Hedley released their sixth and most recent studio album, Hello (November 6, 2015) which reached the number one sales spot and has since been certified gold. With the recent success of Hello, Hedley has embarked on the #HelloWorld Tour 2016 playing jam-packed shows for thousands of Hedley fans coast to coast across Canada. Joining forces with Carly Rae Jepsen and musical newcomer Francesco Yates, the #HelloWorld Tour 2016 is full of high energy and classic Hedley stage antics.
Montreal, Canada marked tour stop number eleven for Hedley on Friday April 22. With Jepsen and Yates opening the show, the crowd was more than prepared for Hedley to take the stage. Yates got the crowd energized performing the latest single “Sugar,” a collaboration with Robin Schulz and in light of the recent and sudden passing of Prince, closing out his set with a fantastic rendition of the Prince classic, “Purple Rain.” Jepsen kept the pace going strong with her set which included some of her biggest songs; “Good Time,” “Call Me Maybe,” “EMOTION,” and “I Really Like You.” Both Yates and Jepsen were full of energy and delivered strong performances.
As much as Yates and Jepsen got the crowd going and performed with high energy and enthusiasm, one cannot quite match the high octane performing of Jacob Hoggard, Dave Rosin, Tommy Mac, and Chris Crippin. Hedley took the stage to entertain the eager crowd of fans, and entertain they did. For almost 120 minutes, the band played hits and fan favorites from all six of their albums while Hoggard bounced around stage entertaining the audience.
Opening the show with the title track from their most recent album, Hello fans were beyond ecstatic for Hedley to take the stage. Hoggard is a natural performer and you can genuinely tell from everything he gives on stage how much he loves to be up there. Belting out one song after another, Hoggard was in great vocal form and took several opportunities to showcase his talent throughout the night.
“For the Nights I Can’t Remember” broke into the top ten back in 2007 when it was released, and is still a huge fan favorite. One of the highlights of the night was when Hoggard took to the piano to play the song stripped down and just let the vocals flow. Written for his wife, you can tell the emotional connection that the lyrics have with Hoggard with his live performance of this song.
One of the best moments of the evening was during the bands performance of their latest single “Lose Control,” Hoggard had the entire audience get back in their seats and on his mark had the entire arena jump up at the same time during the song and let it lose. I must say it was pretty impressive to see thousands of fans jump up and go crazy at the exact same time.
The line-up for the night included some great up-tempo tunes, but also allowed for some of the bands fan favorites and ballads to make the cut as well. During “Never Too Late” the song ended up turning into a mini medley consisting of Major Lazer’s “Lean On,” Justin Bieber’s “Sorry,” and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk.” On a random side note, while I didn’t mind Hedley performing “Uptown Funk,” I feel that the song is a little exhausted and maybe any artist other than Bruno Mars should shelve it for a little while.
Trying to pack over ten years of music into one night is hard to do, but Hedley tried their best to ensure that fans and hard-core fans heard everything they wanted throughout the night. “Lost in Translation,” “One Life,” “Don’t Talk To Strangers,” “Very First Time,” “Can’t Slow Down,” “Gunnin’,” “Heaven In Our Headlights,” “Perfect,” “Villain/On My Own/Saturday,” “Invincible,” “Old School/Unchained Melody,” “Cha-Ching,” “Kiss You Inside Out,” “Trip,” “Crazy for You,” and “Anything” all made the cut and fans did not seem disappointed by any of their musical choices for the night.
Bottom line, Hedley is all about their fans. They are on stage to perform and give their fans a show to remember night after night, tour after tour. The #HelloWorld Tour 2016 is shaping up to be one of the best tours crossing the nation this year. With just under 15 tour dates left before the #HelloWorld tour wraps up at the end of May, I might suggest catching this band while they are on the road.