NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
This year’s Rockin’ 2025 at the AKG Art Museum in Buffalo saw a quartet of Canadian acts play on June 14th. Being so close to the border, many of us in western New York and our neighbors in Canada traverse the border often to see friends and family, dine out, or see cultural and sporting events. However, given the recent tariff fiasco with the new American regime, Canadians have put their “elbows up” and we’ve definitely seen a decrease in Canadian traffic down in the Buffalo area. Thus, it was a bright and friendly sign that the AKG Art Museum dedicated this year’s concert to our friends up north.
Headlining the show was rock band the Beaches, joined by singer/songwriter/comic book author/etc LIGHTS (aka Valerie Anne Poxleitner-Bokan), classic rockers The Trews, and indie artist (and former frontman for Hollerado) Menno Versteeg (aka Mav Karlo). As the crowd slowly filtered into the quad in front of the museum, one thing that was noticeable were some definitively anti-Trump t-shirts. With Canadian bands and quite a few Canadian fans in the audience, it was probably apropos that many in the crowd had attended the “No Kings” protest in Niagara Square that afternoon and were still sporting their garb from the protest. Why not close out the day by listening to some Canadian bands? Elbows up!
Menno Versteeg took the stage with no fanfare, just him in a chair playing his acoustic guitar. The folk songs he played were a far cry from his indie rock with Hollerado but it was a pleasant start to the show as people continued to gather. At one point, he stopped because he had forgotten the lyrics but he joked that probably no one else there knew the lyrics so it didn’t matter.
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The Trews are a band that Buffalonians are well familiar with. Although they do tour mostly in Canada, this rock band from Nova Scotia has stopped in Buffalo at least once a year (except for Covid years) going all the way back to 2009!! Their local fans showed their love right back with many donning their Trews band shirts and singing along to songs. Vocalist/guitarist Colin MacDonald dominated the stage while guitarist John-Angus MacDonald seemed like he wanted to come right into the crowd! Add bassist Jack Syperek, drummer Theo Mckibbon, and keyboardist Jeff Heisholt and the audience were having a rocking good time! The band got so friendly they even came down into the crowd to play a song!
That obviously wasn’t enough for MacDonald because, before you knew it, he was up in the VIP section playing his guitar from there! It was funny how the ladies in front of him just kept right on with their conversation like they had no idea he was there!
Their twelve song set was pretty extensive for an opener but it seemed woefully short to many in the crowd. Here’s to hoping the Trews come back for a headlining show in Buffalo later this year!
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Lights first hit my radar when her third studio album Little Machines was released in 2014. Eleven years and multiple Juno awards later, she released her sixth record, aptly named A6 on May 2nd, just a month ago. This new record is one of my top this year so far and it brings me back to some of her earlier work. Her synth-pop sound always reminded me of the 80s, when synthesizers came into prominence and bands leveraging that sound dominated the pop charts. Lights’ image has always been ever-changing, especially her hair going from brown to blue to red to her current silver. She kicked off her set with “Day Two” from her latest album and, unfortunately for me, it set the wrong tone. Singing to a backing track with many vocal effects, it didn’t showcase her skills as a singer and musician. Such is modern pop music. As she settled into her set, you could then hear her live voice even if effects were still used at times. Besides a few die-hard fans at the barricade singing along to every song, including the eight songs from A6, many in the crowd seemed unfamiliar with her music but it wasn’t long before they were bouncing and dancing along as well. While Lights, on guitar, was accompanied by just Brodie Tavares on bass and drummer Stefan Michel, you could still tell that the synthesizer on the background tracks. She joked that her bandmates were brothers and, since their brother’s name is Jonas, you could call them the “Jonas’ Brothers”. Haha! Her fifteen song set was almost as good as having her headline but not quite. Hopefully, we can catch her later in the year as she continues to tour.
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Finally, as the sun set, the Beaches finally hit the stage. They had absolutely blown up in 2023 with their huge smash “Blame Brett”. We had covered them at the cozy Buffalo Iron Works in December 2022, not knowing they’d be playing ScotiaBank Arena in 2025! But somehow lead singer/bassist Jordan Miller took the emotions from her breakup with Brett Emmons (of the Glorious Sons) and came up with the incredibly catchy single, propelling them to stardom. Fans cannot get enough of the song and the band has been touring non-stop, promoting the single and their incredible album Blame My Ex, winning three more Junos along the way! There was one odd interaction earlier in between bands when five little girls (they “might” be in elementary school) wanted to meet the Beaches and have them sign their t-shirts. When I asked them about their favorite song, it was unanimously “Blame Brett”!! Hmmm…I’m not sure “I’m probably going to sleep around” and “I’m only in it for the sex” registered with them….at least I hope not!
They opened their set with “Cigarette” from their hit album, followed by “Fascination” from their 2019 EP The Professional. With Jordan taking care of the vocals, guitarists Kylie Miller (yes, her sister) and Leandra Earl were dashing about the stage with frenetic energy, stopping only to stand atop two platforms on stage left and right or if they needed to provide backing vocals. Normally, I would say that the drummers are expending the most energy in a band but even with drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel banging away, the band as a whole was a whirling dervish. One of the things that always intrigued me about the band was Jordan’s alto voice, a contrast to most lead singers who are either mezzo-sopranos or sopranos. Her vocals are always spot on and hits a bit different, a bit more emotional.
The Beaches’ twenty song set was absolutely too short and, even though this show is officially part of the No Hard Feelings tour (supporting their next studio album that will be released in August), I understand the huge focus on songs from Blame My Ex. That being said, I would have loved to hear more songs from their debut studio album Late Show. But never fear, the official tour kicks off after the album’s release so we’ll have a chance to see them again. In fact, since this show, they’ve already announced the release of their next single “Touch Myself”!! Looking forward to it and I hope those little girls were able to meet their idols!
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