CANNONS TELEPORT EDMONTON TO SOMEWHERE ELSE for the everything glows tour
THE MIDWAY - EDMONTON, AB, CAN
Cannons are back, and they’ve brought their dream pop sound to Edmonton on the first stop of their EVERYTHING GLOWS TOUR.
After releasing their fifth album, Everything Glows, earlier this year, the LA-based trio - Michelle Joy (vocals), Ryan Clapham (guitar), Paul Davis (keyboard and bass) - are back on the road.
This tour comes after a series of time-off periods for different members. Michelle Joy first took some time after their last album tour for Heartbeat Highway in 2024, to recover from severe burnout, exhaustion, and anemia. The forced break and renewed focus led her to the inspiration for Everything Glows, and she touched on the album’s themes of hope and getting through dark times later in the set.
Paul Davis had to leave the spring tour earlier this year to focus on recovery from a head injury, but he is back on drums for their live shows, and they’ve also brought back bassist Jade Fink for the tour. However, none of these interruptions have impacted their stage presence, as they remain flawless on their third tour of the year.
If Cannons are clear about one thing, it’s the tone and atmosphere they present. It’s hard to think of another band where the visuals and sound match up so seamlessly. You close your eyes and are sent to a dreamy sequence on a highway riding into twilight, or an 80’s roller rink dancing to Depeche Mode.
The set for THE EVERYTHING GLOWS TOUR isn’t any different. Simple yet effective, a single street light looms over the set, with heavy mist and a background that takes us from dusk to dawn throughout the set, building upon the dreamy sound they are known for. From the moment the band stepped onto the cloud-filled stage, the audience was teleported to a glowing summer night sky, getting into a groove immediately with “Loving You.”
“Starlight” became the first song from the new album on the setlist as Joy spun through the heavy mist on stage. The good thing about having a second tour in the latter half of the year is that fans have already had time to sit with the new music and fall in love. The crowd was just as excited for new tracks like “I Get Weak” as they were for old classics like “Bright Lights.”
Before beginning the immediately recognizable guitar riff of “Hurricane,” Joy stressed the importance of live music and the physical connection it brings, especially now.
The band then slowed down for a western take on the intro to “Tunnel of You,” leading into a rendition of “Carousel” that began with Joy discussing the inspiration behind the song as the honeymoon phase of a relationship, singing “I've been singing in my heart for you.”
The scene changed from twilight to a starlit sky when the band moved into “These Nights,” with the twinkling keyboard that opens the track mimicking the stars on the set.
The 2022 track “Goodbye” is back on the setlist after a long time, as voted on by their fans when they were building the tour. Joy told the audience that this song is strangely her favorite part of the set; strange because she was very depressed when writing it, but she had to go through the bad to get to the good. “Bad relationships are like training - if we didn’t experience them we can’t recognize the good things.” She says that “you need to know when to say goodbye”.
This sentiment is the core of Everything Glows. In an interview with Euphoria. she explains:
“I want all the songs and the album to be this thing that doesn’t leave you in a place of despair, and it doesn’t ignore pain at all,” “It’s almost like holding your hand and helping you through it, and helping you see that there’s something good in the dark.”
“Take Me to Tokyo” is the song that Joy calls “the heart” of the album.
The scene changed to a fitting pink glow for her to glide through the haze while singing: “I drift in fields of cherry waves/always the first to float away.”
From the first inkling of a note, the crowd erupted in cheers for fan-favorite track “Bad Dream,” so popular that a pause was needed in the middle of the song for the cheers to die down. The band then reached way back into their catalogue with “Up All Night,” a 2014 EP track from their Bandcamp days. According to Joy, this was the first song she ever performed in front of an audience, at their first show in a small bar.
The whole night was building up to “Fire for You,” the song that launched Cannons to mainstream popularity after being featured in Netflix’s “Never Have I Ever, and is now featured in the new Spiderman film. Before beginning the song, Joy talked about how it was originally written as a breakup song, but TikTok had other ideas and turned it into a hookup song. She gave fans permission to have it any which way, saying she just wants us to be happy.
You’d think “Fire for You” would be their encore choice, but they ended the set with one of my favorites off the new record - “Light as a Feather” - and then brought the night to a close with “Desire.” They dedicated the last track to their fans, saying “We used to make music in our bedrooms and could have never imagined this…I don’t want this feeling to be normal.”
I’m not sure what it is about Cannons that hits so hard, but their music always feels like it’s unlocking something hidden deep within your subconscious, evoking nostalgia in the best kind of way.
Stream Everything Glows wherever you get your music, and make sure to catch Cannons on their remaining dates for THE EVERYTHING GLOWS tour here!
(Ryan Clapham is the one to watch for the rest of the tour, as he’s promised to sing the Canadian National Anthem on their eventual return to Canada.)
