AC/DC Live in Edmonton August 9th 2026

 

 So AC/DC came through town again, and again playing Commonwealth Stadium, this is the third time the band has played this 60,000 capacity outdoor stadium. I was interested in going but tickets were incredibly expensive. Upwards of $400 for seats in the boonies. Way too expensive for me, and I had seen the band more than a few times, so it was a pass for me. But the day before the show, out of curiosity I checked to see if ticket prices had dropped at all. Much to my surprise, I could get tickets for a hundred dollars. My partner Janis had never seen the band in concert before, so I bit the bullet and got Janis, Buzzard and I tickets. Shitty that the show was on a Sunday night, but we were going regardless.

 With the summer we have been having you never know what the weather would be like for this outdoor show. I'm happy to say that it ended up being a beautiful night for the show.

 Opening the show was a band called The Pretty Reckless from New York City. I'd heard the name before but never listened to them. Much to my surprise they were a great opening act. Their music would be best described as hard rock. They had the crowd rocking out. Lead singer Taylor Momsen has a great voice and her band rocked hard too. I just learned that lead singer Taylor was a teenage actress having acted in the show Gossip Girl as Jenny Humphrey and also played Cindy Lou Who in the 2000 movie How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Who knew? I sure didn't!

The Pretty Reckless.

 By the time AC/DC hit the stage, the crowd had grown to 50,000 plus, the weather was perfect and the crowd was ready to rock the fuck out! And rock out we did! From the first note of the Bon Scott era song "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)" to the closing notes of "For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)" everyone at the show got a damn good loud rock n' roll show. I was very surprised to hear them open with "If You Want Blood", I was not expecting that. This was my fifth time seeing the band in concert.

 While lead singer Brian Johnson may not have the voice he once did, but at the age of 78 the guy is still up there giving it his best. And Angus Young, what can ya say, he is the riff master, he didn't stop moving around the stage slaying it out on guitar, doing his duck walk and just looking to be having a really good time, as did Brian. I though the song selection was strong "Back In Black", "Shot Down In Flames", "Hells Bells", "Have A Drink On Me", "Highway To Hell", "Sin City", just so many classics. Of course they had to play "Thunderstruck", a song I just don't like. That's when I stepped away for a quick smoke. Other classics player "Jailbreak", "Shoot To Thrill", "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap", "Whole Lotta Rosie" an extended version of "Let There Be Rock" where Angus must have done about a fifteen minute guitar solo, that got a little boring after a while but you gotta give it to the man that at 71 years old, he still fucking rocks!

 What a super fun show this was, I'm so glad that I went and Janis got to see them for the first time. This show was way better than I was expecting. Good times!!!

AC/DC.

T-shirt front.

T-shirt back.

August 19th

 

 The gig poster from the August 19th, 2006 Yesterday was Everything Festival held at the Powerplant in Edmonton. This was a festival held in memory of Jordan Wodehouse and Daniel Langlois, two members of the local hardcore band Compromise who died in a vehicle accident after being hit by a drunk driver while on tour in the United States.

August 12th

 

 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with opening act Steve Winwood at Rexall Place in Edmonton. This was such a great double bill.

The Bouncing Souls Live in Edmonton July 14th 2026

 

 My buddies Nazz, A-Bomb and I went to this show at Midway Music Hall headlined by The Bouncing Souls with opening bands The Drowns, Death By Stereo and The Suicide Machines. A damn good bill of punk rock.

 The first band of the night and one of the main reasons I went to this show was The Drowns from Seattle, Washington. My brother Citrus introduced me to this band and have been waiting to see them live for a while now. I was finally getting my chance to see them, so we made sure to be at the venue early.

 The Drowns did not disappoint. They were loud, they were punk and they were exactly what I was hoping to see and hear. A three piece band that rocked for the whole half hour set. I was hoping to hear lots of songs from their album Blacked Out, as that is the album I have listened to the most. They only did one song from that album, that being the rocking "Ketamine & Cola". They played some new songs from their up coming new release Harsh Reality songs titles I recall were "Relentless", "Vengeance" and "Hellish Tattoo". An awesome band, I look forward to seeing them again, hopefully headlining.

The Drowns.

 Next up was Orange County, California's hardcore band Death By Stereo. This would be my 3rd time seeing them in concert, it had been 25 years since the last time I saw then live. While I'm not the fan of hardcore music as I once was they put on a good show. Lead singer Efrem Schulz is still a very intense lead man. On this tour Efrem mentioned they had a local bass player filling in as their usual bass player couldn't get across the border. I didn't catch his name but he did a great job. Overall it was good to see Death By Stereo again.

Death By Stereo.

 The third band of the evening was The Suicide Machines a ska punk band from Detroit, Michigan. This would be my second time seeing the band in concert. On this tour the band was playing their debut 1996 album Destruction By Definition in full.. Out of all the bands at this show, they were my least favourite. My buddy A-Bomb said they were his fave. I'm just not into the ska thing like I was in the late 90's. They were good and do what they do well. Just not my thing.

The Suicide Machines.

 Next up was headliners The Bouncing Souls from New Brunswick, New Jersey. This would be my 4th time seeing them in concert. The last time being in 2003, so it was a long time coming to get to see them again. I did see lead singer Greg Attonito do a solo acoustic show last summer at The Buck here in Edmonton, that was a cool show to see.

 The Bouncing Souls have been around since 1989 and other than the drummer it's all still original members. They are still a great live band, playing for an hour and a half with a selection of songs from almost all their albums. Opening the set was the song "Kate Is Great" from their self titled 1997 album. So many good songs I can't remember all of them, here are what I do recall, hell this show was almost a month ago now, so the memory of what was played is a little fuzzy, that and I had a few beers in me by the time The Bouncing Souls came on. Songs played "East Coast, Fuck You!" a great sing along song short but fun. Others played "The Ballad Of Johnny X", "Kids And Heroes", "Hopeless Romantic", "I Like Your Mom", "Here We Go" and of course the song that had everyone singing along "Lean On Sheena". The band sounded great, a very fun show. Good times!!!

The Bouncing Souls.

T-shirt.

August 2nd

  On August 2nd, 2012 I saw Canadian metal legends Anvil play the Pawn Shop here in Edmonton. Always a fun show seeing Anvil live.

David Lee Roth Live in Edmonton July 10th 2026

 

 When this show was announced my buddy Nazz and I talked about going, even though we had seen footage and reviews of previous shows saying that the shows just weren't very good. Yet, we still wanted to see for ourselves. After looking into tickets, it was a hard NO. We weren't about to pay $100 to see the train wreck. Well a few days before the show I got an email from the River Cree Casino where the show as booked, I am signed up for the River Cree newsletter, in the email it said free tickets for David Lee Roth, you just had to pay the service charges. Looked into that, and tickets ended up being $29, ok I can deal with that. So we bit the bullet my buddies Nazz, A-Bomb, Buzzard and I got tickets for the train wreck.

 This would be my second time seeing Diamond Dave solo and also saw him once fronting his old band Van Halen. Now going into the show we knew it wasn't going to be very good, but we still went in with a good attitude thinking it can't be that bad, can it. I mean it's David Lee Roth, he's always had a huge ego, always the entertainer and hell he fronted one of the premier rock n' roll bands of the 80's, and I liked a few of his solo albums, especially Eat Em' And Smile from 1986 and his follow up 1988's Skyscraper. 

 The venue was far from sold out, even with free tickets the place was only maybe half full. No opening band, just two hours of David Lee Roth with his back up band. David is now 71 years old, so you know the voice isn't what it once was (not that I think he was really that great of singer to start with) he no longer does the jumps and running around the stage he used to do, all understandable, he's aging like the rest of us. Opening the show with "Panama" a huge hit for Van Halen back in 1984. It didn't take long to see that, well he just doesn't have it anymore, his back up band and back up singers were all good, but Roth himself barely sang, more talked his way through songs. If you look at the setlist, you would think that is a great set, all Van Halen songs which was disappointing to me. I really was hoping to hear a few from his solo albums, but nope. After about six songs it was just kind of taking in what we thought would be a train wreck more like a fucking plane crash. It was really bad, one of the wors shows I have ever seen. And now I see that DLR has cancelled the rest of his tour, no wonder, time to hang it up Mr. Roth, sorry dude!

David Lee Roth.