2025 has been plagued with conversations regarding the ethics of AI in modern music and the growing war between tech bros, the streaming industry and their impact on the livelihoods of indie and veteran musicians alike, but last night at the Danforth Music Hall, we were reminded why none of that shit really matters.

Canadian rock band The Trews took to Greektown for their annual holiday bash, the first stop in their new Canadian tour which will take them to London before making their way to Vancouver and back to Windsor in early 2026 and, well, they were nothing short of incredible.

I gushed a bit about the show on Threads as I walked back to my car.

And that’s true. For years every person I have spoken about The Trews with who has seen them live has said just that. “Best live band you can see in Canada.” They’re known for being super tight and putting on a real rock show that’s well worth your money – I’m not sure why it’s taken me this long to see them, but now I can say with conviction that everyone was right about these guys.

Terra Lightfoot from Hamilton, ON opened up the show and set the tone for a very fun evening when she busted out special guest and legendary music producer Daniel Lanois who joined her band on guitar for the night.

I’m not sure everyone in the crowd quite realized who was gracing the stage as in usual Toronto-show fashion there were a lot of loud conversations happening over Terra’s introduction before people were ready to settle in to listen, but I had a pretty audible, “Oh shit, that’s sick!” moment when he stepped out on stage and couldn’t be more pleased with the surprise feature.

If you’re not aware, Daniel Lanois is pretty famous for working with artists like U2, Bob Dylan and Peter Gabriel and his own solo work is nothing to sneeze at either.

Now, as rad as that all was, Terra’s soulful licks and commanding vocals were the real highlight of her set. She exerts this sort of effortless coolness as she dips into bluesy riffs between lyrics with a feverous passion that makes you not want to look away.

The TLDR here is; If you get a chance to see Terra Lightfoot, don’t sleep on it.

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She was well received by the rest of the audience, but it was clear that there were some hardcore Trews fans in attendance and they were ready for the main act to get on stage.

Fortunately, the band didn’t make us wait too long, some 40 minutes after Terra and her band were cleared off the stage, we were ready to rock.

I was fortunate to have landed just a couple rows behind the barricade just to the right of center which meant I was just in front of guitarist John-Angus MacDonald and bassist Jack Syperek (who was carrying some serious Prince energy tonight) and had a great view of the whole band who had styled themselves beautifully for the evening, might I add.

Singer Colin MacDonald takes a moment to soak in the crowd’s applause in an almost religious ritualistic way before the band tears into their set and by the time they’re halfway through Tired of Waiting, just minutes after getting on stage, you know you’re in the presence of a real rock band.

The drums are pumping, Colin’s energy is ferocious and that effortless coolness we caught off of Terra Lightfoot earlier? Absolutely dripping from John and Jack. These acts are cut from the same cloth as rock heroes like AC/DC and if you didn’t know any better, you’d think you were in an arena.

Maybe it’s the fact that in a lot of ways the live events world is still recovering from the battering it took during 2020 and we, too are getting reacquainted with well-oiled bands, or maybe it’s because of the way that social media has attempted to pull the reigns from true in-person interactions with artists and put more pressure on clicks than becoming a tight live band, or maybe it’s the annoying way that modern music production layers track over track over track over track and then dumps mechanical ambiance through its incessent addiction to grimy autotune and excessive harmonic overtones but, Jesus was it ever refreshing to see The Trews last night.

The band performs as a 5 piece and there’s not a whole lot of flash to it. There’s a pretty basic drum kit (one rack tom, the way God intended), there are real amplifiers on stage (a Marshall, a Wizard, an Ampeg – the classic fair), a keys player who just rips old-school gospel organs into what is otherwise simple, heavy guitar-driven rock that is masterfully crafted to make you want to sing and stomp along.

You’re not waiting for the encore for them to “play that one hit,” because every track is a banger. Dare I say even I forgot how many big tunes these guys have put out because even though I listen to the records, this band really shines in a live setting.

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Highlights of the show included the band’s journey onto the floor to sing Ishmael and Maggie, John’s complete shredfest that took him up to the balcony, The Trews bringing back out Terra Lightfoot for another featured performance and their rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town (because this is a holiday bash afterall.)

A couple negative nellies were quick to jump onto my Thread I mentioned earlier to counter my claims.

“They’re fine but not even close to the best live band in Canada.”

There are no doubt other contenders here, like Montreal’s Sam Roberts Band who any regular reader of this blog would know I frequently praise, but there are stylistic differences here that still put The Trews among the top of their genre. This responder didn’t offer their own alternative, but I also wasn’t asking anybody for their opinion. This was a Trews appreciation post, people, and you clearly only came here to shit on it.

“I fell asleep watching them at junofest. like Sloan but somehow even less interesting.”

This guy doesn’t even like our darling Sloan, so I think we can collectively just push his opinion into the dumpster, but I told him it happens to the best of us – I myself fell asleep during Bowie once. Bowie!

“Now? Maybe. The Band is the greatest.”

I’m not sure why I feel like I should have made the distinction to current-day tried-and-true rock bands, but we’re obviously working with some different criteria than some of these other guys and I never got a chance to see The Band live so I’m probably not the best person to ask about that, anyway.

I’ll make a specific distinction now since this touched a couple fragile nerves: if you’re looking for a hard and heavy rock band that understands great melody, the importance of crowd interaction and the ability to command it at will (no small feat), has impeccable taste for sneaking in classic covers songs, play flawlessly for 2 hours with incredible energy including an epic encore and can absolutely just fucking shred their way into a theatre balcony on a whim, then you’re looking for The Trews.

Fettering opinions aside, The Trews are a fucking rock band and they kill live.

Did I mentioned this show only cost $50?

Long live The Trews.

Get info on when the band is coming to your city on their website here.