Billy Talent at Sound Academy – October 12, 2013

Billy Talent kicked off their ‘BT1 Turns 10’ Tour at the Sound Academy with a sold out hometown show that surely gave fans a night to remember. Fans of all ages gathered at the venue to help the band celebrate this milestone in BT history as they played their self-titled debut album in it’s entirety from front to back.

It was amazing to see how Billy Talent has been able to captivate such a diverse crowd over the years. I seriously saw people anywhere from the ages of 10 – 65 rocking out at this show. Everyone was singing along at the top of their lungs and you could feel the energy through the crowd. When a band can pull out this type of diversity in their fan base and even in some cases turn it into a family affair, it just clarifies the impact that Billy Talent has made and continues to make on the music scene.

I was pleasantly surprised to see them do this show at the Sound Academy as opposed to the Air Canada Centre, and you couldn’t help but feel like family in this intimate setting. As the night progressed, vocalist Ben Kowalewicz entertained the crowd with jokes only Torontonians would understand, like dedicating their song ‘Lies’ to Mayor Rob Ford. One of the highlights of the night was when the band performed their hit ‘Nothing To Lose’, it was very moving to see how it touched the fans in the crowd as they sang along.

The band also had a surprise up their sleeve, as they treated their fans to not one, but two encores after they finished playing their debut album. Making sure to cover all of the fan favourites from their newer albums like ‘Viking Death March’, ‘Devil In A Midnight Mass’ & ‘Surprise. Surprise’. As the night came to an end, they closed the show with ‘Red Flag’ and Chris #2 of Anti-Flag came out to join them on stage for the performance.

If you weren’t able to make it out to the Toronto show, don’t worry – the band has added more dates to their 10^th Anniversary Tour which can be seen here.

Thanks to Live Nation Ontario for media access.