Apparently 2026 became our year of live music

I don't remember making a New Year's resolution to attend more concerts in 2026. Actually, I'm quite certain I didn't, there was no plan, no spreadsheet, no carefully constructed entertainment budget and definitely no discussion about how many evenings a man of my age should spend standing in a field listening to loud music.

Somehow 2026 has turned into one of the busiest years of live music I've had in a long time.

We've gone from Our Lady Peace to Cody Johnson, Sheryl Crow, Ella Langley, Shaggy, Gwen Stefani, The Wallflowers and, most recently, a trip to Toronto with Paige to see Zach Bryan and somewhere in the middle of all that was Angine de Poitrine.

Different music, different generations, different experiences, and a whole lot of really good memories.

Our Lady Peace @ Hard Rock Casino: Jodi, Danielle and I

We started with something comfortably familiar, Our Lady Peace. Jodi, Danielle and I saw them at Hard Rock Live Ottawa on July 3, which also happened to mark the first anniversary of the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa.

There's something different about seeing a Canadian band whose music has been following you around for decades. Songs aren't just songs anymore, they become little timestamps.

You hear one and suddenly you're remembering where you were when you first heard it, what car you were driving, and who you were hanging around with.

Our Lady Peace has a catalogue that instantly takes me back to another time, but seeing them live in 2026 didn't feel like simply checking off a nostalgia concert, tt was just a really good night out with Jodi and our good friend, Danielle.

And having another proper concert venue in Ottawa certainly doesn't hurt either.

Then Bluesfest happened

Ottawa Bluesfest is always dangerous. You look at the line-up and think, maybe I'll go one night. Then you or your daughter 😆 or your wife start circling artists and you realize you're going multiple nights. This year we made very good use of Bluesfest.

Cody Johnson: Paige (and her friends) and I

First up for Paige and I was Cody Johnson along with a few of Paige's friends. We all took the o-train down to the grounds to be met with thousands of other teenage girls ready to rock the night away.

This was country music, while I am not a huge fan, I've been becoming more of one when spending time with following my daughter.

I've listened to some country music over the years, and seeing Cody Johnson live reinforced something I've come to appreciate about the genre, country music works extremely well with a huge outdoor crowd. Apparently this wouldn't be our last country concert of the year either, not even close.

One Very Strange and Excellent Night: Paige and I

On July 17, Paige and I managed to see three artists who really shouldn't make sense together on the same evening:

• Angine de Poitrine.
• Sheryl Crow.
• Ella Langley.

Yet somehow it worked, all three were part of the same Friday night Bluesfest line-up.

Angine de Poitrine

Let's start with Angine de Poitrine. If you've never seen them, I'm not entirely sure I can adequately explain what happens, a concert; yes, performance art; yup, two guys from Quebec creating wonderfully bizarre music while a crowd slowly realizes they're having a fantastic time; absolutely.

They were one of the surprises of Bluesfest and apparently we weren't alone. Even Sheryl Crow told the crowd later that night that they had become her new favourite band. Speaking of...

Sheryl Crow

There is something fantastic about watching an artist start playing songs you've been hearing for most of your youth and adult life. You don't have to think about the words.

They're apparently stored somewhere in your brain beside your childhood phone number and the lyrics to television theme songs from 1987, cue The Raccoons theme.

Sheryl Crow's set included songs such as A Change Would Do You Good and All I Wanna Do, plus many more never forgotten favourites.

It was one of those Bluesfest performances that worked across generations, which was appropriate, considering I was standing there with Paige. But next up was the act that Paige really wanted to see...

Ella Langley

Ella Langley closed out the night. This was the newer side of country music compared with some of the other acts we'd seen.

An artist on the way up can sometimes be more interesting than seeing someone after they've been famous for 20 years. You get that feeling that you're watching part of the story being written.

And after Angine de Poitrine and Sheryl Crow, Ella Langley somehow made perfect sense as the finale to an evening that made absolutely no musical sense whatsoever.

Backtrack to the 90's - Shaggy and Gwen Stefani: Jodi and I + friends

Jodi and I travelled directly back to the late 1990s and early 2000s for this spectacular show. We travelled down to the show with a friend Stephanie and met up with our friend Danielle and her kids too.

Shaggy

This was another one of those concerts where you discover that your brain has been quietly storing an impressive amount of completely unnecessary information. You think you know a couple of Shaggy songs, then another starts and another and somehow you know most of them.

I don't know what useful information my brain deleted to make room for Shaggy lyrics, but they're apparently there now before French knowledge that I should have retained. Maybe if these 90s artists sang in French, I'd be fully bilingual by now. But it was just fun and sometimes that's all a concert needs to be.

Gwen Stefani

If Shaggy hadn't already transported us back a couple of decades, Gwen finished the job. This was nostalgia turned up to maximum volume. There are songs that immediately bring you back to a particular period in your life, and Gwen Stefani has plenty of them.

The funny thing about nostalgia concerts is that everyone gets to pretend they're 17 again for a couple of hours. You're singing, you're standing, you're dancing, you're doing surprisingly well, then the concert ends and you have to walk back to the train. But not this night, Stephanie's husband Jeff works for Bluesfest and we got to stay for a little longer and enjoy a few drinks with some of the great crew that builds the stages and makes Bluesfest possible for Ottawa.

What a great night of music and friends!

The Wallflowers @ HISTORY Ottawa: Jodi and I

Jodi and I got to be part of the opening night of the brand new HISTORY Ottawa, with The Wallflowers taking the stage and Early James opening for them. It was also a pretty good way to kick off our summer vacation because apparently going to a concert the night before vacation officially gets going is how we do things now.

We took the train down, which worked out great and dropped us pretty much across the road from the venue. HISTORY itself was really nice; big, open, lots of places to grab a drink and some food, and we managed to get ourselves a pretty good spot near the front of the stage.

Early James

I really didn't know what to expect from the opener, Early James, and that ended up being part of the fun.

It was just a two person band playing this interesting mix of bluegrass, southern rock and whatever else you want to call it. It was different, upbeat and definitely not something I would normally have gone looking for on Spotify but they sounded great.

They had a really good beat, plenty of energy and were one of those opening acts where you start off knowing absolutely nothing about them and, a couple of songs later, you're paying attention. That's one of the things I've enjoyed about going to more concerts, sometimes the opener ends up being one of the surprises of the night.

After about an hour of Early James and a short break, it was time for...

The Wallflowers

The Wallflowers were performing their 1996 album Bringing Down the Horse from beginning to end and in order, which sounded like a pretty great idea. That's the album with One Headlight, 6th Avenue Heartache, The Difference and Three Marlenas, so there wasn't exactly a shortage of songs I wanted to hear.

And musically, they sounded great. The band was tight, the songs still hold up nearly 30 years later and hearing some of those songs live was pretty cool.

Jakob Dylan, well, that was a little different. This is obviously just my take from the night, but he seemed a little too into Jakob Dylan. There seemed to be a lot of playing to the crowd and soaking up the praise, and at times it felt like he was trying a little too hard to channel his father, Bob Dylan. Some of the songs moved away from the sound and delivery that made me like them in the first place.

Still, I'm glad we went. Early James was a completely unexpected and enjoyable opener, The Wallflowers sounded great as a band, we got to hear One Headlight and Three Marlenas live, + a few more of the classics off of Bringing down the Horse and we got to check out HISTORY Ottawa on its very first night.

Not a bad night out with Jodi even if my neck pain and Jakob Dylan's love of Jakob Dylan both made appearances.

Zach Bryan in Toronto: Paige and I

And just like that, we reached the last concert of the year. Paige and I headed down to Toronto to see Zach Bryan, with Gabrielle Rose and Trampled by Turtles opening the show. It was a pretty great way to wrap up what turned into a surprisingly concert heavy 2026.

We made a little trip out of it, staying with a friend in Toronto and doing something else that apparently I had managed to avoid all these years, taking the Toronto subway for the first time.

We started the night up top, our original tickets were up in Section 527. The kind of seats where you can see the entire stadium beautifully, but Zach Bryan himself is approximately the size of a mosquito. That was fine, we were there, we had our seats, and we were ready to start the show with...

Gabrielle Rose

Gabrielle Rose kicked off the night, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know much of her music before the show. But that’s half the fun of actually showing up for the opening acts instead of wandering in five minutes before the headliner. She was really good and definitely earned a spot on the playlist afterwards.

Speaking of wandering around the arena, we wondered around between the opening acts of Gabrielle Rose and Trampled by Turtles to get some food, drinks and take a few pictures.

And then things got considerably better, while asking someone to move for a moment so I could get a picture of Paige, the girl offered us upgraded tickets to SECTION 32 ROW 3 SEATS 1 & 2. We were upgraded from Section 527 all the way down to Section 32. That's not really an upgrade, that's basically being relocated to a different postal code when you're in the Sky Dome.

Suddenly the stage was a whole lot closer, the view was dramatically better, and our already good night got a pretty substantial boost before the next act took the stage...

Trampled by Turtles

Lots of fiddle, banjo and very fast fingers doing things that my fingers certainly aren’t capable of doing insert adult joke here 🤣. Their mix of bluegrass, folk and Americana sounded great live and really got the crowd going.

Zach Bryan

Then it was time for the reason we'd made the trip to Toronto, Zach Bryan.

Seeing him live with Paige was a fantastic way to finish off our concerts for the year. The crowd, the atmosphere, the music and our unexpected seat upgrade all came together to make this one of those shows we're going to remember for a long time.

And after a year that included Our Lady Peace, Cody Johnson, Sheryl Crow, Ella Langley, Shaggy, Gwen Stefani, The Wallflowers, plenty of Bluesfest, and realizing that my Blue Jays jersey or sweater is my concert attire of the year, finishing things off with Zach Bryan in Toronto felt pretty appropriate.

It also gave Paige and I another concert trip together, which, when I look back at the year, has become one of my favourite parts of going to all these shows. The concerts are great, obviously, but getting to experience them with family and friends is what I'll probably remember most.

What a way to finish off our year of live music 2026!

But we're not quite finished...

There's still one more night on the calendar, although technically this one isn't a concert. Jodi and I are going to see Jimmy Carr.

After a year of standing in fields, stadiums and concert venues listening to loud music, finishing things off by sitting in a chair while someone makes us laugh sounds pretty good.

My feet are particularly excited about this development, and then maybe that'll be it for 2026, maybe. Based on our track record this year, I'm not making any promises but I am surly looking forward to 2027!