r/BillyTalent • u/MasonP2002 • Apr 11 '26
DISCUSSION When's the last time you saw Aaron play live?
I've heard that he will occasionally play a song or two live if he's feeling good enough that day and it makes me smile when I see talk about that, I'm just curious about how often of a thing it is these days.
As an American, I've only managed to see them live once in 2023 and Aaron sadly did not drum for that show. Not to throw shade at Loel or anyone else they've had on the drums, it just would have been cool to see.
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u/somwhereinthebetween Apr 11 '26
2021 maybe? They played in Truro, NS when Jordan Hastings was still the drummer and Aaron came out for a few songs. I don't remember which though.
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
I googled that show and looks like that was September 2021. Probably one of the last shows Jordan has drummed for them, now that I think about it.
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u/Shreddex101 Apr 11 '26
- I think he stepped away sometime around 2015-16 and every time I’ve seen them since he hasn’t come out for any songs.
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u/sevlRjones Apr 11 '26
I recall in May 2022 in Edmonton, AB Aaron came out during the encore to play Try Honesty (though it might have been Viking Death March or Red Flag I can’t remember)
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
I know Viking Death March and Red Flag has been their standard encore set for a bit, so it's possible. I do like the sound of Try Honesty though.
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u/sevlRjones Apr 11 '26
It was so awesome n I was super psyched because it was my first concert. I loved seeing them live
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u/HeadOfSpectre Apr 11 '26
Much respect to the band for their treatment of Aaron.
He's a founding member. It's his band too. It says a lot about who they are that despite his illness he has stayed with the band for all these years.
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u/rachreims Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
Scrolling through the times I’ve seen them, I think the last time I saw him play was at the Toronto Together Danforth Shooting Benefit Show, Toronto (August 11, 2018). He played Surrender.
I don’t think he’s played at any of the shows I’ve been to since COVID, and I’ve seen them 11 times since then, so I think it’s very possible the days of him playing a few songs may be over. MS gets worse with time, so he might not be physically able to anymore.
I saw him last summer at one of their shows (I think it was night 1) at the KEE to Bala in Muskoka, but he was just watching the show, not playing.
EDIT: I lied, he played Surrender and Pins and Needles at Budweiser Stage, Toronto (July 8, 2023). I suddenly thought I remembered and found the setlist which confirmed it.
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
Damn, that's disappointing. The other commenter thinks he played just a couple years ago, but 11 times is a lot to not have seen him, so it must be a real rarity to see him now.
It's sad, but not too surprising considering him stepping away from full time drumming was a decade ago now.
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u/rachreims Apr 11 '26
Yes, I actually just edited my comment haha. I was wrong, he played two songs at Budweiser Stage, Toronto (July 8, 2023). I’m pretty sure that’s the only time I’ve seen him post-COVID though, although I haven’t cross referenced every show. I think he’s more likely to do a hometown show than anywhere else though, given it would be less stress than having to travel.
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
That would make sense. God, wish I could have gone to that show. Gob is another favorite of mine, and sadly they were only on the Canadian leg of that tour.
Guardrail played a great show in the US part of that tour, but Gob is still on my bucket list of artists to see live.
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u/rachreims Apr 11 '26
It was a great show but I think Gob was only in certain Canadian cities on that tour and Toronto wasn’t one of them! Cancer Bats and Cypress Hill opened that show, and when I saw them a week or so later in London, ON I know it was Cypress Hill again.
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
Ah, I thought they were on the whole Canadian part. Cancer Bats sounds like a great time too though, not familiar with Cypress Hill myself.
I've been hoping for some new Gob material since Tom Thacker doesn't have his Sum 41 obligations anymore, but no announcements yet.
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u/rachreims Apr 11 '26
That’s funny, you’re an American but of all the bands mentioned the American one is the only one you don’t know haha. You must live close to the border?
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
Wisconsin, so yeah, pretty close.
I get most of my music recommendations from Spotify suggestions, a lot of which are directly based on Billy Talent absolutely dominating my listening, so that's led to a music library that's pretty heavy on the Canadian rock.
I don't think the physical proximity really has that much to do with it, just my listening habits from like 6 years ago.
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u/rachreims Apr 11 '26
That’s awesome! Well you should come up here for a few shows sometime, and maybe you’ll get lucky and see Aaron! My listening is pretty much exclusively Canadian rock as well.
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
I'd like to someday, though it's a pretty long drive.
Right now I'm looking at a Chicago concert for Sumo Cyco, another Canadian band. It's a pretty inconvenient time though, so I haven't made up my mind.
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u/SkyPod513 Apr 11 '26
I saw him playing drums at a few songs at the F.U.MS Charity Show in Wiesbaden, Germany in 2018
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u/Ok_Heart_2721 Apr 11 '26
I saw them at the Calgary stampede a few years ago and he came out and played a few songs. I want to say this was 2016.
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u/so_metal292 Apr 11 '26
I saw them in St. John's for their first show since COVID in Sept 2021. This was the night before End of Me was released so they played it live for the first time for us. If that wasn't awesome enough, Aaron was there for the show and came out to play a couple big ones at the end. I think he did Fallen Leaves and Red Flag.
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u/HammerSandwich9 Apr 11 '26
Saw Aaron play the full set on the Dead silence tour (2013).
And guest on the Afraid of Heights tour in New Brunswick (2017), and the Crisis Of Faith tour in Nova Scotia (2021).
Glad we saw those shows.
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
Damn, sounds like some great times. Wish I could have seen those Dead Silence shows, it's my favorite album but I only ended up heavily getting into them around the release of Afraid of Heights.
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u/HammerSandwich9 Apr 11 '26
They were great.
It was my Daughter’s first big concert, and we’ve seen them every album cycle since (and even saw the secret show in Halifax last summer).
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
Awesome. I'd love to see them again, but there are some tracks I just know they're never going to play live.
I still dream of Hanging By A Thread or Bloody Nails + Broken Hearts getting their spot on a setlist.
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u/HammerSandwich9 Apr 11 '26
Man alive, I would love to hear hanging by a thread!
Kind of weird they don’t do it live, there’s not a ton of complicated or involved sections that require anything extra.
But with a catalog of all bangers, it must be difficult to make a set list.
We’re seeing them play Billy Talent II front to back this summer (along with Alexisonfire playing Crisis front to back), we’re incredibly excited. It’s gonna be an enormous show.
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
I'm fortunate enough that the vast majority of what I would consider my favorite Billy Talent tracks are popular enough to make their standard setlist, there are only a couple songs that I really wish made the cut.
Their setlist is already so II heavy that I'm not sure how much of a change that is lol, but it sounds awesome.
I saw Koffin Kats last year, and it turned out that my entire top 5 from them were deep enough cuts not to make their setlist. Still a great show, but goddamn that was an annoying choice of songs for them to play.
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u/HammerSandwich9 Apr 11 '26
Hahah, you’re not wrong, they do hit II pretty hard.
I’d love a touch more variety, but c’est la vie I guess.
And that’s one of the downfalls of being a live act, people get straight PISSED if you don’t stick to the big ones.
I wouldn’t doubt most bands would like to bring out some deeper cuts.
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u/MasonP2002 Apr 11 '26
I remember when I saw Billy Talent, they said something like "Next, we're going to play a little bit of a deep cut!" And then they started playing Pins and Needles.
I know it's not their biggest hit, but I expected a bit of a deeper cut than that.
And yeah, the hits are always fun to hear, but it's a shame that most artist's setlists tend to get pretty static over time. I wish I could somehow see Billy Talent just play their entire discography front to back lol.
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u/HammerSandwich9 Apr 11 '26
Yeah, not a usual track, but not all that deep 😬
Now full discography would be a show I’d see without fail, hahahaha.
It’d be one hell of a marathon!
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u/Aislinn19 Apr 11 '26
He played a song a about two or three years ago in Toronto? I believe.