WE Day Atlantic.

Not so much of a review as a photo gallery post.
The energy at the Scotia Bank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia was amazing.

WE Day is a celebration of youth making a difference in their local and global communities. WE Schools is the yearlong program that nurtures compassion in young people and gives them the tools to create transformational social change. Together they offer young people the tools and the inspiration to take scocial action, empower others and transform lives, including their own.
Rooted in the belief that every young person has the power to change the world, WE Day brings a generation of young leaders together to prove that no one is along in their desire for change.
Taking the philanthropic world by storm with events in Canada, U.S. and U.K., WE Day events are attended annually by 200, 000 students from over 10’000 schools. Students can’t buy tickets to WE Day. They have to earn it through the WE School program, by participating in one loca and one global action.

Since 2007 youth involved in WE Schools have achieved amazing results:
– 62 million raised for more than 2,500 local and global organizations
– 19.9 million hours volunteered for local and global causes
– 7.6 million pounds of food collected by youth
– 10.54 million hours of silence logged by youth who took a stand for children in developing communities who are denied their rights.

The WE Day Atlantic line up included
– Chris Hadfield (Astronaut)- Debby Ryan and The Never Ending (Indie rock band)
– Classified (Juno award winning hip hop artist)
– JRDN (Juno award winning artist)
– SonReal (Hip hop artist)
– Francesco Yates (Singer songwriter)
– Donisha Prendergast (Filmmaker)
– Aislinn Paul (Actress)
– Luke Bilyk (Actor)
– Spencer West (ME to We  motivational speaker)
– Tyrone Edwards (Host of E!  and MUCH)
– Mustafa The Poet (Poet and singer)
– Craig Kielburger (Co Founder of WE Day)
– Elliot Miville-Deschenes (Actor and singer)
– Lindell Smith (Co Founder of CCentreline Studio)
– Savvy Simon (Motivational speaker)
– Kayley Reed (Fashion Designer)
– Paige Farah (Founder of Progress In The Park)
– Isaac Healy (Youth speaker and anti-bullying advocate)

It was a last minute thing when I found out I’d be photographing Rich Aucoin with Symphony Nova Scotia. I was happy to have the opportunity as I had photographed a few other shows at The Rebecca Cohn. It’s a beautiful venue! For anyone who doesn’t know or hasn’t been there, the Rebecca Cohn is an amazing place. It’s one big sound room. The odd shape and style of the venue was due to it being designed for specifically for sound. After all, it was the home of Symphony Nova Scotia (SNS) Pair the beautiful acoustics with Rich Aucoin and you have a winner! Rich is a Canadian indie pop/rock musician, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has a unique style of music and loves to mix it with visuals and the urge to interact with his audiences.
Rich Aucoin’s page

The pairing of Rich and SNS was interesting to me. I tried to imagine what his music would sound like with a symphony. He wasn’t going to use his normal digital music samples. Instead, the music would be covered by himself, SNS and a few special guests. His slew of guests would be doing everything from back up vocals, to playing stand up bass and filling in on the piano while he sang or played trumpet.

The extended symphony was conducted by Martin MacDonald and the arrangements were from both Rich as well as Halifax’s own David Christensen. The show was a pleasant surprise. The music sounded better than I had anticipated. Not that I expected it to be bad. I just couldn’t quite wrap my head around what I was about to hear. It had a cheery fun tone with a hint of power. I’m not sure this mashup will ever happen again, but if it does, I’d definitely check it out.

I’ll admit. I was looking forward to photographing this show. I’d seen Three Days Grace a few years back and thought they were great.
I was personally interested in seeing the band with their new front man Matt Walst. He happens to be the brother of bassist Brad Walst.
How would he measure up to former front man Adam Gontier? I would soon find out. But up first was Halestorm.

I didn’t know what to expect from Halestorm. I’d heard a few of their songs and thought they sounded tight.
Some of the riffs kinda reminded me of early 90’s rock. Oh, and just so you know, The lead singer Lzzy Hale and the drummer
Arejay Hale were  also siblings. That made me wonder about the bands dynamics behind the scenes. That’s another story I’m sure.

Anyway, The buzz among the fans seemed to be about Arejay and how he was the one to watch. Being a drummer myself,
I was intrigued. Normally the drummer and bass player get the least amount of attention. Yet, the hype was almost equal for Lzzy and
Arejay. The crowds excitement grew as the lights went down. The band took the stage. Lzzy had a smile on her face as she adjusted her
guitar and kicked on the distortion pedal. Boom!

The stage lit up and Halestorm started playing the song “Sick Individual”. Right away I could understand why people were talking
about Arejay. Even though he was sitting, he was amerced in the song. Moving, shaking and violently clubbing the skins. He was
as much of a presence as Lzzy who was not to be outdone by her brother. She was jumping around singing and almost taunting
the audience. The energy was intense. The band was having fun and so were the fans!

Halestorm had never been to Halifax, Nova Scotia before but they really looked like they were enjoying the experience.
The reception was warm as Lzzy carried on a little conversation  with the fans. She called everyone in attendance her “friends”. The
show went on to feature some fast paced, in your face songs as well as a few “slower” tunes. Joe Hottinger’s guitar skills were also a
focal point for me. He flowed through the songs effortlessly. He was very calm and focused stepping out of the shadows every once in
a while to show off his talent. In the middle of the show, Arejay did a frantic drum solo. It sounded seamless as he captivated the fans.
He stopped for a second to pull out the “big sticks”. Yes, he pulled out a huge pair of drum sticks to finish the solo. Not only did it look
funny but I had never seen anything like it.

All in all, Halestorm had a crazy energy. They kept the crowd on their toes and made a lot of new fans. I myself hope they return to
Halifax in the near future. Not only do I think they would draw a much larger crowd but, I think they could be the headliner and not the
opener. My hats off to you Halestorm. I really enjoyed the show!

Halestorm set list
-Sick Individual
-Apocalyptic
-Amen
-Scream
-Fire
-Heavy
-Drum solo
-Love Bites
-I get Off
-Freak
-Misery

Halestorm’s page.

Now for Three Days Grace

This was a band I was very familiar with. I had listened to their music for years. As I mentioned before, I wanted to see how their new
front man Matt Walst would do Live. Knowing I still liked the music they were making, I wanted to see how Matt would do right in front
of me. There was nothing I hated more than seeing a band live only to find out they sound nothing like their CD/studio recording.

The band took stage with their normal audio recording playing in the background. (Rage Against the Machine’s Bulls on Parade) Walst
ran out from stage right just as the place lit up. The fans were sucked into the rock and roll atmosphere right off the bat. They seemed
to almost forget the world existed just outside the doors behind security.

3DG belted out “I am Machine” as the energy grew more and more. Again, it seemed to me the siblings in the band were the most active
on stage. Almost as if they were feeding from each other and competing for the fans attention. I lowered my camera for a second to take
in the music. Probably not the best thing to do because when you’re doing concert photos, normally you only get the first three songs to
get the shots you need. Snapping back to reality it sank in that the music sounded good. As I shot photos I listened for the over dub vocals
but didn’t hear them. The slight shake was present in the voice as Matt jumped around but that was to be expected. It had been some time,
but I quickly remembered why I liked to hear 3DG live. The band played a good mix of hits from the past as well as the current songs they
were promoting from the new album.(Human, 2015) Each member played with heart. It was easy to tell each of them was in the zone.
The music was tight and the energy was high.

Three Days Grace may have traded in their front man but they didn’t miss a beat. At the end of the night, I was happy to have attended the
show and didn’t feel let down by the music that was played. 3DG had made it through hard times and came smashing though with music
the fans loved.

Three Days Grace website