*Great Lake Swimmers and Elliott Brood on The Ballads & Badlands Tour. Photo credit: Shannon Johnston (me_onlylouder).*

Last Thursday evening, a sold out crowd packed into Dickens Pub for a dual headliner show featuring Great Lake Swimmers and Elliott Brood on The Ballads & Badlands Tour. Dickens proved to be the perfect venue for these acts, offering an intimate, close-up atmosphere that long time fans deeply appreciated.

For more than two decades, Great Lake Swimmers have occupied a quiet corner of Canadian indie folk, making music that feels less performed than discovered. Frontman Tony Dekker is touring behind their ninth album, Caught Light, leading a shifting ensemble that includes drummer Ryan Granville‑Martin and Alberta singer-songwriter Colleen Brown. They delivered an emotionally resonant set, seamlessly bridging past work with new material. New songs like One More Dance Around the Sun and the title track Caught Light were both familiar and fresh, sticking to the band’s folk‑indie roots while adding fuller, more layered sounds, thanks to the wide range of instruments they bring on stage.

Older favourites were revitalized in the live setting. There were no gimmicks, no projections, no grand crescendos, just wood and strings, letting the music breathe. Dekker’s folk minimalism remains quietly radical, a reminder that sometimes the most vibrant sound is the one that barely makes a noise. Dekker proudly announced, “After 18 years, Your Rocky Spine has gone gold!” He joked that “If you stick with it long enough, great things happen,” before launching into the iconic song from their 2007 release of Ongiara.

The Canadian only leg of the tour reinforces Great Lake Swimmers’ connection to home, taking their music to regional cities and local roots scenes that don’t always get the spotlight. On stage, their understated sound proved that some of the best moments don’t come from big gestures, they come from patience, consistency, and letting the songs speak for themselves.

In a city already buzzing with Halloween weekend energy, the Hamilton based trio turned the Calgary landmark into a roaring, foot-stomping revival. One part barn dance, one part haunted storytelling session, and entirely Canadiana rock at its finest.

Elliott Brood: Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet, and Stephen Pitkin, have built a reputation as one of Canada’s hardest working and most distinctive live bands. Their blend of dusty folk and alt-country grit with, if I may say, a dash of punk energy, has always set them apart. The trio’s chemistry was effortless, the kind that only comes from years on the road. Sasso slipped between guitar, ukulele, and banjo as if it were second nature, while Laforet held down the groove with his foot operated bass pedals and proudly added “even more ukulele” on The Valley Town. Pitkin kept the momentum tight, his rhythms equal parts finesse and force. Together, they filled the room with a roar far bigger than any three piece has a right to make.

Dig a Little Hole and Write It All Down for You drew knowing cheers from the crowd, many mouthing every word. Between songs, the band offered a warm shout-out to Calgary audiences who’ve “always shown up ready to stomp and sing.” Laforet reminisced about the days when the Calgary Folk Festival booked them “back when not a lot of places were,” adding with a grin, “Alberta has always had a place in our hearts.”

Oh Alberta and Northern Air, from their latest EP Ballads & Badlands, revealed a band that’s grown more layered and reflective with time. These songs showed Elliott Brood still evolving, yet firmly grounded in the raw, analog spirit that first set them apart in the mid-2000s.

As the final chords faded and the crowd’s cheers swelled, it was clear Elliott Brood hadn’t just played a show, they had rekindled a connection. Two decades in, the trio remains a testament to the power of honest, hard earned musicianship: unpretentious and unmistakably their own. They are proof that some bands don’t just endure, they keep getting better with every mile.