The Regrettes at History - Concert Photos

 

The Regrettes put on a fun show. After seeing them five times, I can tell you that I've become a big fan and they keep getting better and better. From the friendliness of their backdrop: "We are The Regrettes, nice to meet you!”, through to kicking off a pit with a "wall of fun!" and of course, energetic, catchy and relevant songs, a Regrettes show is a great time!

Lydia did reflect on the last time they played Toronto, at The Opera House in 2022, when she got appendicitis and had to have an appendectomy at a local hospital. She decided that she would have more fun in Toronto this time and I hope she did! 

Their set was short but packed with great music including "California Friends", "Monday", "Pumpkin", Lydia crowdsurfed during "Barely on My Mind" and they closed with "Poor Boy". I’m also a pretty big Robyn fan, so I loved it when I heard that The Regrettes perform a cover of “Dancing on My Own”. I love the song and I love what The Regrettes have done with it, making it their own. 

The Regrettes' set was sandwiched in between Yungblud and opener Sophie Powers. My coverage of their sets is here and here. 

This was my fifth time covering a Regrettes show. Follow the links to my previous coverage of their performances at The Opera House, Velvet Underground, NXNE 2019 and NXNE 2017.

And here are some Regrettes tunes:

"Barely on My Mind"

"Dancing on My Own"

The Regrettes at The Opera House - Concert Photos

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"

Best of: Top 50 of 2019: My favourite songs of 2019

Looking back at old posts, I see that it's been 10 years since I posted my first "best of" post back at the end of 2009. Back then, I did a list of my favourite 25 songs and favourite 30 albums, in no particular order. Since then, I've been putting together lists of my favourite songs and albums of each year and more recently my favourite concert photos of the year, starting back in 2014. If you want, you can peruse all my best of posts from this link here.

This year is no exception with my favourite songs of the year below, my favourite albums of the year right over here and my favourite concert photos of the year right here. Hope you enjoy the list. You can now find it on Spotify and on Apple Music, too, along with a bunch of previous best-of lists.

2019 sucked in a whole host of ways, but music is definitely not included in the suckage. Hopefully you agree that 2019 was a really good year for music, that you find some songs in the list that you loved, and you hopefully find some new discoveries.

All the best as we climb into 2020.

50. Wallows "Scrawny"

The Danforth Music Hall

49. Foals "Exits"

48. Frank Turner "The Lioness"

The Queen Elizabeth Theatre

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Massey Hall

The Danforth Music Hall

TURF

47. Hollerado "Time on Earth"

Royal Mountain Records BBQ

Lee's Palace

Hillside Festival

Riverfest Elora

46. Sharon Van Etten "Seventeen"

45. Nilüfer Yanya "In Your Head"

44. Methyl Ethel "Trip the Mains"

The Garrison

43. Kid Bloom "LEMONHEAD"

42. Screaming Females "Let Me In"

The Garrison

Hard Luck

The Garrison

The Silver Dollar Room

The Garrison

41. FONTAINES D.C. "Boys in the Better Land"

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

40. Low Hum "Strange Love"

39. Charly Bliss "Capacity"

The Horseshoe Tavern

The Rec Room

38. The Effens "Human"

The Baby G

The Horseshoe Tavern

The Horseshoe Tavern

37. Pottery "Lady Solinas"

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Lee's Palace

36. Broken Social Scene "Can't Find My Heart"

Osheaga

Field Trip

Field Trip

35. The National "Rylan"

Field Trip

Riot Fest

34. Ex Hex "Rainbow Shiner"

33. Alice Merton "Lash Out"

Riverfest Elora

32. pronoun "temporary tantrum"

31. girl in red "dead girl in the pool"

30. The Japanese House "We Talk All the Time"

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

29. Clairo "Bags"

28. King Princess "Cheap Queen"

Rebel

27. Pkew Pkew Pkew "I Don't Matter at All"

The Horseshoe Tavern

The Horseshoe Tavern

The Horseshoe Tavern

26. FIDLAR "Can’t You See"

25. Angel Du$t "On My Way"

Rebel

24. Ian Blurton "Days Will Remain"

Hillside Festival

23. allusinlove "All My Love"

22. The Anti-Queens "Worse Than Death"

Riverfest Elora

21. Miss June "Twitch"

20. Control Top "Chain Reaction"

19. Tallies "Easy Enough"

18. Bob Mould "Sunshine Rock"

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

The Horseshoe Tavern

Riot Fest

17. Ra Ra Riot "Bad to Worse"

16. Alex Lahey "Don’t Be so Hard on Yourself"

15. PUP "Kids"

Echo Beach

The Danforth Music Hall

Osheaga

Hillside Festival

14. Barrie "Clovers"

13. Mannequin Pussy "Drunk II"

12. SOAK "Knock Me off My Feet"

The Drake Underground

11. Ludic "My Love"

10. Dizzy "Twist"

Royal Mountain Records BBQ

The Mod Club

Wolfe Island Winter Ball

Royal Mountain Records Festival

Baby Teeth Album Release Party

Field Trip

Hillside Festival

9. Hatchie "Without a Blush"

8. Better Oblivion Community Center "Dylan Thomas"

7. K.Flay "Bad Vibes"

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Riverfest Elora

6. SWMRS "Trashbag Baby"

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

5. The Twilight Sad "I'm Not Here [Missing Face]"

Velvet Underground

Bestival

4. The Regrettes "California Friends"

Velvet Underground

NXNE Yonge-Dundas Square

NXNE Portlands 

3. Sunflower Bean "Come for Me"

Rebel

The Horseshoe Tavern

2. Bleached "Hard to Kill"

The Horseshoe Tavern

1. Billie Eilish "Bad Guy"

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.

The Regrettes at Velvet Underground - Concert Photos

Velvet Underground was the Toronto venue where I caught my third performance by The Regrettes. I can’t think of a band that is such a shining example of unbridled fun. The Regrettes are addictive. That addiction comes from their amazing tunes, their fun shows, and their positive and inclusive attitude. I'll take every opportunity I can to see the band live.

In terms of highlights, opening tune "California Friends" is one of my favourite tunes of 2019. "Dress Up", "Pumpkin", "Fog", "Seashore", "Stop and Go" and "Poor Boy" were all highlights of The Regrettes' set. I especially loved the group therapy of "Seashore" and the Stop! And go crazy of "Stop and Go". The Regrettes are inclusive, empowering, and cleared out the front for an all-girls pit. Cool!

Give their music some time with your ears if you're not already familiar, and please check out my photos of their shows at NXNE 2019 and NXNE 2017.

Don't forget to check out my shots of opening bands Greer and Hala.

"California Friends"

"Dress Up"

"Pumpkin"

"Seashore"

"Poor Boy"

NXNE 2019 The Regrettes - Concert Photos

I've become a pretty big Regrettes fan since I first saw them perform live at NXNE back in 2016. Those photos are right here. This time, it was NXNE again, but at the much more convenient location of Yonge and Dundas in downtown Toronto.

The Regrettes still have great songs and compelling yet relatable stage presence, but it's now wrapped with more confidence and intensity. That's an awesome combination.

They played us songs both new and old and had the crowd singing along and actively participating in the show. I love their empowering and inclusive message and the fun power of their tunes.

Check out some of the band's music and don't miss their live show.

"I Dare You"

"Seashore"

"Pumpkin"

"Dress Up"

"California Friends"