Never Say Die Tour Review (Ft. Marianas Trench, Walk Off The Earth, & Kieran Mercer
On March 22nd the Never Say Die tour made its way to Toronto stoping at Air Canada Centre. With a stellar lineup consisting of Marianas Trench, Walk Off The Earth and Kieran Mercer this was one concert you really shouldn’t have missed! This tour marks the first headlining arena tour for Marianas Trench in which to support their newly released album Astoria.
Kieran Mercer started the night off right playing a very enjoyable set. This new up-in-coming artist along with this band had the crowd swaying along to each and every song. Kieran preformed a number of songs from his newly release EP Help Me Help You, including hit song “Bang Bang”.
When I saw that Walk Off the Earth was supporting Marianas Trench on the “Never Say Die” Tour I was looking forward to seeing them live again.
Walk off the earth kicked off their set off with one of their original songs “Gang of Rhythm” which was then followed by a cover of “Happy” by Pharrell Williams”.
Walk off the earth played a number of fun covers including, “Cheerleader” by OMI, “Hello” by Adele, as well as the cover that made them as popular as they are today “Somebody That I Used to Know” By Gotye. While walk of the earth may have gotten popular by covering songs very well, their own original songs were preformed with perfection. Playing all their hits like “R.E.V.O” “Rule The World” and “Red Hands” allowed fans of WOTE to go home happy.
One of the things I enjoyed most about their performance was how no one on stage stayed still the entire set. Everyone, even the drummer at times, were running back and forth and moving around. I also liked how they had multiple backdrops that would change after 2-3 songs.
Walk Off the Earth put on by far one of THE BEST PREFORMANCES I HAVE EVER SEEN! If anyone came up to me after their set and said that they were boring I would have looked at them like they had six heads. WOTE’s set was filled with energy, fun cover songs, and a bunch of colourful props and backdrops. As soon as Walk Off the Earth walked off stage I was very curious to see how Marianas Trench could top such a colourful, interactive and energetic performance.
The stage was dark and filled with blue lights that gave of a very mysterious vibe, as each member made their way on stage high-pitched screams filled the stadium and once Josh Ramsay took the stage the music began. All eyes were on the stage as they came out and preformed a variety of songs from their newest album Astoria some of which included “Yesterday”, “Burning Up”, And “This Means War”.
If anyone knows how to command a room, or shall I say stadium, Josh Ramsay is definitely one of those people. Being shirtless all night along with his witty jokes and comments, to his rock star stage presences he had everyone in the building screaming in excitement. Mid way through the set Josh jumped off stage and started to make his way around the arena as the band played “Shut and Kiss Me”. As josh made his way to the back of arena a ton of girls were grabbing and screaming with happiness due to the fact that they got to touch one of their idols. Once the song was over Josh joked about how he just walked shirtless through a crowd of teenagers but was and still can be classy. This then lead him to walk toward the white piano in the middle of the arena. Once at the piano he began to play a stripped down version of their newest singles “One Love”.
While Josh knows how to command a room the rest of the band sure knows how to rock. With guitar solos, drum beats, bass groves and killer moves Mike, Matt and Ian really know how to work a stage.
Marianas Trench played a mixture of new and older songs, which includes most of their popular hits like “Pop 101”, “Celebrity Status” and “Fall Out”. However, I and a few of the fans that I talked to after the show were disappointed that they did not play songs from their first album Fix Me. At one point in the night Josh did mention how that album did not really sell that many records and how it didn’t really get the reception they wish it got, which in fact may be one of the reason why they chose not to preform anything from that record. With that aside I was very happy with the songs they chose to perform.
One of the most shocking and exciting things of the night was when Josh Ramsay flew around the Air Canada Centre. (Yes you read that right, he FLEW around the arena) After being strapped up in a harness and connected to wires he was lifted right in the air above all the adoring fans. Going up and down, flipping all around, it was amazing to see how he could sing and kept most of the notes on key.
Marianas Trench ended their set off with a BANG both figuratively and literally speaking. Thousands upon thousands of yellow, orange and white confetti shot out to the crowd during the last song of the night, which was “End of an Era”. Overall Marianas Trench put on a fantastic show that had people dancing and singing along all night long.
BIG thank you to Strut Entertainment and Live Nation Ontario for such a fantastic night!
Check out the full photo gallery HERE
