The Toronto rock band doesn't just have five 2007 Juno nominations, with nods in the album, rock album, single, video and group of the year categories. Lead singer Ben Kowalewicz, guitarist Ian D'Sa, bassist Jon Gallant, and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk and 8,300 happy fans -- most of them young -- accomplished something amazing together at John Labatt Centre. On the last night of BT's Canadian tour, the fans and the band teamed to make enough noise and rock joy -- and underline Billy Talent's emergence in the country's rock elite.
The band blasted through songs from its two hit albums, starting with How It Goes and ending with Red Flag, one of the strongest messages from its 2007 Juno-nominated album II (Atlantic/Warner). "We've created our own little universe," Kowalewicz called out to a hushed crowd which had answered his request for lighters and cellphones to be lofted as a sign of community with thousands of little beacons. "You're never alone .
. . we've got your back," he said in a rare moment of calm.
Kowalewicz had spent most of BT's 80-minute show in full Iggy Pop shirtless twitch. He only seemed to pause to deliver praise for the "very, very attractive women" of London and Western -- witnessed during apparently inebriated visits during student days -- and cheer-producing stern warnings about George W. Bush and Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"I'm just saying, keep your eyes peeled," he said of Harper, making him the first rocker in memory to call out the Canadian PM from the downtown London arena's stage. (Bush is a frequent target). Nobody seemed to miss them last night, with fans in the farthest reaches of the arena standing and cheering for their heroes.
The first of BT to be seen was D'Sa, as a huge silhouette on a white curtain. Then Gallant and Solowoniuk showed up as silhouettes, too, before Kowalewicz raced in front of the curtain to begin shouting. That was true almost from the start as the band played its Juno-nominated Devil in a Midnight Mass as the set's second song.
It's one of the band's most serious and "adult" songs -- a bitter attack on sexual abuse in a church setting. Billy Talent's rise is the result of 14 years of hard work. Mixed with the band's obvious intelligence and idealism it's made BT an honest voice for young fans -- and a solid blast for older fans.
It's not all serious business, either. D'Sa played fresh, intricate melodies and riffs all night long. Gallant and Solowoniuk know how to get the job done whether it's crunch time -- Fallen Leaves or Red Flag or The Navy Song -- or the softer cellphone-alert universe of Nothing to Lose.
For all his serious talk, Kowalewicz knows how to kid himself, too. "She was the (queen) of the evil tribe," he joked about an ex-girlfriend in introducing The Ex. Also on last night's excellent bill were Brampton's Moneen and U.
S. punk rockers Rise Against. Anti-Flag, a Pittsburgh band, cancelled yesterday morning citing "family reasons.
" No refunds were offered, but the other acts paid tribute to their absent friends. "Someone in their family passed away," Kowalewicz said in asking for the fans to support Anti-Flag. In other news at the downtown London arena, concert industry website Pollstar says U.
S. singer-songwriter John Mayer will play the centre on April 22. Industry buzz has New Jersey rock band My Chemical Romance returning, too, after its previous shows, including a headlining slot in late 2005.
"I have not yet seen a confirmation sheet for those dates)," centre marketing director Dave Harris said.
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