Arkells @ Rogers Arena -- November 15, 2024

I’ve never made it a secret that I’m not super fond of arena shows. The last time I had been to a show at Rogers Arena was 2011 (Foo Fighters!) and since then I’ve only been to three other arena shows. But, funny enough, two of those were one of the few bands that would get me to an arena: Arkells. So even though it was a busy weekend in Vancouver, when they came back to town on their Big Feelings Tour, it was a no-brainer to see one of the best live bands in Canada.

Opening the night was K.Flay, backed with just a drummer & guitarist, she opened the set with “Are You Serious?”, as she danced through her high energy alt-pop songs.
Partway thought the set, she picked up her own guitar for “Weirdo” and my fave of the set, her 2016 hit “Blood in the Cut”, which segued into a cover of Green Day’s “Brain Stew”.
After her latest single “Punisher”, she capped off the set with the lockdown anthem “Zen” and “High Enough” for a solid opening set to get people energized for Arkells.

It wasn’t long after that the lights dimmed and hand-held searchlights light up on stage, scanning the crowd as the five members of Hamilton’s Arkells took their places: frontman Max Kerman joined by Mike DeAngelis on guitar, Anthony Carone on keys, bassist Nick Dika and drummer Tim Oxford.

Kicking off with the slow-burning “Come To Light”, and not wasting any time inviting K.Flay back for their collab “You Can Get It”, the band came out of the gate hard. As always, Max was a ball of energy, rarely slowing down for a moment. But he also made sure everyone on stage getting their own time to shine; like Anthony’s piano solo going into “People’s Champ”, where Max also introduced the Northern Soul Horns section, while they slipped in a little bit of “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”.

After the raucous “Relentless”, the energy came down for a moment early in the set, as a string interlude transitioned the set to be a little more intimate. With a black curtain cutting off most of the stage, the band huddled up for a few acoustic tracks. First, they took a request from a couple that was just married, playing “Show Me Don’t Tell Me” for them, before “Quitting You” and “Skin”, which started with just Max, before the curtain dropped and the rest of the band kicked in.

Throughout the night, it was clear that the band was feeding off the energy of the packed arena; the just-married couple made a later appearance as Max gave them an opportunity for another ‘first dance’ to “And Then Some”, during “Past Life” Max brough up a small child to join in on vocals, before dipping into the crowd to get to their payphone prop in the middle of the arena & taking a voicemail request for “Nobody Gets Me Like You Do”, and later he danced through the crowd again for “Dance With You”.
And the crowd reciprocated with huge singalongs to songs like “Hand Me Downs”, the anthemic “Years in the Making”, and a couple classics (and personal faves), the cathartic “Oh, the Boss Is Coming!” and “Ballad of Hugo Chavez”.

After a full cover of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”, they wrapped up the set explosively with “Knocking at the Door”. But the stage stayed dark, and they returned moments later, K.Flay back with them for another cover, duetting (ironically) “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn, before the tender “My Heart’s Always Yours” and bringing the night to a close with “Leather Jacket”, the entire arena once again joining in.

The first time I saw Arkells headline their own show was at the Biltmore Cabaret in 2009. Since then I’ve seen them outgrow venue after venue, go from opening festivals to headlining, and become one of Canada’s biggest rock bands. Heck, I even remember conversations in the old CBC Radio 3 days saying they were an “arena-worthy” band. And through their years of hard work, Arkells have absolutely proven that sentiment correct.

setlist
Come to Light
You Can Get It (ft. K.Flay)
People’s Champ
Relentless
Show Me Don’t Tell Me
Quitting You
Skin
Hand Me Downs
Big Feelings
And Then Some
Past Life
Nobody Gets Me Like You Do
Michigan Left
Oh, the Boss Is Coming!
Ballad of Hugo Chavez
Whistleblower
Dance With You
Years in the Making
9 to 5 [Dolly Parton cover]
Knocking at the Door
(encore)
Dancing On My Own [Robyn cover] (ft. K.Flay)
My Heart’s Always Yours
Leather Jacket

PHOTOS: Arkells @ Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre - July 1, 2022

Arkells
Bill Reid Millennium Amphitheatre
July 1, 2022

Christine McAvoy Photography

Arkells @ Pacific Coliseum -- 02/02/19

A couple years ago (almost exactly two years ago, in fact), I talked about witnessing the journey Arkells have taken from venues like the Biltmore, all the way up to arena shows, when they played Doug Mitchell. And now this weekend they were back for another headlining arena show, this time at the Pacific Coliseum.

The Hamilton band burst onto the stage with "Relentless", an appropriate title for the entire band's energy (and work ethic) but especially singer Max Kerman, who started at a 10 and somehow barely slowed down throughout the night. And the crowd reciprocated, as "Leather Jacket" had the majority of the building singing along while Max sang on the edge of the catwalk that stretched out into the sea of people. In fact, over the course of the show every single member of the band (plus the Northern Soul Horn Section) would strut out to the tip of the stage at one point or another, for a showcase solo -- keyboardist Anthony Carone even broke out the keytar to the band's chagrin -- or the stripped down, full band performance of "Kiss Cam" as they huddled together.

Their two hour set focused on the new Rally Cry, but also hit every album, going back to their origins with "Champagne Socialist" seguing into "The Boss Is Coming" and back again, and even deep cuts requested by fans on a hotline they set up. They listened to a recorded message from an audience member (Max on the prop payphone they had onstage) before going into the rarely-played "Agent Zero".

Other highlights included huge singalongs to powerhouse hits like "11:11" and "Knocking At The Door", the darker "Come To Light", and my favourite off the new album, the Motown-infused "Eyes on the Prize". During which Max disappeared off the stage only to reappear among the crowd in the lower bowl, checking in on people around him, making sure they had the day off work tomorrow (and handing out sick notes if they didn't) before making his way back through the crowd and to the stage.

The 'main' set wrapped up with "Hand Me Downs" and bursts of confetti, leaving the crowd to sing the "ohh-oo-oohs" for an impressively long time after they left the stage (especially for a crowd that large) before they returned for a couple more.

One of my favourite things about seeing Arkells perform is what kind of covers they break out through the set and they absolutely didn't disappoint with the first song of the encore, "Dancing Queen", before capping off the night with the promise "My Heart's Always Yours".

I'm not gonna lie, I absolutely miss being able to see Arkells in smaller venues, even a Commodore-sized room. But watching them onstage at the Coliseum, it was undeniable that they belong there, and put on an as incredible a show as they always have.

Check out more of Christine’s snaps here!

setlist
Relentless
Leather Jacket
Michigan Left
Never Thought That This Would Happen
Show Me Don't Tell Me
Champagne Socialist / Oh, The Boss Is Coming!
Eyes on the Prize
American Screams
People's Champ
Kiss Cam
Only For A Moment
Come To Light
And Then Some
Agent Zero
11:11
Saturday Night
Whistleblower
Knocking At The Door
Private School
Hand Me Downs
(encore)
Dancing Queen [ABBA cover]
My Heart's Always Yours

PHOTOS: Arkells @ Pacific Coliseum - February 2, 2019

Arkells
Pacific Coliseum
February 2, 2019

Christine McAvoy Photography