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Gone are the days of seeing City and Colour in small, intimate venues.

I’ve seen Dallas Green and his band perform in places ranging from Mesa Luna to Live at Squamish. My first concert post-COVID-19 restrictions was City and Colour at what I consider to be the perfect venue for their sound: the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. In just under two and a half years, though, things have expanded to Rogers Arena, where Green recently hit stadium scale in support of his latest album, The Love Still Held Me Near. 

I still remember the first time I encountered City and Colour’s music: the music video for “Save Your Scissors” came on TV, and like so many other people, I was instantly hooked. I recognized Green and his Alexisonfire bandmates in the video and was hit by a love for acoustic jams along with the post-hardcore and punk that remains my go-to.

Last night, Green—along with his band of BC natives—brought City and Colour’s folk-emo sound to the grand stage, all while keeping the personal feeling of the small-venue days. As he walked on stage to “Into Something (Can’t Shake Loose)” by O.V. Wright, Green’s constantly evolving aesthetic reflected his more bluesy sound. But as he stepped up to the microphone, he was pure emo: “Vancouver. Let’s get emotional.”

Despite the vast space between the stage and those upper seats, it felt like Green was singing to each and every concert attendee. This was furthered by Green asking the audience to turn on their cell phone flashlights to light up the arena during “Astronaut”.

When the encore inevitably happened, Green was joined by just one band member, Matt Kelly, as they played a bespoke edition of “Comin’ Home” mixed with Alexisonfire’s “This Could Be Anywhere in the World”. Green then let everyone know that the full band would play a few more, going well over the curfew for the night.

The arena broke into song together for the closing tune, “Sleeping Sickness”. The cameras on stage broadcasted the audience back to ourselves and made us feel we were in the band, too.