Prince George native Dave Rosin and Hedley blew the roof off of the CN Centre last night!
This show has been hyped for months ever since news broke that Hedley was again coming to Prince George and you could feel that pent up energy from the fans inside the arena last night.
Not only did Hedley make up the poster for the show, but with them were pop stars Carly Rae Jepsen and Francesco Yates!
Francesco took to the stage right at 7 and performed his hits “Better to be Loved” as well as his recent tune “Call”. Yates look as if he might have a smile permanently stuck on his face at the end of his set as he was grinning ear to ear after finishing with “Sugar”.
When I took my very first post secondary class in broadcasting school, my teacher would always bring up the fact that he lived only a few blocks away from Carly Rae Jepsen. It was the most unecessary fact to constantly inform us about, but I will always remember it. Now I can say I got to see this girl perform live. On comes the talented, adorable Carly Rae Jepsen! She took the stage by storm with her incredible energy and amazing voice giving the crowd her hits “Runaway with me”, “Call Me Maybe” and “I Really Like You”. She mentioned to the crowd that she was holding a competition throughout the tour, and she was looking for the best dancers in the crowd. In turn grabbing those dancers and pulling them on stage! Carly had one fan in particular who knew every lyric to each song she played as he stood and danced and sang throughout, and of course, that fan got to dance his heart out on stage with Jepsen! I wasn’t doubting Carly Rae’s performance, but she definitely blew my expectations out of the water.
Then the moment the crowd, young and old, have been anticipating for months! On the humongous video screens on stage comes a video, hitting fuzzy tv channels, which ends up going to a fake sitcom like show called “The Hedleys”. It involved quick comedic sketches, and then blam, Hedley hit the stage.
Rightfully so, on the #HelloWorldTour they opened the set with the title track of the new album, Hello. It was then followed by the first track of the album, Lost In Translation and the energy given off by the band zapped straight to the crowd as they were on their feet almost the entire show! I thought it was very cool when they brought down the madness on stage for a couple of songs to introduce acoustic songs or sets with piano. All of the hardcore Hedley fans were drenched in nostalgia as they played one of their very first hits from 2005, “Gunnin'”.
Jacob Hoggard, the lead vocalist, has stage presence that makes you want to not blink. He was dancing from side to side, jumping, bouncing, playing guitar, playing piano, joking, laughing, oh right and of course singing. The River had a contest winner who had the chance to go on stage to take a selfie with the band, but that wasn’t where the buck stopped. Before getting her selfie, she was called out for texting in the front row (courtesy of The River), so Jacob got her cell phone on stage went through her contacts and called her dad, as well as her boyfriend. Embarrassing, but unforgettable!
Jacob also brought out what seemed to be the world’s most powerful t-shirt gun! He was shooting it from the edge of the stage and it was reaching the far end rooftop of the CN Centre!
For their encore they not only played some of their best stuff including “Kiss You Inside Out” and “Anything”, but Jacob also made his way into the crowd in the far corner of the arena, giving the people with the not so close seats, an opportunity to be within breathing distance!
Hedley put on an 11/10 performance for the PG crowd, and gave everyone in attendance the opportunity to sing along, and go home speechless! (Not only because of the incredible performance but also because they sang their hearts out the entire show!)
Can’t wait until they make their way back up north sooner rather than later!