Arkells at the Kee to Bala

The summer concert season is in full swing at the Kee to Bala, and Canadian darlings, the Arkells, have helped ensure it will be a memorable one for many.

This show was announced very last minute, just two weeks and two days before the June 6, 2025 concert date, with pre-sale tickets selling out almost immediately. It had been six years since the band had played in Bala, and fans were excited.

They did open the request line before the show, and I even called intending to request the song “My Heart’s Always Yours” from 2015’s Morning Report, but they wanted requestors to have a sweet story to go with their requests and I wasn’t sure I did. (Would it have counted if I said I used it as hope that love still existed while recovering from a broken heart?) I figured they would probably play it anyway; which of course they did, as part of a three-song encore. Actually, my initial inclination would have been to request Oh, the Boss is Coming!  but I also didn’t have a story for that one, and I honestly kind of figured it was just so old that they wouldn’t likely play it anymore. Spoiler: I was wrong!

Kicking the party off was Arkells trombone player and resident DJ Ernesto Barahona, who spun some tracks which he played his horn along to intermittently. It was an unexpected opening act, but a great way to get everyone in party mode before the Arkells took the stage.

And when they did, I have to say, the set was incredible. The energy this band brings to the stage is undeniable, from start to finish, and it really seems like it is not lost on them that they get to do this really fun, super cool thing for a living. They genuinely seem like a bunch of guys (and one girl – shout out to Yvonne Moir on the saxophone!) who love performing, and want to do it as much as they can.

They kept the energy and the hits coming, for a full two-hour set, and while I didn’t exactly keep track of every song, I do believe they performed something from every album they’ve released in the last 17 years. (I mean I’m no Arkells aficionado, but with a quick click through their discography, I can name a song from pretty much every one that they played for us that night, including personal favourites Michigan Left from the 2011 album of the same name, and the aforementioned Oh, the Boss is Coming! from their first full length album, all the way back in 2008.)

It’s hard not to have a good time in the crowd – and I say that despite the fact that a group of girls were trying to pick a fight with my friend and I for the majority of the show! (Long story – but essentially, one of the men they were with got a little too close for comfort to my friend and I, was asked to move along by security, and then once the drunk girls he came with found out, they decided their best option was to try to defend his honour to us for the majority of the night. Not their finest moments I would say, but luckily for them I wasn’t in the mood for a fight. No one REALLY wins in a stupid bar fight).

The first time I saw the Arkells at the Kee, back in 2013, I remember they kind of hung around a bit, even coming down to the floor area after the show, and people had the chance to go up and talk to them. I introduced myself to keyboardist, Anthony Carone, who I had interviewed over the phone for a newspaper article while in journalism school a few months before, (unfortunately the article no longer appears to be available online) and I remember seeing a couple of girls approaching Kerman for a chat.

This time though, when the show wrapped, the band went out on the front lawn of the Kee property, acoustic guitars, horns, and even a shaker in tow, keeping the party going with a rendition of Relentless, from 2018’s Rally Cry, with the crowd gathered around in a great big circle. It was the perfect end to a great summer evening, and felt like a bunch of friends at a bush party not wanting the night to end.

The Arkells have always seemed, to me anyway, like that band from your hometown that made it big. Even if your hometown isn’t Hamilton, it almost feels like they belong to all of southern and central Ontario – maybe because they’ve played a number of shows at the Kee, and in nearby Barrie, and other smaller Ontario cities over the years. But for me anyway, it’s a bit more than that.  Although I don’t personally know any of the members myself, they’re a band that everyone seems to have some kind of connection to, even if through a degree of separation; they are around the same age as me, and a few people I went to high school with had some shared classes with at least one of the members at McMaster University in Hamilton (the band’s actual hometown); a girl I know who lives nearby is also cousins with another member; and I’ve seen Kerman in the crowd at other concerts at the Kee.

But it’s bigger than that, too. In spite of their now many years of success, they have maintained a laidback style and breeziness about them that still makes them feel so accessible. Their upcoming Rally concert and fundraiser happening in Hamilton, ON, on June 21, 2025 (the third of its kind since 2018) is also a testament to their love of, and connectivity to, the band’s actual hometown community. This year they’re supporting three organizations: Eva Rothwell Centre, Mission Services, and REFUGE Newcomer Health, with $1 from every ticket sold directed to their charitable efforts, and an additional $10,000 to each organization from the band directly. Also performing at that concert will be Portugal. The Man; Valley; and Seago, and there will be a pre-show basketball game at the basketball court at Woodlands Park in Hamilton, which was refurbished and named “The Rally Court” after Kerman’s efforts to have the pro outdoor court available to the community.  All of these things, combined with their seemingly down-to-earth attitudes just make the band that much more lovable.

All in all I would say the show at the Kee on June 6 was just a really, really fantastic night spent with an absolute gem of a band, and I was so happy to have been there to take it all in.

I also just have to say, the Kee, for those that haven’t been, is an old, but fantastic, intimate venue. With a capacity of about 1,200 people, it’s kind of more like seeing a band at a night club than a big concert, and being hidden up in Muskoka, you’d miss it if you didn’t know any better. But it’s been bringing amazing musical acts to the area for almost a century now, and five days after the Arkells show, I was headed back to see a favourite of mine since childhood; Billy Corgan! Look out for that post and more coming soon.

Happy summer concert season everyone!