The Struts @ Danforth Music Hall - Toronto

July 31st 2025: The Struts @ Danforth Music Hall - Toronto, ON

The Struts | Photos Courtesy of: Peyton Mott

Opening night of The Struts 10-year anniversary tour for their classic rock-fused debut album, Everybody Wants. Seasoned professionals, made up of, Luke Spiller, Jed Elliot, Adam Slack, and Gethin Davies, strutted out in front of strobing lights with their English swagger.

After opening with the track “Put Your Hands Up” (not performed since 2018), singer Luke Spiller announced that the rest of the set would be a complete playthrough of the decade-old record. “Could’ve Been Me” had the entire crowd, adorned in titular merc, swaying and clapping along to the anthemic single with stars in their eyes. Similar to the opening song, many of the tracks throughout the set hadn't been performed for years, “Young Stars” and “Only Just A Call Away” amongst the collection.

The encore filled the gaps of fan favourites not included on the debut album, including the classic Queen cover of “We Will Rock You.” And with one final bow, the Derby hailing group sent the awed audience into the warm streets of Toronto with a show to remember.

PUP @ The Concert Hall - Toronto

July 18th 2025: PUP @ The Concert Hall - Toronto, ON

Katie Gavin | Photos Courtesy of: Peyton Mott

Back in March, PUP announced their residency in their hometown, Toronto, lovingly titled “PUP Presents Mega City Maddness”. The tour followed 6 dates starting as a house show and heading through the city, gracing stages from large to small – tickets predictably sold out within 5 minutes. The city has birthed some of the most iconic artists of the 21st century, but through the 6-day PUP extravaganza, the Toronto natives prove that the scenesters who grew up with them will always show up as a community. The Concert Hall marked their third show of the run with a mid-sized capacity of 1,200 bodies tightly squeezed, buzzing with anticipation for the exclusive show.

Over the week-long PUP celebration, the band has delegated a theme to each night – the set surrounds each of their studio albums released. Each night has been top secret with the chosen record. At the Concert Hall, the crowd was gifted their 2019 record, “Morbid Stuff”, unveiled via the album cover as a backdrop as the four-piece graced the stage. While each show follows a specific record, the band doesn’t play it fully through, as singer Stefan Babcock eloquently puts it, “We’ve realized while coming up with these setlists…some of these songs we don't know how to fucking play.”

Between the classic tracks from the 2019 record, PUP played their hits like “DVP” and “Full Blown Meltdown”. The famous, long-time friend and PUP collaborator, Jeff Rosenstock, hopped on the gig as an opener. Though Rosenstock played a solo acoustic set to open the show, he made multiple appearances alongside the band. Bringing along guitarist John DeDomenci, the pair performed “Paranoid”, “Get Dumber” (recorded with Rosenstock), and popped in to yell along to “DVP”, the track dedicated to Toronto and its infamous expressway. 

PUP demonstrates home is where the heart is, and it's beating in a sea of former (and current) degenerate kids of Toronto.

Katie Gavin @ Massey Hall - Toronto

April 26th 2025: Katie Gavin @ Massey Hall - Toronto, ON

Katie Gavin | Photos Courtesy of: Peyton Mott

Within the sanctuary-esque walls of Massey Hall in downtown Toronto, the audience waited, seated and in anticipation, not only for headliner Lucy Dacus, but also the MUNA veteran Katie Gavin. On the “Forever is a Feeling” tour, Gavin debuted her first solo album live to the masses. The record is a complete contrast to her previous electro-pop musings, playing through the set with an acoustic guitar, fiddle, and hypnotic vocals.

During the second track of the night, “As Good As It Gets,” Gavin welcomed the colourful jasmine.4.t. to the stage. The pair shared a giggle as jasmine bounded onstage. The recording features the legendary Mitski, but the featured singer’s rendition of the second verse created a whole new meaning in the sonic environment. Gavin even threw in a bonus for the awe-struck crowd, with an unreleased track entitled “She Gives Me Feelings,” following the devastation of loving someone who doesn’t belong to her.

The masterful vocalist flexed her storytelling ability with lyrics depicting the stages of relationships and humanity, both romantic and otherwise.

Jordana @ Drake Underground - Toronto

February 20th, 2025: Jordana @ Drake Underground- Toronto, ON

Jordana | Photos Courtesy of: Peyton Mott

Underneath Toronto’s Drake Hotel, a thrumming bass travelled up the stairwell. The audience gathered affront the stage enjoying opener, Rachel Bobbit, counting down the minutes to Jordana’s debut.

The porcelain indie-pop artist, Jordana greeted the crowd with a coy smile before hopping right into the opening track, “We Get By” from her 2024 release. Fittingly to her cheeky lyricism, the set was full of connecting to the crowd with simple jokes to comparing what was in the water versus Canada and the United States. As well as the age-old question of the proper pronunciation of Toronto.

Jordana not only exemplified diverse pop perfection with layered vocoders but was also complete with tambourine dances and violin solos by the singer-songwriter. As she ran through the entirety of the recent record in order, Jordana tossed in a Steely Dan cover “Any Major Dude Will Tell You.” The room defied typical head-bobbing “too-cool” Toronto audiences, fans lined the room; one of which stood out, dancing and singing amongst the entire set pressed against the stage.

While TV Girl wasn't present throughout the Lively Premonition tour, that didn't stop Jordana from performing the breakout tracks from their collaborative album, “Summer’s Over” as an almost jitterbug-dancey encore. 

Jordana’s (hopefully) impending return to Toronto is welcomed with open arms, clear by the smiling faces flushed red from joy rather than the polar vortex that awaited the fans outside the venue.

Rachel Bobbit

Bryant Barnes

Fontaines DC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Toronto

October 11th 2024: Fontaines DC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Toronto, ON

Fontaines DC | Photos Courtesy of: Peyton Mott

The Irish-born band Fontaines DC stormed the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto supporting their recent 4th album release, Romance. Fontaines DC has been around well before they blew up in the last year, their musicality is reminiscent of punk before, channelling the stage presence of the like of the Sex Pistols or the Ramones with a modern take on the sound of punk. their experience is proven as a vibrational intro was played, singer Grian Chatten grinned, appearing in a long black trench coat just before leading into the titular track, "Romance".

The band has been one of the few artists successfully bringing back the authentic feeling and community of punk in the 21st century. Between violently green flashes of strobes, the audience catches glimpses of the effortlessly cool instrumentalists playing through their newest tracks "Favourite" and "Sundowner" ” tossing in some deep cuts like "A Lucid Dream" from their 2020 release. 

Fontaines DC puts on an unmissable show, shows running through 2025 globally. 

Royel Otis @ HISTORY - Toronto

September 12th, 2024: Royel Otis @ HISTORY- Toronto, ON

Royel Otis | Photos Courtesy of: Peyton Mott

Stepping out onto the Toronto stage, HISTORY, the Australian power duo Royel Otis graced the eclectic crowd with a giant shrimp in tow. The pair fittingly made up of founding members, Royel Maddell and (the notoriously mysterious) Otis Pavlovic shot themselves to international fame with Billboard-ranked covers of The Cranberries, 'Linger" and the Saltburn classic, "Murder On The Dancefloor". While both covers are captivating and lovingly screamed along to during their set, their self-produced songs stand well on their own, the indie pop tunes like "Sofa King" and "Oysters In My Pocket" (hence the massive shrimp on stage) cement themselves as future classics in the genre. While Pavlaovic understandably hides his face from the public, his shredding fills the room more than any stage personality ever could, with Maddell filling in the blanks with charming smiles to the crowd. The tour runs across North America to late October and is a certifiable unmissable show.

Delta Spirit @ Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto

April 4th 2022 - Delta Spirit, Palm Palm @ Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto

Delta Spirit in Toronto - Photos Courtesy of Jenn Kostesky

Delta Spirit hit the stage at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Toronto’s bustling Queen St. West April 4th for a show 2 years in the making. The band was in the midst of a reunion tour in spring of 2020 when, like so many others, they were forced to pump the breaks and return home and wait out the global pandemic.  Over the course of the following months the band released their most recent album What is There, and have since announced One is One due out May 20th on New West Records.

A palpable excitement in the air in the room of the only Canadian date on Delta Spirit’s spring tour. The set opened with “From Now On” from 2014’s into the wide and went on to span their entire discography, with every song turning into a sing along with the enthusiastic Monday night crowd. Mindset the sweet smell of incense filled the room making it feel more like watching your buddies jam in their living room rather than a well worn venue in a busy city. Being mid tour, the band was tight and fine tuned, yet loose and relaxed having clearly shaken off any rust that may have settled in during their hiatus and following lockdowns. The evening wrapped up with an extended jammed out version of “Trashcan” with everyone in the house shouting along with the band. 

Delta Spirit wraps up the Eastern leg of their spring run in North Charleston before for heading West through Colorado, Washington and California in May.

J. Roddy Walston’s new project Palm Palm brought a 40 (ish) minute set of no bullshit rock and roll to open the night.

Palm Palm

Shovels & Rope @ The Axis Club - Toronto

April 4th 2022 - Shovels & Rope, Jeremie Albino @ The Axis Club - Toronto

Shovels & Rope in Toronto - Photos Courtesy of Jenn Kostesky

Charleston based Americana power couple Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent, known musically as Shovels & Rope, paid a visit to Toronto’s The Axis Club April 3 2022.  The stop fell roughly midway through the duo’s tour in support of their latest LP Manticore, released February 18 via Dualtone Records.  

As they are wont to do, the couple floated between instruments with each taking a turn on guitar, drums and piano. The 18 song set leaned heavily on material from Manticore as well as the couple’s first album under the moniker Shovels & Rope,  O’ Be Joyful, which is celebrating a decade since its release. The couple offered up some quieter, more subdued moments throughout the set, “The Show”, “Shank Hill St.”, and “Bleed Me”, highlighting their passionate harmonies.  Fan favorites “O’ Be Joyful”, “Birmingham”, “The Wire”, and ragtime inspired, piano driven version of “Ohio” had the welcoming crowd singing along with every word. Wrapping up their Sunday night set with heavy hitters “I’m Coming Out”, “Hail, Hail” and “Domino”, Shovels & Rope returned took to the stage for a 2 song encore of “Happy Birthday Who” and the Beach Boy’s “In My Room” to wind down the evening. 

Toronto’s own Jeremie Albino opened the night with a solo set armed only with a guitar, harmonica and kick drum.  The songwriter, who is accompanying Shovels & Rope on their North American tour, is hot off the release of his latest EP Past Dawn. 

The Manticore North American tour continues through April 16 before heading to Europe in June.

Jeremie Albino