Halifax Music Scene Bursts at the Seams

November was a big month for music in Halifax! Matt Mays, The Sheepdogs, The Stanfields, The Trews and Theory of a Deadman all put on sold out shows. There were also numerous big announcements for Halifax’s music scene looking ahead for 2012. I got the chance to see many of the concerts in the month of November and excited for what is shaping up to be a great year in music next year for Halifax.

            First, I got to check out Matt Mays and El Torpedo at the Forum on November 15. Matt Mays got a warm welcome from his hometown crowd, and started the show with a hard rock performance of the first single from Coyote, “Indio”. Matt Mays continued his high energy performance all night playing numerous hits from his latest album and hits from all albums including; “City of Lakes”, “Tall Trees” and “Terminal Romance.” Mays showed his love for Halifax with numerous guitar solos and a double encore with Cocaine Cowgirl to cap off an amazing performance. Mays and El Torpedo bowed to a huge ovation, which was well deserved after an hour and a half of all his hits and ton of tracks off of his latest album.

            The very next night, I got to check out Theory of a Deadman and Monster Truck. Monster Truck opened with a strong rock performance, playing all of their big radio hits. It was a strong opening for Theory of a Deadman! Theory of a Deadman came out to a huge ovation from the crowd. They played all their hits ranging from new singles like “Hurricane” and “Lowlife” to their more classic hits like “Bad Girlfriend” and “Santa Monica.” However, despite their wide selection of big hits, they only played a short time longer then Monster Truck, only for about an hour. Theory of a Deadman was well worth the money for getting to hear all of my favorites, but the length of the performance was quite disappointing and they lacked an encore.

            Next up: The Trews. As a huge fan of The Trews I happily checked out their acoustic performance at the Rebecca Cohn. The Stanfields opened the show with all new material and did an awesome job. Although very different from the hard-rocking-drinking-life-a-fish band I am used to, they put on a mellow acoustic performance. The Trews came out to play their first set, and had a cool idea in mind for deciding what they would play in the second set; fans were invited to tweet the band the names of songs they wanted to hear. They played well known songs – “Highway of Heroes,” “I Can’t Stop Laughing” and “Not Ready to Go.” It was a high energy first set, with lots of interaction with the fans. The second set had a good combination of hits and lesser known songs, care-of fans. The Trews put on a fun, intimate and enjoyable show for people of all ages.

            November was not only an exciting month of concerts, but it also was full of even more exciting news of the upcoming concert scene in 2013. The Tragically Hip, with special guests The Arkells, was announced to play the Metro Center on February 2nd. The 25th anniversary the East Coast Music Awards are set to rock Halifax March 6-10 and all of the headlining acts were also announced in November; they include David Myles, Jenn Grant, Rose Cousins, Radio Radio,Dwayne Côté and Duane Andrews. To top it all off, the dates for the Highly Anticipated 2013 Halifax Pop Explosion were announced –mark your calendars for Oct 22-26 2013!