Touring in support of their latest album, Dinosaur, Canadian rockers Theory of a Deadman made a stop at the Bronson Centre last night.
Oshawa’s The Standstills made a welcome return to the capital to open the show, tearing through a heated set of material from their 2022 album Shockwave as well as older material. It was my third time seeing them and they never disappoint. Joined by touring bassist Brendan McMillan, husband and wife team Jonny Fox and Renée Couture always deliver when it comes to getting the Bronson Centre fired up.
As the crowd waited for Theory to hit the stage, the stage music switched to the Neil Diamond classic “Sweet Caroline” before the lights dimmed, smoke filled the stage, and the feel-good refrains turned to the more sinister theme of hit TV show The Last of Us.
In a wash of lights, and the air filled with haze, Theory kicked the night off with “Dinosaur”, the title track of their newest album. With a career spanning more than 23 years, the band has no shortage of material to pull from, and the set reflected a selection of old and new material, including segues into snippets of brief covers such as Garth Brook’s “Friends in Low Places”, appropriately placed at the end of the song “Lowlife”, as well as the covers that the band has officially recorded such as “Wicked Game” (Chris Isaak) and the more recent “Just The Two of Us” (Bill Withers).
The fans packed into the Bronson Centre, and the photo pit contained more photographers than I have ever seen at one show, which says something about Theory’s ability to draw a crowd and staying power. This Ottawa headlining stop was actually scheduled during a break in their much larger tour opening for American heavy rock icons Disturbed.
Theory closed the show with a double encore of two of their biggest hits, “RX” and “Bad Girlfriend”. Tour dates with Disturbed continue across Canada this month, before the band starts hitting up the summer festival circuit.
Dinosaur is available wherever you buy or stream music.
