REVIEW: CITY & COLOUR'S VANCOUVER CONCERT AN INTIMATE THANK YOU TO FANS
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City & Colour took the stage Monday night at The Orpheum for a performance that could not be classified as a greatest hits parade.
Rather, it felt like a lineup of songs hand-picked for a specific feeling and mood for Dallas Green (or, in this case, his mom). Green, who rose to fame with the post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, performed at local venues in Edmonton, Calgary and Victoria before ending the small-venue Western Canada tour in Vancouver.
Held in celebration of the 20th anniversary of his side project from Alexisonfire — Green also had a third project called You+Me with American singer-songwriter P! nk — the recent intimate shows were billed as a thank you to fans who had supported his “little songwriting project” over the years.
“I wanted to go back to the way it used to be when I first began sharing this different side of my musical heart,” the Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter said in a pre-tour press release. The evening promised career-spanning songs, covers and stories.
And that’s exactly what Green delivered.
Julianna Riolino opened the night, accompanied by just her Gibson guitar and a Troll (yes, the toy). Repeating her name several times throughout her set, she noted, with confidence, that “you will know my name by the end of the night.”
The Ontario singer-songwriter, whose latest album is called Echo in the Dust, noted she appreciated the opportunity to be stripped of her usual backing band in favour of the more pared-down performance setup.
Making her way through her songs including All Blue, I Wonder, and Full Moon, Riolino’s clear, powerful vocals were more than enough to leave listeners taking note of her name. The repeated reminders may have been redundant.
Amid the short break between Riolino and Green, fans stopped at the concession, with its bottles of water, craft beer and bags of popcorn. The selection pointed to the evolution of Green’s fan base as much as to the venue’s amenities. While 20-something Aleesha would have undoubtedly reached for an alcoholic beverage, I happily settled for a water and a small bag of buttered popcorn.
The last time I saw a solo City & Colour concert, it was in downtown Los Angeles in 2008. At the time, I was a college student studying journalism at a university in San Diego. I can vividly recall the excitement as a friend and I piled into my Honda Fit to make the drive north to attend the concert, Green’s 2005 album Sometimes playing on repeat.
Fast forward nearly 20 (yikes!) years, and a lot has surely changed. But the Canadian musician’s music still holds a very special place.
Starting his set without a word, Green kicked it off with a version of Son House’s Grinnin’ in Your Face. Then, he picked up his guitar to play Two Coins.
“He is sooo good,” a fan seated behind me remarked at the close of the second song.
The set list, he told the crowd, was largely picked by his mother, who was in attendance. He then joked that, if fans were disappointed by the night’s assemblage of songs, they would be “disrespecting his mom, on the day after Mother’s Day.”
Things We Choose To Care About followed that joking threat. Judging by the crowd’s reaction to the next song, Waiting … from the 2008 album Bring Me Your Love, it was clear that many in attendance were of the same fan vintage as myself.
The Hurry and The Harm cascaded Green’s vocals onto the crowd like a warm, wonderful blanket. And a surprise cover of the 1994 song Lover, You Should’ve Come Over by Jeff Buckley came next, followed by Hello, I’m in Delaware. The song prompted the appearance of more than a few phones as fans recorded the performance.
Taking a brief pause, Green placed a few words of a praise on his opening act.
“I think she’s an absolute force of nature,” Green said of Riolino. Welcoming her back to the stage, the duo sang Strange Negotiations by David Bazan. Their harmonies had moments that sent tingles deep into your chest.
Grand Optimist, prompted a sing-along that propped Green up amid a seemingly emotional section of the track. Green delivered song after song, his vocals only getting clearer as the evening went on, with songs including: Underground, Comin’ Home (complete with a snippet of the Alexisonfire favourite This Could Be Anywhere in the World); Lover Come Back; and more. The evening closed with the track Sleeping Sickness.
It was a memorable night of music that felt personal and authentic, like Green had invited his fans, old and new, into a private session.
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2026-05-12T17:02:17Z
