There’s just something inherently satisfying about anniversary sets that honour albums that are clearly meaningful to the band as it is with their fans, and Cancer Bats did exactly that for their first full-length album at The Opera House on April 10th. Celebrating two decades of Birthing the Giant, the band structured the night so the first half of their set functioned almost like a time capsule, and then cracked it open in the second half to show everything they became afterward. But before that, the hometown heroes had an all-Canadian battalion of bands that had to be there for the party.
Powered by Whitby native Brandon Williams, the night began with Chastity, who set an immediately introspective tone inside The Opera House. Their blend of grunge, alt-rock, and emotionally raw songwriting gave the early crowd something to sink into. The set felt like order in the chaos and emphasized atmosphere and energy which is really great for any crowd especially for first time listeners. Either way, the suburban-driven music tickled the ears and created a slow-burn start that contrasted nicely with what’s ahead.
Next up were Teeth, and the shift in energy was instant. Where Chastity leaned inward, Teeth went straight for the throat, delivering a dense, metallic hardcore set that felt punishing in the best way. The 5-piece hailing from Fort Erie/Hamilton had a sound that brought a heavier and more aggressive edge to the bill, effectively snapping the room into full attention and priming the pit for the rest of the night. The cherry on top was vocalist Blake Prince bringing out his kid at the end of the set to sit on his shoulder under Opera House’s disco ball – a wholesome moment after a set full of screams and death stares.
Making the trip down by road, Vancouver’s Anciients followed, adding a completely different dimension to the lineup. Their progressive, riff-driven approach expanded the sonic palette of the show, balancing technicality with tons of tone. Rory O’Brien’s backing vocals added a nice layer on top of Kenny cook’s that just takes their tracks to great heights that are then just grounded back into relentless breakdowns. It was a set that felt expansive and immersive, bridging the gap between the raw aggression of Teeth and the headlining chaos still to come with the band ending on a high note of an Opera House crowd that clapped along to their final track.
By the time Cancer Bats took the stage, the crowd had already been taken through a carefully escalating arc. One that moved from introspective alternative rock to metallic hardcore to progressive metal. That progression made the headlining set hit even harder, as if everything leading up to it had been building toward that explosive anniversary celebration. It’s been a journey of sorts by this point, and now the audience was more than ready to get their money’s worth.
Kicking off the set with intensity, they opened with Golden Tanks, immediately throwing the crowd back to 2006. The lyric “We are the ones who’ll die” belting from frontman Liam Cormier takes a new perspective here with the band literally commemorating 20 years of music with no signs of stopping yet. From there, the band ripped straight through Birthing the Giant in sequence: French Immersion, Grenades, Shillelagh, and Butterscotch and that early stretch alone probably triggered the first major eruption of the night. It was hit after hit for the Toronto crowd with Cancer Bats’ unique brand of high-octane hardcore. These are the songs that built Cancer Bats’ cult following in the first place and hearing them grouped together, rather than scattered across a setlist, gave them a renewed sense of weight. French Immersion and Shillelagh in particular hit like early-set peaks being the kind of songs longtime fans have internalized down to every shouted lyric.
As the album playthrough continued with Death Bros, Firecrack This, and Diamond Mine, the pacing never really let up. If anything it leaned further into fun chaos and drive that the album knew how to weaponize. Death Bros is an underrated cut from the record and brought a hyper-charged moment of the night with its big breakdown and driving guitars fuelled by bassist Jaye R. Schwarzer and guitarist Jackson Landry – someone who Liam made sure to point out had apparently bought Birthing the Giant when he was 9 years old so this tour must be a full-circle moment for the young lad. Firecrack This kept things super groovy and had Toronto yelling back “wait up, wait up” while Diamond Mine kept the pit in constant motion. By the time 100 Grand Canyon and Ghost Bust That rolled around, there’s a sense that the band hit more than their stride (even though Liam joked never playing Ghost Bust in their lives). It felt like there was less focus on individual hits but more about recreating the raw, scrappy energy of their early days that made fans take notice in the first place – it really feels more of a true flashback with that said and the right way to honour their first release.
Closing the first half with Pneumonia Hawk was expected but not before thanking the fans first for their “constant support that allowed them to consistently exist for 20 years”. This “thank you” felt well placed just before the final track of Birthing the Giant – one that’s also its most explosive and has so many aspects of what makes Cancer Bats great, making it a natural climax to the anniversary portion of the show. In a live setting, Hawk tends to land like a release valve for everything that’s been building across the album finally spilling over.
Then after checking in on a fan in the crowd, Cancer Bats hit the fast-forward button.
With Hail Destroyer, the band jumped ahead to 2008 and everything got bigger. If the first half was about nostalgia, this second half was about the rest of their legacy. As most fans know, Hail Destroyer is one of their most recognizable songs and a staple of their live shows, so its placement right after the album playthrough made it feel like a second opening that reintroduced the band as the heavier, more refined force they became.
Bricks & Mortar kept that momentum going like a train burning through coal, but Hammering On featuring Brooklyn Doran brought a different kind of highlight. Guest appearances always shift the energy in the room and this one added a layer of melody and contrast that cut through the relentless aggression of the set. This song from 2022’s Psychic Jail Break really did stand out in the set as farthest the band has deviated from their more fast-paced roots and really focused on the sonics and atmosphere of their sound, though the Cancer Bats DNA is still alive and well under the hood.
From there, the setlist moved through more later-era material with Lucifer’s Rocking Chair that plowed slowly and steadily through Opera House before pivoting into one of the night’s most fun and chaotic moments after busting out their cover of Sabotage. Their take on the Beastie Boys classic has become a fan-favorite staple and it almost always lands as a peak regardless of where it’s placed acting like a supercharger that it should be. Here, late in the set, it was the perfect pick me up getting everyone in the room shouting along and have more than enough energy for the finale and the trip home afterwards.
Winterpeg closed the night, which was a fitting ending in retrospect. You could say the song is a bit of a deeper cut, but if this tour is for fans that have been there from the start, this song is here for those that have stuck around too. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s another track of theirs that perfectly captures their blend of hardcore intensity and rock swagger. Ending on it brought the entire night full circle: from the raw urgency of Birthing the Giant to the more complex band that followed and haven’t forgotten where they started.
By nature, the typical structure of these album celebration shows just make these sets work so well. By front-loading the album in full and then expanding outward into the rest of their catalogue, bands like Cancer Bats can turn a simple anniversary show into a narrative. Just like that, the show can become more than just being about where they started but also about everything that came after, and how those early songs still fuel the chaos today.
With that said, fans can check out Stay Stuck on their favourite streaming platforms – Cancer Bats’ latest single released on May 5th (with a video to boot) as they hit the final date on this coast to coast tour in Montreal on May 16th and plan to release their 8th full length called Give Me Dirt this summer.