Fans across Ontario counted down the days til June 24, when Arkells and July Talk took over Budweiser Stage!
The two bands, hailing from Hamilton and Toronto, sold out the show almost as fast as it went on sale. Allow us to repeat: SOLD OUT. And man oh man did the fans show up! We arrived to the venue, and as we piled into the pit, we couldn’t help but do a 360. 16,000 seats were filled. It’s a whole new energy when a venue is that packed. It’s a party!
Allow us to break down how the show went. First, July Talk took the stage and warmed our hearts. Leah Fay (one half of the bands gorgeous vocals), wore an outfit for the books. A monochromatic white getup, was broken up with a red suit jacket and a rainbow belt in celebration of Toronto’s Pride weekend.
Leah also sported the rainbow colours on her eyelids, which was beyond fab. Pride weekend is one of the most loving weekend’s in Toronto & July Talk brought that love to Budweiser Stage. Spotted inside the venue were also these posters:
From @julytalk to everyone pic.twitter.com/j88AwJ5vpw
— Universal Music CA (@umusic) June 25, 2017
As per usual, July Talk had us locked into their hypnotizing performance. With Leah & Peter’s voices coming together paired with heart-beating music production, and backup singers with electric energy — July Talk left everything on stage & we couldn’t be more thrilled being in that crowd.
We live for live shows. Thanks @julytalk for bringing all your energy to the stage. We're lucky to be in this crowd Next up: @arkellsmusic pic.twitter.com/hGWSwqPbkp
— Universal Music CA (@umusic) June 25, 2017
Next up was the Arkells! If you want to discuss throwing a party on stage, Arkells and their big band setup are the ones to call. We’ll allow this “Private School” opener to speak for itself:
Welcome to the (Private School) party hosted by @arkellsmusic We're so ready to lose our voices in this crowd tonight pic.twitter.com/gKWfoF8VQL
— Universal Music CA (@umusic) June 25, 2017
Not only was frontman, Max Kerman wearing a floral bomber, signifying an Arkells party was in session; but the full band brought their talent to that stage. Tony for example, literally climbed up onto his keys at one point and defined the term SOUL MUSIC for all 16,000 people in the crowd. Let us tell you, if you were there at this moment, you likely lost your hearing. Fans were cheering on Arkells at the highest level of love.
Now this is what we call SOUL MUSIC, @arkellsmusic pic.twitter.com/FTOs4KqdvD
— Universal Music CA (@umusic) June 25, 2017
If you had your eye on Max during the show, you might have noticed that he didn’t stop smiling. His smile was infectious and reflected on every person in the crowd. And Arkells were not just playing for the people in the front row! Max ran into the center of the venue to perform a song, and also stage dived at one point!!
Intro the crowd @Max_Kerman goes! @arkellsmusic pic.twitter.com/pJ7a78ZcZJ
— Universal Music CA (@umusic) June 25, 2017
The crowd was dancing. Not just swaying. Really dancing!!! The band caught onto this quickly and invited some fans to bring their moves on stage. They even turned the lights out and told everyone to dance their hardest. No lights, no judgement, no limit. It was incredible!
The show ended with Arkells performing their current single, “Knocking At The Door.” Not only was the performance everything we had hoped for; but directly after there was one more surprise in store. Everyone received a pint glass when they walked into the venue. All at once, as the final moments of the concert came to a close, each and every glass lit up red in the venue. It was unexpected and unbelievably amazing.
We’d been waiting for this show for a while, and it lived up to all the hype. This will go down as THE concert of Summer ’17.
Take a look at what we saw, through all our photographs of the evening. Comment below, and tell us which moment was your favourite. Haven’t seen either band live? Tell us why you want to! We can’t wait to hear what you have to say 🙂
