Sam Roberts Saturday!! The Juno Winning Rocker and His Band Brought Down the House at Massey Hall this Past Weekend
- Justin Michael Carriere
- Apr 14
- 7 min read
By: Justin Michael Carriere
Toronto, Ontario - 20 years seems like a long time, but on this limited tour revisiting his sophomore album Chemical City, Sam Roberts seems more current than ever before. With seemingly prescient lyrics and a sound that feels right at home when stacked up with today’s offerings, the Canadian Rocker and his band brought the celebration to Massey Hall this past Saturday!
Roberts leapt onto the scene out of Montreal in 2002 with his first album We Were Born in a Flame going double platinum, the equivalent to over 300 million streams for the Gen Z crowd out there. He rocketed up the Canadian charts with songs like “Don’t Walk Away Eileen” and “Where Have All the Good People Gone”. I still remember being in the university cafeteria on a break between classes when I first heard the now famously familiar Dm/C/G opening of “Brother Down”!
Since then, he’s been nominated for a multitude of Junos, and has won on six occasions, including Artist of the Year and Rock Album of the Year twice (2004 & 2009). Officially adding “Band” to his moniker as of 2011, Roberts along with Dave Nugent (lead guitar), Eric Fares (keyboard, guitar), James Hall (bass) and Josh Trager (drums) have been rolling along ever since playing shows all over the world.
On April 11 Roberts and the boys took to the historic stage at Massey Hall (literally… it’s designated as an official Historic Site!) and leapt right into the first track off Chemical City, much to the delight of the capacity crowd, who instantly shot up out of their seats with the first notes of “The Gate”.
While I was on the move with my camera looking for good spots to snap some images, the one thing I noted anywhere I ended up was “this man has an audience!” While I knew a fair amount of Roberts’ material coming into the show, I was blown away at the number of people singing along word for word to songs I was not familiar with. Which is always a testament to an artists’ dedication to their fanbase and vice versa. And this band has some fans! Perhaps none more than the woman I ended up sitting nearby once I was done shooting, who I will call Luanne (totally arbitrary as I was just far enough that I couldn’t talk with her to get her name). We’ll come back to her soon enough.
After “The Gate” the band continued right into the second track, and lead single off the album, “Bridge to Nowhere”. The video for the song won the Juno for Video of the Year in 2007 and I encourage you to check it out if you haven’t... it is very Sin City! After a rousing version of “With a Bullet” the band kicked into the 8-minute opus “Mind Flood”. This was the first time in the set I was really able to appreciate the musicianship of the rest of the band. On the outro Trager had the drums thumping, Fares had the keys beaming, Hall had the bass rolling and Nugent was like a man possessed with his Gibson slung down low. I will forever be impressed by anyone that can rip on their six string when it’s hanging any lower than their chin!
Roberts for his part is the Quintessential Canadian Rockstar; easy going, supremely talented and in command of the room with an ease that makes it abundantly evident it’s not his first time! And as an audience member, it is an absolutely invaluable feeling to have complete and utter trust in the person you’ve paid your hard-earned money to see, and Sam Roberts had that trust 2,500 times over Saturday night.
After the epic conclusion of “Mind Flood”, Sam Roberts brought out special guest Matt Mays to play with him on “Uprising Down Under”. Before they began the song, we were treated to a story about the recording of the Chemical City album in Australia, some of the band’s adventures down there, and how “Uprising Down Under” came to be written. The performance of the tune was stirring; the easy going sound of Roberts’ vocals and his J-45 paired with a soaring solo courtesy of Mays and the gorgeous tone of his Fender Jaguar (I think!), this was a beautiful song worthy of Byron Bay itself.
After playing through “Mystified, Heavy” and “An American Draft Dodger in Thunder Bay” the band arrived at “The Bootleg Saint” and we arrive back to Luanne (bet you thought I forgot about her!). I’d noticed she’d been singing along for most of the night, but when the opening keyboard note rang out on “The Bootleg Saint” her face lit up and she turned to her friend behind her, slapped her on the leg and exclaimed “I’ve been waiting 20 years for this!” I was struck by such a strong sense of nostalgia! I flashed back 20 years to when I was listening to my favourite bands, wishing to see them in concert, and I knew exactly what she was feeling in that moment. Congrats Luanne on the euphoria.
With only two songs remaining on the CC track list, Roberts brought out another special guest, his cousin (my apologies to Mr. Roberts as I couldn’t make out her name!) to sing with him on “The Resistance”. The performance from the two was warm and inviting and immediately brought to mind a good ‘ol clad in plaid Canadian kitchen party! The Massey Hall crowd clapped along as the song came to an end and his cousin received a much-deserved ovation!
And finally, to close the Chemical City set, Roberts, now solo, took up his place behind the keyboard and a single spotlight shone down as he started into “A Stone Would Cry Out”. A captivating performance that had the crowd hushed for the first (and only) time of the evening. And well deserved. The raw nature of the material combined with the setting produced a tear or two (from other people too!)
After a brief break, the band came back on stage and as soon as the first riff of “Them Kids” rang out from Roberts’ Telecaster, a fresh wave of excitement washed over the audience. It elicited more singalong and, more importantly, another Luanne moment! As the rest of us were still reeling from an exuberant chorus of “The kids don’t know how to dance to rock n’ roll” she turned to her friend, big smile on her face and proudly exclaimed “he missed a line in the verse!” Yet another moment where I was right there with her; I’ve done the same thing Luanne, and gotten the exact same eye roll you did from your friend. Totally oblivious to it, she went right back to singing along with the rest of us. We should all be so lucky to have a Luanne with us at concerts!
Now, I could probably write 7 more pages with all the highlights from this show, but I will keep it concise(ish) from here on out as I know anything more than a “7-minute read” online usually gets scrolled right past! The band closed out the night with a multitude of hits like “Don’t Walk Away Eileen”, “Detroit ‘67”, “We’re All in This Together”, “Where Have All the Good People Gone?” and “Hard Road”. They also broke out an unreleased track from Chemical City called “Fall Before You Finish” which was lyrically striking, and I hope it can find its way to a wider release (or a re-release on Chemical City).
For the finale (and a nice tidy bookend to this write up), the band launched into “Brother Down”. As soon as those familiar chords rang out, people were up on their feet (if they weren’t already), including Luanne who, while singing along for the entire night, had mostly been seated! Roberts himself set his guitar aside and let Nugent take over on that front. He pulled the microphone from its stand and strolled from end to end, hand up, moving and grooving at the edge of the stage holding the mic out to the crowd for more singalong.
As the band was in its extended outro, all of a sudden a suit jacket came flying onto the stage and draped itself on Nugent’s guitar. He calmly shrugged it off before Roberts walked over and put it on. No sooner did it get around his shoulders did the accompanying shirt follow! He looked towards the direction it came from, as did everyone else, to see a now shirtless man having the time of his life! Gracious as ever, Mr. Roberts asked if the gentleman wanted them back, approached the edge of the stage, handed them off and shared a handshake and a hug with the man.
After that exchange, and as the outro continued, Roberts made his away from one end of the stage to the other shaking hands and high fiving the people in the front row and it was clear from the joy on his face that if he could do it for everyone he would.
While we tend not to think of the word “gracious” in the same sentence as the word “rock star” Sam Roberts proves it’s not impossible. He and the boys put on a killer show Saturday night, and I believe he made every single person in that room feel like we truly were “all in this together”.
Thank you Mr. Roberts.
5 Quintessential Canadian Experiences out of 5
Concert Photo Gallery (all photos by: Justin Michael Carriere)
Sam Roberts Online
Show Date: April 11, 2026
Comments