The Bluesfest Festival ended quite abruptly last Sunday as a sudden and powerful storm slammed into the festival and strong winds collapsed the main stage (you can see a short video here). Fortunately, most of the people were able to evacuate safely even though three people were hurt. Could have been a lot worse…

A few days earlier, after seeing The Tragically Hip, I was at the Billy Talent concert. I fell in love with the Toronto band when I first came to Canada and took the opportunity to see them live. I wasn’t disappointed—they rocked it!

The mosh pit was boiling, people were crowd-surfing and security had to spray the audience with water—it was that hot. I didn’t try to get too close (being there, done that, plus I had my little brother and my camera with me) but I loved the atmosphere. Billy Talent is good, very good, and the lyrics are pretty smart too. Yes, they are punky but they somehow manage to capture the hopelessness and boredom of a generation, much like Nirvana or The Offspring did early in the 1990s.

Waiting for the Show
Ben Kowalewicz and Aaron Solowoniuk
Billy Talent
Ian D’Sa
Ben Kowalewicz
Ben Kowalewicz and Aaron Solowoniuk
The Crowd
The Crowd
Ian D’Sa
Ben Kowalewicz and Aaron Solowoniuk
The Crowd
The Crowd
Ben and Aaron
Ben and Aaron
Ben and Aaron
The Crowd
The Crowd
Ben and Aaron
Ben and Ian
Ben
Ben and Aaron
The Crowd
Ben and Aaron
The Crowd

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8 Comments

  1. Jeruen July 25, 2011 at 1:24 pm

    Those surely are quite awesome concert action photos! I love your shots!

    Reply
    1. Zhu July 27, 2011 at 9:58 am

      Thank you! The crowd was awesome 🙂

      Reply
  2. Soleil July 25, 2011 at 10:28 pm

    Looks like it was tons of fun despite the heat! And how cool that the security guys sprayed you with water because of the heat. Next concert I go to will be in Canada during a heat wave.

    Reply
    1. Zhu July 27, 2011 at 10:00 am

      Oh, they had to, it was so hot! I had space to breath at the back (plus I was slightly on the side) but the guys in the mosh-pit must have been so hot!

      Reply
  3. Gail at Large July 26, 2011 at 12:16 am

    My favourites are the crowd pictures with the silhouetted hands!

    Reply
    1. Zhu July 27, 2011 at 10:00 am

      Yep, me too. The crowd was fun to watch for that.

      Reply
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