July Talk at The Ex - Concert Photos

The Ex is a consistent indicator of the end of summer. It runs for the last two weeks of August and up to Labour Day. One of my favourite things about The Ex is the bands that perform at The Bandshell. They're free concerts with admission to the fair.

This year, July Talk was one of the artists I caught at The Bandshell. They put on a powerful set, which is no surprise to any of us who have seen the band before - they always deliver a powerful set. It featured so many amazing tunes. The first tune of the encore was performed solo by Peter Dreimanis and it came from the movie Sinners. The tune is "Wild Mountain Thyme". Overall, it was a fantastic show!

The Darcys opened up the show. My pics of their set are here.

I've covered July Talk a number of times in the past. Check out my pics from shows at:

Budweiser Gardens

Riverfest Elora

The Horseshoe Tavern

And check out some July Talk music:

"I am Water" from their latest album Remember Never Before.

Best of: Top 25: My favourite concert photos of 2019

As always, I can't separate the great performance from the great photo. Maybe someone else should go through my photos and look for the aesthetically best or technically best photos. As for me, here are my favourite 25 concert photos of 2019, from so many of the most amazing performances I was lucky enough to witness in 2019.

Thank you music, you may well have saved my life this year. Much love.

I have to send out a special thank you to all the wonderful industry people and artists who let me into the festivals and venues to make these photos and take in these shows, and to you for looking at the photos, reading my words, and listening to the music.

If you haven't checked them out yet, follow the links to my Favourite Songs of 2019 and Favourite Albums of 2019 posts. It was a great year for music!

July Talk are one of the best bands playing anywhere right now. They put on some of the most magnetic, engaging and empowering live shows. They're one of the most photogenic bands. No wonder they have two spots on this list. This is a shot of Leah Fay from July Talk's performance at Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario.

Dizzy is one of my favourite bands, one of my most seen performers and one of the bands I've photographed the most. Katie Munshaw is such an emotive and passionate singer and performer, I always get amazing photos. This is one from the band's performance at The Great Hall's Longboat Hall for the Wolfe Island Winter Ball. 

This is my most-liked photo of the year on Instagram, so it must be the best, right? This shot does capture Aimee Interrupter interacting appreciatively with the crowd at Rebel. The band's music is so positive and empowering, and their live show is so engaging and super-fun. I'd see them any and every time I get the opportunity. I caught them both at Rebel and at The Danforth Music Hall this year.

My daughter turned me on to Naked Giants and I caught their live show at The Baby G. It was a super high energy and engrossing show. This is just one shot that captures the band's manic energy and intensity.

I've loved Rancid since I first heard "Time Bomb". Their ska-punk style is energizing as is their live show. The jump shot is one of the pinnacles of concert photography and one that I consider something I pretty much suck at. But I seem to be getting better at it. This show at Rebel was one of the musical highlights of my year.

PUP is an awesome band with great energy and they're so humble of their ascent to bigger and bigger shows, like this one at Echo Beach. I loved seeing Stefan Babcock riding this inflatable swan across the crowd. 

I've caught three Yungblud shows so far. He's an unstoppable force. This last show was probably the hardest to capture because of his sheer energy and speed. There are so many cool shots from this show, it was hard to pick from. This moody shot from the very start of the show at The Danforth Music Hall turned out pretty good, I think. Click on through for the rest of my shots.

Here's another shot from July Talk's Budweiser Gardens show. This time it's Peter Dreimanis in a shot of moody intensity, fully consumed by the music.

Chvrches has maintained their status as one of my favourite bands. And they put on a fun and entertaining live show. I liked this shot of Lauren Mayberry from their most recent stop in Toronto at Rebel.

Here's another one of those hard-to-get jump shots from one of the masters of the scissor-jump. Sam Coffey and The Iron Lungs are one of my favourite bands and definitely one of my most-seen bands. This shot from their show at The Garrison's birthday party captures the band's amazing live energy. And they seem to like it too!

Luna Li is easily one of my favourite discoveries of 2019. I love everything about her music, her performance and her guitar playing. I love this shot of her in bliss at Royal Mountain Records BBQ. I really hope to catch more Luna Li shows soon and I really hope Royal Mountain Records puts on more of these awesome summer shows every year.

Drummers have it tough from a photography perspective. They're usually at the back of the stage, often in darkness and obscured by cymbals. I just had to include this shot of the Bob Mould Band's Jon Wurster from their show at The Phoenix Concert Theatre. Jon is an awesome drummer with amazing energy and always seems to be having a great time. This shot captures that.

As I mentioned, a Yungblud show is an onslaught of energy and it's hard to tear your eyes and lens away from the man himself. However, there's lots of other fun going on with the rest of the band. This shot of guitarist Adam Warrington taking an innovative approach to in-song tuning is a moment I was happy I managed to capture from their Danforth Music Hall show. 

The Effens have become one of my favourite bands. I love their tunes, I love the live shows. This shot from a show at The Baby G captures the mood and energy of an Effens show. Check out their music and get yourself to one of their shows.

Haviah Mighty is an intense performer. She had a great year with many great performances and winning the Polaris Prize for her album 13th Floor.  This close-up shot of her performing at Royal Mountain Records BBQ captures that intensity quite nicely, I'd say.

Photographer Brad Goldstein has been capturing some great shots for One In Ten Words. I love this awesomely composed and captured shot of Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard from their moist show at Echo Beach.

SWMRS know how to impress with their live show. Their performance at The Phoenix Concert Theatre was easily one of the best live shows of 2019. I can't wait to hear what they come up with on their future albums and I know I want to be at all their future Toronto shows.

Reignwolf puts on an intense and engaging live show. At The Mod Club, he wasn't content to stay on stage to rock out. He came out into the crowd and wedged himself between the bar and the balcony. I love an artist who goes the extra kilometre to put on an unforgettable show.

The Twilight Sad are one of my favourite bands. Their songs are so emotionally rich and enveloping. The live show, like this one at Velvet Underground, is where it comes together; the music surrounds and swirls around and consumes my emotions. I think I spent most of this show crying in the crowd. It was great and much-needed therapy after being disappointed to miss their other Toronto show earlier in the year. It's no wonder It Won’t Be Like This All the Time came in at number one on my Favourite Albums of 2019 list and "I'm Not Here [Missing Face]" came in at number five on my Favourite Songs of 2019 list.

Hollerado are an awesome, high-energy band with amazing power pop tunes. 2019 was the year that they'd call it quits and left us with some amazing shows. This one at Royal Mountain Records BBQ, where they were the surprise special guests, was an amazing show. I decided to put down the camera and enjoy their last-ever show at Danforth Music Hall as a fan. Farewell, Hollerado, thanks for the tunes and all the best for a bright future of new adventures.

There's something special about catching a rapidly up-and-coming band in an intimate venue and watching them win over a crowd. It was like that seeing The Anti-Queens play the Elora Legion at a Riverfest Elora afterparty. This band is amazing and I can't wait to see them ascend.

Skinny Lister are always fun. This show at Rebel where they helped warm up the crowd for The Interrupters was awesome. It's always exciting to see bassist Scott Milsom toss around that double bass like it's nothing. And this time I didn't almost get it in the face. Haha. 

I've mentioned Dizzy a whole bunch on these virtual pages. This shot is from their sold-out show at The Mod Club. It's so amazing to see this band go from the first time I saw them at Hillside, to a sold-out show like this. I'm looking forward to more amazing music and shows from them as we go forward.

I love live concerts. Could you guess? They're irreplaceable and unique moments in time that are always special. This shot from Telekinesis' show at The Drake Underground captures a special moment within a special moment where Michael Benjamin Lerner put on a solo performance of "I Saw Lightning". It's the song that the couple pictured used as their wedding song. Cool.

The audience is an essential element in a great live show. Their energy feeds the band and a cycle is created that brings a show higher and higher. This shot from Chastity's show at The Rec Room captures that insane energy between band and audience. This show was also special because Alexisonfire showed up with their instruments for a surprise set to finish off the night.

July Talk at Budweiser Gardens - Concert Photos

Leah Fay and Peter Dreimanis are two of the most dynamic and magnetic front people to have ever taken to the stage. Along with bandmates Ian Docherty on guitar, bassist Josh Warburton, and drummer Danny Miles, and joined on this night by Dani Nash on keys and percussion, they are July Talk: one of the best bands Canada has ever produced, role models and champions for positivity, inclusion and empowerment, Juno award winners, creators of incredible and uplifting music, and a live performance powerhouse.

On this night, they appeared on the Budweiser Gardens stage in London, Ontario and were sandwiched between headliners Metric and Murray A. Lightburn. Please click through on those links to check out my photos of those performances.

July Talk had a hell of a climb by the time I saw them for the first time at Lee’s Palace in 2014. (Apologies for not getting the black and white thing for a while.) They’ve continued to ascend since then and keep impressing as people, as performers and as creatives.

Their set started off strong with "Headsick", "Guns + Ammunition" and "Now I Know" before switching to a bunch of new music. "Pay for It" is a beautiful new song about toxic masculinity, "Still Sacred Can Fall" has a moody depth, "The News" is an upbeat rocker, and "Pretender" is dark and intense with a powerful beat.

They dedicated "The Garden" to local venue Call the Office. "Touch" was accentuated with blood red lights and reaching hands for a backdrop.

The magnetic interplay between Leah and Peter came out especially strongly during "Beck + Call".

I didn’t want it to end, but like all good things, it had to. Before any of us were ready, they finished out their set with "Push + Pull".

While Lee's Palace in 2014 was decked out in black and white stripes with two stage extensions, the 2019 July Talk stage had a moon backdrop that projected video of the band. They also brought a giant moon balloon that came down during the show. They said it was because the full moon makes everyone a bit weird and they bring the full moon with them everywhere.

If you want to check out a few of my recent photo sets on July Talk, please click through for my photos of them at last summer's Riverfest Elora and their amazingly intense Horseshoe Tavern show during CMW 2018.

Here are a few of my favourites from the band's set:

"Guns + Ammunition"

"Summer Dress"

"The Garden"

"Beck + Call" and "Push + Pull"

"Lola + Joseph"

"Picturing Love"