May 31, 2022

Sunflower Bean at Lee's Palace - Concert Photos

Sunflower Bean at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Sunflower Bean at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Sunflower Bean at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Sunflower Bean at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Sunflower Bean at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Sunflower Bean at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Sunflower Bean at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
I love Sunflower Bean. Their tunes are highly original with many, many sonic touchpoints and influences. It was "Easier Said" from their 2016 album Human Ceremony that first caught my ear. Since then, I've caught live shows at The Horseshoe Tavern for a headlining show and at Rebel when they opened for Interpol.

This show was awesome too. The band's latest album is Headful of Sugar and we got to hear almost the entire album. The band's setlist also included "Easier Said", "Twentytwo" from Twentytwo in Blue plus a few other tunes. Their encore song, "Somebody Call a Doctor", is from all the way back to 2015's Show Me Your Seven Secrets.

Another solid show from one of my favourite bands! 

Check out my photos of openers Jackie Hayes and Rachel Bobbitt at the links here and here.

And here's some music from Sunflower Bean's latest:

"In Flight"


"I Don't Have Control Sometimes"

Jackie Hayes at Lee's Palace - Concert Photos

Jackie Hayes at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Jackie Hayes at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Jackie Hayes at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Jackie Hayes at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Jackie Hayes at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Jackie Hayes at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Chicago-based Jackie Hayes and her band performed their set right between headliners Sunflower Bean and openers Rachel Bobbitt

She put on a very high-energy show; barely standing still for more than a brief moment. 

She's got an album coming out later this year. If the tunes we heard live are any indication, we'll get a fun, high-energy collection of tunes.

Check out my pics of Sunflower Bean and Rachel Bobbitt at links here and here.

And here's some of Jackie Hayes' music:

"omg"

Rachel Bobbitt at Lee's Palace - Concert Photos

Rachel Bobbitt at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Rachel Bobbitt at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Rachel Bobbitt at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Rachel Bobbitt at Lee's Palace on May 26, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer

Rachel Bobbitt is a musician from Nova Scotia who's based in Toronto. Bobbitt and her band were first up on stage ahead of Jackie Hayes and headliners Sunflower Bean.

Bobbit performed chill, intimate, personal songs with sometimes soft and touching, sometimes soaring vocals. The songs take their time developing through slow builds in intensity. Bobbitt's latest is The Ceiling Could Collapse EP that's out now. 

I thought it was pretty cool that Bobbitt's first show ever was at Lee's Palace, too.

Check out my shots of Sunflower Bean and Jackie Hayes through links here and here.

And here's some of Bobbitt's music: 

"Gemini Ties"

May 15, 2022

The Regrettes at The Opera House - Concert Photos

The Regrettes at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
The Regrettes at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
The Regrettes at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
The Regrettes at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
The Regrettes at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
The Regrettes at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
The Regrettes at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
The Regrettes stopped in at Toronto's Opera House on May 10 for a show on their Further Joy tour. None of us knew at the time that it would be the last stop on the tour. At this point, the headline to a fantastic show is singer/guitarist Lydia Night's unexpected stay in a Toronto hospital for appendicitis. 

As I mentioned, the concert was fantastic. The band and audience were both overjoyed to be at The Opera House, rocking out to live music again after so long. The band's set went from their latest, Further Joy, back to 2019's How Do You Love? and 2017's Feel Your Feelings Fool! There were too many standout tracks to name them all, although I loved hearing classics like "Pumpkin" and encore track "Seashore". "Barely on My Mind" and "I Dare You" both rocked, as did the band's cover of Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend". The full setlist is here.

My photos from Alex Lahey's opening set are here.

This was my forth time seeing The Regrettes live. I caught them at Velvet Underground in 2019, NXNE in 2019 and NXNE in 2017. Click on through those links to check out those photos.

Here are a couple of tunes from Further Joy.

"Anxieties (Out of Time)"

"Monday"

Alex Lahey at The Opera House - Concert Photos

Alex Lahey at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Alex Lahey at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Alex Lahey at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Alex Lahey at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Alex Lahey at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Alex Lahey at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer
Alex Lahey at The Opera House on May 10, 2022 Photo by John Ordean at One In Ten Words oneintenwords.com toronto indie alternative live music blog concert photography pictures photos nikon d750 camera yyz photographer

I really love Alex Lahey's music. High energy, loud guitars, catchy melodies and relatable lyrics all add up to some awesome tunes to rock out to. I was as excited for Lahey's opening set at Toronto's Opera House as I was for The Regrettes' headlining set.

I caught Lahey's afternoon set at Osheaga back in 2018, so I knew we'd get a fun set that I didn't want to miss. 

We heard tracks from 2017's I Love You Like A Brother, 2019's The Best of Luck Club and their latest single "Spike the Punch". I loved hearing "I Love You Like a Brother", "Don’t Be so Hard on Yourself", "Every Day's the Weekend", and "I Haven't Been Taking Care of Myself" along with newer tunes like "I Don't Get Invited to Parties Anymore" and a cool cover of Faith Hill's "This Kiss". The full setlist is here.

My pics of The Regrettes set are here.

And here are a couple of great Alex Lahey tracks.

"Spike the Punch"

"I Haven't Been Taking Care of Myself"