Year in Review: The Best Concerts of 2016

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Timothy Nguyen
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Artist: A Tribe Called Red
Venue: Commodore Ballroom
City: Vancouver
Date: November 18

I’m sure all us contributors go to a bunch of concerts, and even though we can’t say no to a show – a lot of acts tend to blend together and even though bands won’t necessarily perform poorly, not a lot STANDS out from the crowd.

I honestly just expected a DJ set from A Tribe Called Red but I’ve never seen a crowd that was so focused, almost in a dream-like state on the DJs while we had beautiful performances by First Nations peoples in contemporary hip hop as well as more traditional dances. If you haven’t seen these guys, regardless of what genre you’re into – do yourself a favour and go!

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Artist: Sum 41
Venue: Commodore Ballroom
City: Vancouver
Date: October 28

Following what I mentioned earlier with A Tribe Called Red, it sucks to see bands lose parts of their individuality when releasing new records.

Thankfully for us, Sum 41 returned to their roots while still able to experiment in their latest release 13 Voices. The performance in itself was a drive down nostalgia lane with tracks from All Killer and Infected. Frontman Deryck Whibley had also been hospitalized for alcoholism earlier this year and to see him back to his healthy self for this energy-driven performance was my 13 year old-dream come true.

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Artist: Twenty One Pilots
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
City: Vancouver
Date: April 10

The first of two back-to-back shows, only a few months after selling out the Vogue Theatre, I can definitely see why. Twenty One Pilots caught so many people off guard with their release of Blurryface, blurring genres together but it was really neat to see a wide range of demographics at the show – crust punks, scene kids, metal heads and middle-aged/older individuals. Energy was always on high and theatrics were on point.

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Artist: Alice Cooper
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Theatre
City: Vancouver
Date: October 19

I don’t think I really need to say much here. It’s Alice Cooper, 68 years old and kicks more ass than most people I know! I mean who can say that they died three times on stage? Alice frickin’ Cooper.

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Artist: Gojira
Venue: Vogue Theatre
City: Vancouver
Date: October 9

I go to a lot of metal shows – and while a bunch of acts are too busy shredding, Gojira shows that you don’t need to show your technical chops to be heavy and headbang. Easily the tightest set I’ve seen this year putting so many other shows to shame.