Napalm Death perform live at Lee's Palace in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Canada - Another kick‑ass Inertia Entertainment night at Lee’s Palace... and for once, I rolled in with only minutes to spare. Totally unlike me, but whatever. The second I stepped inside, the room already felt charged. Five bands, a packed 19+ crowd, and a legendary grindcore institution ready to tear the roof off. What followed was one of the most exhausting, exh

Cryptopsy performs live at Lee's Palace in Toronto, Ontario. Photo By: Jojo Taylor By: Jojo Taylor Toronto, Ontario - The trend I usually see in Toronto audiences is that we are very polite at concerts. I have heard many artists say this about our city. I truly believe they are saying we are too quiet. We usually wake up at the end of a show to get that encore song. This was not the case on May 27th at Lee’s Palace. Our Legendary Brutal Death Metal band Cryptopsy and 3 other

Dance Gavin Dance perform live at History in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Ashley Depaz By: Ashley Depaz Toronto, Canada - On May 24, 2026, Toronto's History played host to a lineup that felt like a love letter to post-hardcore fans. Novelists, Wolf & Bear, and The Fall of Troy each brought their own flavor to the evening, setting the stage for a headlining performance from Dance Gavin Dance that reminded everyone why they've remained one of the genre's most important bands for

The Guess Who perform live at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario. Photo By: Michael Drukarsh By: Michael Drukarsh Toronto, Ontario - Sitting in Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night for The Guess Who and special guest Don Felder brought back memories of summers up in cottage country sitting on the dock with the tunes cranked. This time though, the night was spent with about 18,000 people and the beer was a lot more expensive. Don Felder Don Felder performs live in Toronto, Can

Electric Callboy performs live at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Ernon Schneeberger By: Ernon Schneeberger Toronto, Canada - Electric Callboy rolled into Toronto’s Coca-Cola Coliseum on their Tanzneid World Tour and basically turned the whole place into a massive party, with Scene Queen and Polaris along for the ride. With their mix of metalcore and EDM chaos, this was never going to be a normal show and with a lineup like this, it felt more like a full nigh

Buzzcocks perform live at The Opera House in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Ashley Depaz By: Ashley Depaz Toronto, Canada - The Buzzcocks brought pure punk energy to Toronto’s The Opera House on Friday, May 15, delivering a loud, fast, and genuinely exciting performance that proved why their influence still reaches across generations of punk and alternative music. As part of their 2026 Attitude Adjustment Tour, the legendary Manchester band showed that even decades into their car

Broadcast Zero perform live at The Spot in Newmarket, Ontario. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Michael Drukarsh Newmarket, Ontario - It really never really ceases to amaze me how much diversity is on display every time I head to The Spot in Newmarket. Undetermined Undetermined perform live at The Spot. Photo By: Michael Drukarsh Saturday night’s bill opened with Undetermined, a classic rock band made of students ranging from grade 9 to grade 11. The youngest member Nate F. sat be

Dragonette/Tiny Sun perform live at Koerner Hall in Toronto, Ontario. Photo By: Ashley Depaz By: Ashley Depaz Toronto, Ontario - On Thursday May 14th 2026, the glowing wood interior of Koerner Hall became a living, breathing instrument. The acoustics inside Koerner Hall (already regarded as some of the finest in Canada) wrapped around every note with startling clarity, allowing even the quietest moments to linger in the air like suspended light. Every string swell, every soft

The Anti-Queens perform live at The Biltmore Theatre in Oshawa, Ontario. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Oshawa, Ontario - The Biltmore Theatre is one of those venues that reminds me why I love covering shows close to home. Award‑winning, intimate, and only minutes away... which matters when you’re staring down a four‑band bill with an 8:00 p.m. start and a 5:30 a.m. wake‑up looming. Tonight’s all‑ages crowd is small but young, buzzing, and ready for a long night as

August Burns Red perform live at History in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Ernon Schneeberger By: Ernon Schneeberger Toronto, Canada - Toronto’s History played host to a stacked night of metalcore as the Spring Horizons Tour rolled into town, bringing together legacy giants August Burns Red and The Amity Affliction, alongside rising acts Boundaries and Heavensgate. Blending generations of the genre, the lineup felt like a collision between metalcore’s roots and its modern evoluti

Moxy perform live at The Rockpile in Etobicoke, Ontario. Photo By: Michael Drukarsh By: Michael Drukarsh Etobicoke, Ontario - Everything is bigger in Texas. For Canadian band Moxy, who formed in Toronto way back in 1973, this is not just a slogan... it is gospel! After getting major airplay on San Antonio’s KISS-FM thanks to DJ Joe Anthony, Moxy was given their first headlining show in the U.S. The opening act? Some young upstarts going by the name AC/DC. To this day, the ban

Corrosion of Conformity perform live at The Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Canada - It’s been a minute since I’ve covered a show at The Phoenix Concert Theatre. In fact, the last time I personally covered a show here was on May 30, 2024 when Death to All Screamed Bloody Gore! Walking up to the venue on May 5 felt like stepping back into an old haunt. One of my favourite venues in the city. A few diehards were alr

Unprocessed perform live at The Opera House in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Ernon Schneeberger By: Ernon Schneeberger Toronto, Canada - The Opera House in Toronto was absolutely buzzing for Unprocessed's headline tour with openers Midwinter and Allt setting the stage for an unforgettable night of progressive metalcore. MIDWINTER Midwinter perform live in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Ernon Schneeberger Midwinter came out swinging and immediately made it feel like the room was thei

Bring Me the Horizon perform live at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Matty Vogel Words: Ashley Depaz Images: Matty Vogel Toronto, Canada - Toronto didn’t just host a concert on April 28th, 2026... it got pulled into a fully realized alternate universe when Bring Me the Horizon launched their tour in Toronto, and they didn’t ease into it! They dropped the audience straight into a glitching, haunted digital world that felt like booting up a long-lost game on Play

Vana performs live at The Mod Club in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Justin Michael Carriere By: Justin Michael Carriere Toronto, Canada - Congratulations New Zealand, you have a Bonafide Metal Queen. Vana (pronounced VAH-NAH) brought her first headlining tour, The Lady in Red, to The Mod Club in Toronto on Thursday April 28th. Born in California, but raised in Aukland and calling NZ home, the metalcore musician is currently on the road in 2026 after signing with Sumerian Records

Dark Tranquility perform live at The Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Justin Michael Carriere By: Justin Michael Carriere Toronto, Canada - I have a confession: I am a death metal neophyte. For whatever reason, the genre just had not been on my radar for the longest time. Enter The Scandinavian Heavy Arts Tour (how bad ass is that title?!) … Dark Tranquillity, early originators of melodic death metal, and fellow Swedes Soen ushered me into a new dimension

Niall Gunovski of PEACE BOND performs live at The Spot in Newmarket. Photo By: Michael Drukarsh By: Michael Drukarsh Newmarket, Ontario - You just never know what you are in for when you walk through the doors of The Spot on a Saturday night. Usually, based on the almost eligible band names on flyers posted around town and announcements on Instagram, you can be sure whoever is on the bill will be loud. However, for this show, tucked in amongst the chaotic fonts was an unusual

Burning Witches perform live at The Garrison in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Canada - Another night, another Garrison show, and honestly, I’m not complaining. I’m loving this venue more with every visit, even with the lack of a photo pit. But as a fan, it gets you as close as you possibly can get, and as a photojournalist, it allows close interaction with the fans. As Toronto finally shakes off the last of its winter hibernation, the str

Wacken Metal Battle Canada; Ontario Finals at The Garrison. Photo By: Michael Drukarsh By: Michael Drukarsh Toronto, Ontario - As part of the official WOA Warm-Up parties and in celebration of Wacken Open Air 's 35th anniversary, 35 concerts happened in 35 different countries on April 18th, 2026. Hosted once again by The Garrison in downtown Toronto, The Wacken Metal Battle Canada Ontario finals saw three bands, Dawn Vally, Misothronos, and Gravearth battled it out on stag

Raven perform live at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Canada. Photo By: Jay Broderick By: Jay Broderick Toronto, Canada - Thirty‑five minutes before "doors" (which is actually a curtain), the Horseshoe Tavern was already buzzing... a full line running from the curtains at the back of the bar area out through the front door, metalheads of all ages shoulder‑to‑shoulder, waiting for a night of pure, sweat‑drenched heavy metal thanks again to Inertia Entertainment . The air ha