On Jan. 31, I had the pleasure of making the trek up to Winnipeg to the 110 year-old Burton Cummings Theater to see one of my favorite bands, Hollerado, and a band new to me, The Sam Roberts Band.

Upon walking into the theater, we found the merch table of Hollerado. We were surprisingly greeted by Nixon Boyd, the guitarist for Hollerado. Boyd seemed very eager to talk about how excited he was to play in a building like this one.

After a conversation and t-shirt transaction, we made our way up to our seats. We were seated in the front row on the top balcony.

Upon buying the tickets, we were warned there might be some visual obstruction; There was. The seats were positioned so that if you were to sit straight, you would be looking at the other wall of the theater. Therefore, one of the speakers covered up the left part of the stage, so one band member and the drummer were hidden.

Once Hollerado began performing the view didn’t matter. They came out with a heavier than usual riff before going straight into their debut album hit, “Americanarama.”

The band played an impressive 45-minute set (for an opening act that a good amount of time). Within their set, they played their hits such as “Juliette,” “So it Goes” and their new single “Born Yesterday.”

However, my favorite part of their set was a mash up they did of one of their new songs and the tail end of their album opener from “White Paint” called, “Don’t Think.” With the strobe lights flashing and their painted amps and instruments glowing under the black lights, it was truly an incredible show put on by the veteran Canadian rock band.

Next to come up on stage was the band most everyone there came to see, The Sam Roberts Band. The stage set-up was impressive with lighted poles at different angles and more room to roam. The band started the set with the song “Terraform” and went straight into “Shapeshifters.” Needless to say the place was standing.

However, after the first three songs everything started to sound very similar. The same dark poppy generic sound happened over and over again. Even though the songs got blended together, there were still some killer songs put on by the band.

Those songs were “Where Have All The Good People Gone,” “Don’t Walk Away Eileen” and “Them Kids.”

Each of these songs strayed away from the dark and generic sound they poured out over the entire night. Each of these songs were upbeat, catchy, light and a singalong. Something that was much needed in their set.

Upon leaving the hundred and ten year old theater, I had one thought running through my head. That thought was “How Hollerado stole the show.”

Cameron Campbell is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]