Edmonton, AB Canada (Rogers Place), February 27, 2026 Options

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Live
Big Wreck
Econoline Crush
The Damn Truth

February 27, 2026
Edmonton, AB
Rogers Place

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Setlist

1. Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)
2. Selling the Drama
3. Freaks
4. All Over You
5. Pain Lies on the Riverside
6. The Beauty of Gray
7. Run to the Water
8. The Dolphin's Cry
9. Leave the Radio On
10. Heaven
11. Horse
12. Overcome
13. Rattlesnake
14. Lakini's Juice
Encore:
15. Turn My Head
16. I Alone
17. Lightning Crashes

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/live/2026/ro...a-7b489a0c.html

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REVIEW: Live, Big Wreck and Econoline Crush warm up a chill arena
Author of the article:
By Fish Griwkowsky
Published Feb 28, 2026
Last updated 1 day ago



Strange, dreamlike vibes Friday night as Live (aka Līve and also + LIVE +) played a chill, pub-vibed half bowl arena show — singer-guitarist Ed Kowalczyk cheerfully shrugging off a week-old cease-and-desist over the band’s name during his often singalong night, audience participation certainly defying any idea of doing this “I Alone.”
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Such unfortunate legal squabbles at the dawn of new global war were not the concern of 6,400 head-waggers at Rogers Place, mind you, with East Van’s Econoline Crush pulling a recent Exodus-before-Megadeth move first up, cranking the energy bar high for would-be adrenaline addicts and those who followed on stage.

But despite the setting — don’t forget this wasn’t a large-scale punk or metal show — it was its own special thing: the big rink playing a clubby Roman amphitheatre with unusual intimacy and perfectly-mixed sound.

I adore this deep-exhale version of Rogers.

From the mid-’90s downtown Rev back in the day to various litter-strewn rock fests over the century flip, Econoline’s pop sensibilities have always been tight and sunny.
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The four-piece had its impressively female-ratioed audience singing along to an Oasis-y All That You Are pretty quick, the chipper retro-angst of You Don’t Know What It’s Like following suit.

Band rules, T-shirt nabbed.

Besides hypnotically cheerful, popcorn-mopped singer Trevor Hurst, the drum work of grey longhair Dayvid Swart super stood out — extra cool to see him chillin’ out with friends in the concourse after Big Wreck further turned things up.
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Led by handsome, Toronto-born professional and killer guitar player Ian Thornley, 53, Big Wreck actually took us to the peak of the entire night.

Tickling the stratospheric angel feet of their parents Soundgarden and Led Zeppelin with high-wailing, wah-wah guitars and peak, straight-edge radio-rock cred, cotton-headed Chris Cadell absolutely shredded during Bombs Away, the metal-adjacent, bluesy Albatross shining brightly next up.

The dreamy Believer and Blown Wide Open took us to the band’s ninth and final song, the perfectly-formed hit That Song containing anything a person could want: nostalgia about nostalgia, beautifully-wailed lyrics, and that Pigtronix-pedal fuzzy distortion in a total shake-you-awake guitar bridge. Such an obvious joke I’ll make again, but I really love that tune.

Bringing us, of course, to headliner Live, who also like Megadeth emerged from behind a giant dropped white sheet — does that thing just live in the rafters like the Nope alien?



Taking a weird lurch into the slightly square, 54-year-old Kowalczyk appeared with a Jeff Bezos vibe behind sunglasses which he thankfully shook off with a Gord Downie, auctioneer’s snarl on the opener Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition).

A strobing light show and the night’s first theatre-screen visuals were now in effect with the band’s big, central cross filled with burning-church flames.

A spiritual vibe carried throughout the entire set, a sort of bucked-off echo of Christian rock via Eastern mysticism and, at one later point, an A.I.-looking tiki head vomiting red gas and flanking lava lamps.

“You look beautiful, Edmonton, what can I say?” Kowalczyk purred after Selling the Dream. “I do know what we’re gonna do next: we’re gonna go back in time!”

Here he got into a bit about his time-machine operator being drunk he’d pull out throughout the evening, perhaps better exemplified by Econoline Crush’s DeLorean T-shirt — but anyway, the man was having fun.

The choppy Freaks led us to the first biggie, Throwing Copper’s All Over You with an instant, crowd-sung, “Our love is like water,” which I’ve always sung as “I love you like Yoda” — who by the way is for sure going to be Grogu’s dad, right? Right?

Anyway, off came the Paul Shaffer specs as he sung his first-ever-written song, Pain Lies on the Riverside, the Rob Halford-looking bass player thrashing around like he was over Metallica’s Snake Pit to this twitchy Kowalczyk growler.

Swaying ballad Run to the Water led to the next Live-laugh-love milestone, The Dolphin’s Cry, our resident singer going full emo for this power singalong at the show’s midpoint, cities flooding up on screen an echo of its 1999 video.

Things got acoustic and a bit country for Leave the Radio On and the uplifting Heaven, when Kowalczyk shyly accepted a cowboy from a stagehand, then decided to talk about how albums used to work to “the kids.” (There really weren’t very many of those at the show, hence the half-bowl: just well-preserved Gen Xers, a large proportion of the women blonde, and truckloads of guys who bald at the office were wearing togues and ballcaps for the night out as I know all too well, haha.)

“CDs,” explained the singer, “you had about 55 minutes and you’d get down to song 14, well, that’s this song, Horse.”

OK, buddy! This he played with guitarist Zak Loy, doing Overcome the same way, just accompanied by piano as a few dozen phone lights swayed.

The gas-emitting mask visuals were going as he sang Chris De Burgh-ish folk power ballad Rattlesnake, crowd mostly seated. Then Loy tried to rouse us up with about 2% success for the biologically-aware Lakini’s Juice, a strangely vertically squished sun blazing behind Kowalczyk as he pumped his fist like an overtime goal-scorer, yelling, “God bless you!” as he walked off stage.

Some music played during the very brief encore break, then the band returned for the U2-ish wailer Turn My Head as lanterns floated off into the cosmos and spelled Live.

Deployed for dessert, the crescendos of I Alone then Lightning Crashes earned great applause, and so it was the time machine did its job, drunken operator or not, and everyone braced themselves for the cold, cold night outside after all that delightful warmth within.

And, man, I really liked that song. You know which one.

https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/r...sh-rogers-place

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A bunch of photos from the show.

https://www.rogersplace.com/gallery-live-wi...big-wreck-2026/

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Video from [@uhallnight6751]

I Alone / Lightning Crashes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm1PjQ0Q8Yw

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Videos from [@WolseyTube]

Operation Spirit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylq60URViLY

All Over You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imYNfXd7Zb8

The Dolphin's Cry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfWmW4nuGf8

Turn My Head
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pDvcuzq2gM

I Alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT1CEvl5mNA

Lightning Crashes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4W-l9bOoO4