking of all the different venues I have seen them play at. And these are just the Big Sugar shows, not including Gordie's solo shows and with his band Grady. all shows in Edmonton unless otherwise noted.

Edit: I've decided to add the Gordie and Grady shows too.

March 15th 1994 at People's Pub

July 15th 1994 at People's Pub

July 16th 1994 at People's Pub

October 12th 1996 at The Rev

February 14th 1997 at Edmonton Convention Centre

June 26th 1998 at Northgate Industries Hangar

July 29th 1998 at Shaw Conference Centre

November 14th 1998 at Shaw Conference Centre

December 31st 1999 at Shaw Conference Centre

July 13th 2001 at the Camrose Regional Exhibition Grounds (part of the Stage 13 Music Fest)

October 6th 2001 at Shaw Conference Centre

April 11th 2002 at The Joint

December 31st 2003 at Shaw Conference Centre

November 27th 2010 at Sir Winston Churchill Park ( part of the Grey Cup Festivities)

July 24th 2011 at the Telus Stage at K-Days

September 2nd 2012 at the Legislature Grounds

July 17th 2025 at Sir Winston Churchill Park (part of the Taste Of Edmonton fest)

February 12th at Pawn Shop Live

Gordie Johnson.

December 14th 2000 Gordie Johnson and Kelly Hoppe acoustic show at the Myer Horowitz Theatre

November 24th 2010 at the Varscona Hotel Conference Room a guitar clinic put on by Avenue Guitar

Grady.

March 9th 2005 at Cook County Saloon

July 15th 2005 at Cowboys

October 28th 2005 at Red's

December 5th 2007 at Jet Nightclub

October 21st 2009 at the Pawn Shop

April 17th 2010 at Starlite Room

February 20th

  It was on February 20th, 2016 that I saw the all 80's metal female triple bill of Lita Ford headlining with openers Vixen and Femme Fatale at the River Cree Casino in Edmonton. A very good show, and after the show I got my ticket autographed by all the members of Vixen. Super cool!

Cedric Burnside Live in Edmonton February 6th 2026

 

 Last Friday my buddies A-Bomb, Buzzard and I saw blues-man Cedric Burnside from Memphis, Tennessee play the Temple here in Edmonton. The ticket and poster said the show was at the Starlite Room which is the bigger room in the same building, but was moved to the smaller room the Temple.

 Cedric Burnside is the grandson of Mississippi blues legend R.L. Burnside. I never got to see R.L. in concert, having passed away in 2005, so this was going to be the next best thing.

 Opening the show was a local band called You Me & Zach a five piece rock band. It was about three songs into their set that someone in the audience yelled "what's the name of the band?". That was when they finally told us who the hell they were. The ticket and poster didn't say who the opener was. They were alright, nothing special.

You Me & Zach.

  By the time Cedric hit the stage the small room was packed, my guess would be around a 125 people. I had never seen Cedric before and was really looking forward to seeing him live. Burnside won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 2022 for his album I Be Trying.

 I didn't know what to expect other than a great blues show. Cedric Burnside came out on stage and sat on a stool with an acoustic guitar opening with the song "The World Can Be So Cold" from his Grammy Award winning album. The crowd was hanging on every note and word he sang. His guitar picking was amazing as was his voice. In the words of Cedric, you are in for a night of Hill Country Blues music. he also did a few R.L. Burnside songs one of which was "Mellow Peaches" and "He Ain't Your Daddy", he told a great joke that R.L. used to tell before this song that got a big laugh from the crowd.

 After about four or five songs on the acoustic he brought out a drummer and bass player for an electric set. Now things were going to get really interesting, I'd been happy with just an all acoustic set, so this was a nice surprise. He played for about an hour with the band, rocking it up, and still picking on the guitar, no guitar pick for Burnside, a few of the songs had him playing slide which sounded amazing. he seemed very laid back and looked to be having fun on stage. The only problem during the show was when the stage lights went wonky and then losing the front stage lights which left him and the band playing on a darker stage for the last four songs.

 All and all a great blues show, it had been a long time since I have been at a blues show, and to be at this venue was a surprise. Great show and good times!!!

Cedric Burnside.