Begonia at The Great Hall - Concert Photos

Winnipeg‘s Begonia stopped by Toronto’s Great Hall on Friday night on her Powder Blue tour.  It just happened to be release day for Begonia’s new album Powder Blue. 

I love Begonia's singing, songwriting, storytelling and the positive vibe she spreads from centre stage. This was my fourth time catching a Begonia performance, but the first where she was headlining her own show. Pretty cool. 

Their set included tunes from across Powder Blue, Fear, and Lady In Mind. Begonia commented that this tour marks the first time she's had more music released than she can fit into the set. Nice problem to have; so many powerful and engaging songs that they can't all be played every night!

Personal highlights were the tunes I love from Fear and Lady In Mind, just because they're more familiar. "Hanging on a Line", "The Light", "Fear" got everyone vibing, and "Beats" with it's refrain of "it's not your birthday, baby" was great. Highlights from Powder Blue were "Marigold", which rocked and "Butterfly", a quiet song about realizing that you know nothing that garnered huge applause, plus the single "Married by Elvis". They closed the set with "Bleeding Heart" from Powder Blue. The encore tunes were from Lady In Mind; "Hot Dog Stand", which was an early standout tune that really got me into Begonia, and "Juniper". I'm sure more tunes from Powder Blue will become favourites as they seep into my consciousness. They sound awesome on the album and in the live show.

Begonia is a great storyteller and I love her stories; they give us a deeper insight into Begonia, her life, and her music. I highly recommend checking out her music and watch for her stopping by your city on tour.

Witch Prophet did a great job opening up the show. My photos of their performance are here.

I mentioned having captured three other Begonia performances. Click the links to check out my photos from her performance at Supercrawl in 2019, Riverfest Elora in 2019 and The Horseshoe Tavern for CMW 2018.

And here's some of her music:

"Married by Elvis" from Begonia's latest album, Powder Blue

"The Light" from Fear

Best of: Top 25 of 2019: My favourite albums of 2019

It's been 10 years since I posted my first "best of" post back at the end of 2009. It was my favourite 25 songs and favourite 30 albums, in no particular order. I've put together annual lists of my favourite songs and albums of each year since then, and lately added my favourite concert photos starting back in 2014. If you want, you can peruse all my best of posts from this link here.

Here are my favourite albums of 2019 and you can check out my favourite songs of the year right over here and my favourite concert photos of the year right here. My best songs list is on Spotify and on Apple Music.

Thanks for checking out the list. Hope you see some stuff you loved on here and maybe find a new discovery or two.

All the best for a clearer 2020.

25. Hollerado Retaliation Vacation 

Royal Mountain Records BBQ

Lee's Palace

Hillside Festival

Riverfest Elora

24. Begonia Fear

Supercrawl

Riverfest Elora

The Horseshoe Tavern

23. Wallows Nothing Happens

The Danforth Music Hall

22. The Anti-Queens The Anti-Queens

Riverfest Elora

21. Dave Hause Kick

20. Ian Blurton Signals Through the Flames

Hillside Festival

19. King Princess Cheap Queen

Rebel

18. Alice Merton Mint

Riverfest Elora

17. The Japanese House Good at Falling

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

16. Hatchie Keepsake

15. K.Flay Solutions

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Riverfest Elora

14. The National I am Easy to Find

Field Trip

Riot Fest

13. Tallies Tallies

12. Mannequin Pussy Patience

11. Barrie Happy to be Here

10. Soak Grim Town

The Drake Underground

9. Pottery No. 1

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Lee's Palace

8. PUP Morbid Stuff

Echo Beach

The Danforth Music Hall

Osheaga

Hillside Festival

7. pronoun I’ll Show You Stronger

6. SWMRS Berkeley’s on Fire

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

5. Bob Mould Sunshine Rock

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

The Horseshoe Tavern

Riot Fest

4. Billie Eilish when we all fall asleep where do we go

3. The Regrettes How Do You Love?

Velvet Underground

NXNE Yonge-Dundas Square

NXNE Portlands 

2. Bleached Don’t You Think You've Had Enough?

The Horseshoe Tavern

1. The Twilight Sad It Won’t Be Like This All the Time

Velvet Underground

Bestival Canada

Honourable mention to The Dirty Nil for their excellent You're Welcome covers series. They highlighted a whole group of amazing and classic songs, delivered with the power and energy that's pure Dirty Nil.

Riverfest Elora 2019: A compendium of posts - Concert Photos

Diversity is strength; inclusion is the only path.

Riverfest Elora has so much diversity in the artists and the audience. It’s wonderful. As you go from stage to stage, to artists that cross so many genres, there are always people singing along and so happy to see the artist that they know and love. Equal in number have to be the people who are out there to discover new artists and open their minds to new music. It’s a beautiful thing that wouldn’t be so notable if we saw it everywhere.

Riverfest Elora creates an inclusive environment. Artists, attendees and everyone involved works to create an environment of peace, harmony and acceptance. It's our only path to a future world that we'll all want to live in, and it has to start being the guiding force in our lives.

This year, my fourth Riverfest Elora, I experienced and captured images of thirty-three musical artists over the three-day festival. I hope you'll spend some time checking out the links below, checking out photos of your favourite artists, and checking out photos and music by some artists you've never heard of. Perhaps you'll find a new favourite.

Day 1: Friday

The Sheepdogs

Men Without Hats

Kandle

Joel Plaskett

Kalle Mattson

Hot Kid

Moscow Apartment

Club Shows:
Monowhales
Billy Moon

Day 2: Saturday

City and Colour

Begonia

Black Caviar

Alice Merton

Reykjavíkurdætur (Daughters of Reykjavik)

K-OS

Skye Wallace

Los Poetas

Darcys

Dennis Ellsworth

John Jacob Magistery

Ben Rogers

Hyness

Merival

Club Show:
The Anti-Queens

Day 3: Sunday

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Narcy

Terra Lightfoot

A Tribe Called Red

Art D'Ecco

Mix Master Mike

Hubert Lenoir

Brett Newski

The Redhill Valleys

And if that wasn't enough for you, here are links to my coverage of Riverfest Elora from 2018, 2017 and 2016.

Thanks, as always, to the organizers, volunteers, vendors, artists and everyone else involved in making Riverfest Elora such a fun, must-attend and special experience each year.

Can't wait for 2020's Riverfest Elora.

Riverfest Elora 2019: Day 2: Begonia - Concert Photos

Winnipeg Manitoba’s Begonia has quickly become one of my favourite artists. She first won me over with her magnetic and deeply personal performance at The Horseshoe Tavern for CMW in 2018. I couldn’t miss this performance at Riverfest Elora and then I caught her set at Hamilton’s Supercrawl. Check out the photos from those shows by following the links.

Begonia’s music and performance is so beautiful. The timelessness of a magnificent voice and personal powerful songs combine into a wonderful show. Her latest album Fear is out now. Songs like  “The Light”, “Fear” and “Hanging on a Line” are remarkable.

Check out Begonia’s music and don’t miss her live show. That’s where she really shines.

All of my Riverfest Elora 2019 posts can be accessed from one master post here. I hope you'll take a look and a listen.

"Hanging On A Line"

"Juniper"

"Hot Dog Stand"

"The Light"

Supercrawl 2019: Begonia - Concert Photos

This year marked my first time venturing to Hamilton, Ontario to catch Supercrawl. It certainly won't be my last. It was a fun street festival with great food, friendly crowds and, of course, great music.

The first artist I caught was Begonia. After seeing her at The Horseshoe Tavern during CMW 2018, I knew I didn't want to miss her set. Click here for that coverage. She impressed again with powerful and personal tunes that are heartwarming, emotional and relatable. She delivers these tunes with a powerful voice and stage presence that's wrapped in charm and wit.

Begonia had just released her new album Fear the day before and her set featured many songs from it, and from her debut EP Lady in Mind. The set also included a cover of Jeff Buckley's "Lilac Wine".

I also caught sets by Stars and Dilly Dally. Click on those band names to see those posts.

Here's some Begonia music. Check it out and don't miss your next opportunity to hear the band live.

"Hanging on a Line"

"Beats"

"Juniper"

"Hot Dog Stand"

"The Light"

"Out of My Head"

CMW 2018: A compendium of posts featuring July Talk, Ought, Casper Skulls, Kandle, Pkew Pkew Pkew, Pony, Begonia and more

Canadian Music Week was a little more low-key for me than usual. Just two nights of amazing music.

Friday, May 11 was the Audiotree North Launch Party at The Horseshoe Tavern with several familiar bands and one cool new discovery.

Ought

Casper Skulls

Pkew Pkew Pkew

Begonia

Pony

Thursday, May 10 was the Sleepless Records showcase at The Horseshoe Tavern with secret guest July Talk.

July Talk

Kandle

Shade

Sunshine and the Blue Moon

Follow the links to check out all my pics, my thoughts on the shows and some music from each artist!