As an early celebration of Clint’s birthday, we went to the Sam Roberts concert at the Bronson Centre. I had lived next to the Bronson Centre my first 7 years in Ottawa, and had no idea that it was used for concerts. Perhaps that is a new thing? It turns out that it is actually quite a nice venue, with good acoustics.
It wasn’t advertised who the opening band was, but I was really pleasantly surprised to find out (4 songs in, when I recognized ‘Don’t Talk Down’) that it was The Stills, also from MTL (Sam Roberts is).

The Stills at the Bronson Centre Ottawa
The Stills Set:
- … I missed the first two songs before I even realized I was listening to The Stills!
- ??
- Snow in California
- Don’t Talk Down
- Snakecharming the Masses (introduced as the ‘f-ing masses’)
- Lola Stars and Stripes
- Panic
- Hands on Fire
- ??
- Being Here
They did an awesome live version of ‘Being Here’ which really ended their set on a high note! This was a great bonus to the Sam Roberts show.

Sam Roberts at the Bronson Centre
Sam Roberts Set:
- Love At the End of the World
- The Resistance
- Fixed to Ruin
- Hard Road
- Stripmall Religion
- Bridge to Nowhere
- Up Sister
- Where Have All the Good People Gone ***
- An American Draft Dodger In Thunder Bay
- Lions of the Kalahari
- Them Kids
- Brother Down.***
- ?? Not sure if this was just an extended ‘Brother Down’ “Got something to live for…” in the lyrics
Encore:
- Detroit ’67
- Words & Fire
- Mind Flood
Sam Roberts is GREAT live!
Mind Flood was an interesting choice to finish off the set. I think it must have gone on for 10+ minutes in a very ‘psychalelic’ rendition that made me think I was at a Pink Floyd concert, pot smoke and all.
Sam Roberts is a class act, I was really impressed that at the close of his set he must have spend 5-10 minutes leaning off the state shaking hands with the front three rows of people against the stage. This wasn’t your politician giving a quick hand shake to every person, but a solid handshake while the made eye contact and said something to each person (can anyone comment below on what he said?). A lot of work, but I am sure each one of those people are a fan for life!
If you have any corrections on the set list, or other comments, I would be very happy to hear from you!
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