2025: An Awesome Year for Concerts in The Mac - Here are our favourites...

Hello Summer

Shell Place | July 5th and 6th, 2025

The inaugural Hello Summer music festival was a huge success, bringing in eight major bands over two days. The first night kicked off with an energetic performance from Fefe Dobson. Rock radio fans enjoyed “Bye Bye Boyfriend” and “Take Me Away”, while pop fans sang every word to the smash hit “Stuttering” and the recent 2002 hit “Fckn In Love”.

Up next was one of our favourite sets of the weekend from Big Wreck. If you’re having a conversation about the best vocalist in Canadian rock – and best guitarist, Ian Thornley is in the mix for both. The rest of the band more than match his skill on their instruments – creating extended jams on some of their biggest hits like “The Oaf” and “Come Again” (technically a Thornley song, but no complaints here). Although hits like “That Song” and “Blown Wide Open” from 1998’s “The Pleasure and the Greed” went over the best – the band continue to produce solid material with 2011’s “Albatross”, 2014’s “Ghosts” (that bassline, though!) and their current hit “Believer”.

Likely the youngest band on the festival, The Glorious Sons took the stage next. Their first show in the RMWB in a decade turned out to be a much bigger deal than their first show, where they opened for Country singer Clay Walker at Fort McMurray 468 First Nation’s Treaty Days in 2015. At the time, they only had a few singles under their belt, but this time they came armed to the core, sparking huge sing-alongs to “Everything Is Alright” and “S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun)”.

As the sun set, Saturday headliners Our Lady Peace took the stage, and it felt like the crowd knew every single song with an emotional singalong to “4 AM” standing out. Lead Singer Raine Maida also advocated for mental health and introduced the heavy “Whatever,” which the band hadn’t played since the Murder-Suicide of Edmonton-born former WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, who used the song as his theme song. An emotional Maida said the band were “reclaiming the song”. The night wrapped up with an encore of “Automatic Flowers” and long-time set-closer “Starseed”.

DAY TWO

A big rainstorm threatened to derail the festivities on Sunday, but an unfettered crowd gathered around the stage in their rain gear, while others cautiously observed from the concourse as Econoline Crush took the stage. With a setlist that leaned heavily on their 1996 hit album “The Devil You Know”, lead singer Trevor Hurst bounced around on stage like a guy in his 20s! He also works as a Mental Health & Addictions Registered Nurse on a First Nation in Manitoba, and quite frankly, I can’t think of a more rock and roll side job! Their short set ended with the 2000 hit “You Don’t Know What It’s Like”, but luckily, fans would get a second helping of Econoline Crush in October when the band brought their “New Gold Magic” tour to Keyano Theatre.

Up next were I Mother Earth, reunited with their original lead singer Edwin for a few years now – the band put forward a set that was just as much psychedelic as it was energetic. I think they already had two drummers and percussionists on stage – and even Econoline Crush’s rhythm section got involved on one song! Edwin himself sounded just like the album – and had a wide array of unique percussion instruments.

Up next, making his first appearance in Fort McMurray in decades was Matthew Good & His Band (for legal reasons, not the Matthew Good Band). Good had suffered significant nerve damage a few years ago, preventing him from playing guitar, and it certainly felt awkward for him to stand at a mic stand without one. But the awkwardness faded, and Matt settled in as his band led the crowd on a journey through the Matthew Good Band days and his acclaimed solo albums “Avalanche” and “Hospital Music”. It almost felt like we got at least one song from every era of Matthew’s music. Matt was cordial in greeting the crowd, “You guys have had a tough few years up here,” and even though he was clearly under the weather, he still sounded exactly like you would expect Matthew Good to sound.

After a lengthy set change, there was an extremely noticeable energy change on stage as Three Days Grace (complete with their full tour set-up) shot on stage like a cannonball. Not only was it the most energetic and interactive set of the entire weekend, as someone who has seen Three Days Grace many times over the last decade, this was more energetic than the band has felt in years. From the latter years of Adam Gontier’s years in the band, it felt like something was missing, as he felt his passion for touring and making music waning. Bringing in a new lead singer (and brother of bassist Brad), Matt Walst, in 2013 gave the band a new energy boost and allowed the band to explore new territory on record. But of course, fans wanted Gontier back, and when rumours started flying that his return was imminent, nobody expected Walst to stay in the band. Judging by their live show and new album, Alienation, Three Days Grace are now unquestionably at the top of their game and better than ever! They held the crowd in the palm of their hands for the entire set, from the early days “I Hate Everything About You” “Just Like You” (featuring local youth musicians on stage) and “Pain” to the Matt Walst era hits “Painkiller” “So Called Life” to the newest hits “Mayday” and “Apologies”. The band disappeared from the stage as Gontier emerged for a soulful cover of Alice In Chains’ “The Rooster” (which I was impressed to see teenagers singing along to – proving it’s a timeless track) before the band emerged for the emotional ballad “Lifetime”. The crowd exploded into a giant mosh pit as the energy peaked when the band broke into the signature riff, signalling arguably their biggest hit, “Riot”. It capped off an amazing weekend, which will return July 4th and 5th with a country night and a rock night! Stay tuned for the lineup dropping soon!