By Jason O’Donnell
By the time the lights went down at Festival Place, it was already clear this wasn’t going to be a quiet night.
The crowd had a familiar look—the kind shaped by loud guitars, heavy drums, and years of live rock shows. Very much a Danko Jones crowd, but with something extra mixed in. Younger faces. New blood.
The night opened with the local band Famous Strangers, and they didn’t waste a second earning attention. Their set was short—roughly half a dozen songs—but it felt complete. Heavy, dark, and confident right out of the gate, they sounded like a band that belonged on that stage.
Vocalist Amanda Kiernan immediately commanded the room. Her voice was powerful and controlled, and she worked the stage with intent. At one point, she stepped right to the front edge, singing directly into the face of a new fan, locking them into the moment. Later, she dropped down completely, lying flat on the stage and staring up at the lights while the band played on around her. She stayed there, unhurried. The crowd loved it.
Guitarist Jeff Kittlitz and bassist Braden Sustrik moved constantly, crossing the stage and feeding off the energy. And drummer Brian “Beej” Jolly was impossible to ignore—shirtless, animated, and fully part of the performance. He wasn’t hidden behind the kit; he was part of the show.
The reaction was immediate and genuine. Comments floated up from the floor—“I can’t believe these guys are local!!” When Famous Strangers wrapped their set, they earned a standing ovation as they left the stage—no small thing for an opening band.
Afterward, I ran into Amanda in the foyer. I told her how strong the performance was and how impressive her voice sounded live. We shared a quick fist bump. With their first album currently in the works, it was clear they picked up more than a few new fans that night.
Stage was reset and when Danko Jones hit the stage, the response was immediate.
The trio—Danko Jones on vocals and guitar, John “JC” Calabrese on bass, and Rich Knox on drums—walked out loose and confident, looking every bit like a band that’s been doing this for decades.
Early on, Danko mentioned they’d never played “Sherwood Park” before. Edmonton, yes—but not “Sherwood Park”. He asked who was from Edmonton and got cheers. Then he asked about Sherwood Park, and the cheers came back louder. He looked genuinely surprised and joked that the crowd had just saved him a hundred bucks—no therapist needed, because all the bad energy had been replaced by this fired up crowd.
As part of the banter with the crowd, he admitted he’d expected a lame crowd. That idea didn’t last long. The place was rocking just as hard as the band was.
The set leaned into what are now modern Danko Jones classics—First Date, Forget My Name, and of course the ever-popular Take It All Off. At one point, Danko motioned for the crowd to take his picture, posing deliberately as phones and cameras shot up. A sea of raised screens captured the moment as the band leaned into the chaos.
Between songs, the banter kept things moving. Danko singled out a guy in the front row wearing a jean vest covered in heavy metal and hardcore band patches, joking that the best one wasn’t even the Danko Jones patch—it was the Honeymoon Suite patch. The room erupted with cheers and supporting laughter.
John “JC” Calabrese kept the crowd fully involved, repeatedly getting them clapping along and pulling them deeper into the songs. Behind him, Rich Knox was locked in—classic drummer muscle arms in motion, sweat pouring down his forehead, driving the band relentlessly forward.
Between songs, Danko talked about releasing their 12th album, pointing out how rare it is—especially in hard rock and heavy metal—to reach that milestone. There was pride in the way he said it, and it felt earned.
Before launching into a song from their 11th album, he explained that the chorus summed up exactly why he was there and asked the crowd to sing it with him: “I came here to fuck shit up and have a good time!”
He joked that no one would know the words. Plenty of them did.
When Full of Regret hit, the room locked together—heavy bass, driving drums. They’re touted as one of the loudest bands around, and they did not disappoint. Glad I left my ear plugs at home.
Between songs—more than once—the crowd interrupted with chants of “Danko Jones! Danko Jones! Danko Jones!” The band paused, soaked it in, and you could see it land. You could see they appreciated it.
As the set wrapped, the crowd wasn’t ready to let go. The chants came back again, calling them out for an encore. Danko admitted he didn’t want to play anywhere else but Festival Place in Sherwood Park from now on—a great facility with a great crowd. He said they loved the energy, then joked it was way better than Regina, earning cheers and boos at the same time.
They returned for a mutiple song encore, but the first felt especially fitting: Guess Who’s Back?
As Brett Fraser, Theatre Supervisor at Festival Place, later told me, bassist John “JC” Calabrese mentioned during warm-up that the band was worried when they saw the venue had seats. They couldn’t remember the last time they’d played a place with seating and thought it might kill the energy. It couldn’t have been further from the truth. The crowd was on its feet almost the entire night.
By the end of the show, it was clear what had happened.
The night satisfied the fans—and surprised the band.
