The Pursuit Of Happiness and The Odds Bring Classic Canadian Nostalgia To Toronto

On Friday, February 28, 2025, I found myself yet again at the iconic Phoenix Concert Theater in Toronto, witnessing  yet another great show, a tremendous double-headlining bill of The Pursuit of Happiness and the Odds. The Phoenix was a packed house of enthusiastic fans. It was a star-studded event featuring familiar faces like Chris Murphy from Sloan,  Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies in the audience. Both of who are also currently bandmates with Craig Northey,  of The Odds and Moe Berg of The Pursuit of Happiness in a separate project, The Trans-Canada Highwaymen, They were all singing along and having great fun.

The Odds opened it up with the classic “Make You Mad”, playing most of their hits including “Eat My Brain”, “Truth Untold”, “It Falls Apart” as well as the Craig Northey song “Not a Lot Going On” the theme from classic Canadian comedy show Corner Gas. I say “most of their hits” because they left out two big songs, “Heterosexual Man” and “Wendy Under the Stars,” which I only assume they won’t play anymore because they may “offend” someone. That is just my theory, but it doesn’t look like they’ve played either song in quite some time, which leads me to believe that the current political climate made them leave those out. It was disappointing because I love those tunes, and after all, they are both pretty tongue-in-cheek and a lot of fun.

But the band delivered with their signature harmonies and multi-lead singers (Northey, Doug Elliot and Steven Drake all taking turns). They threw in some deeper cuts too for the hardcore fans such as “Satisfied”, “Write it in Lightning”, “Staring at a blank Page”, “King of the Heap”, “Nothing Beautiful”, “Walk among the Stars” and closed it down with their biggest tune “Someone Who Is Cool” to which the audience erupted for. It was a great set, and great to finally see The Odds in concert.

Next up was the legendary Pursuit of Happiness, who I have always seemed to miss in concert. I’m glad I finally caught them. The band ripped through tons of tunes, kicking it all off with the classic hit “Hard to Laugh” and just rifled through tunes like “Ten Fingers”, “When the Sky Comes Falling Down”, “No Reason”, “Walking in the Woods”, “Beautiful White” and “Pressing Lips”. At one point, lead singer Moe Berg expressed his distaste for what was going on in the world and said “the world is shit” – I can only assume he was mad about Doug Ford winning the Ontario election the day before, and Trump being Trump, but there,, so much insanity going on in the world it could have been several things he was talking about.

He played like he was pissed, which made it an even better show. They dug deeper, playing hits like “She’s so Young”, “Cigarette Dangles”, and “Young and In Love” and closed the set with their most famous tune “I’m an Adult Now,” which was blistering and here is a taste of the show live so you can see.

The fans wanted more, so the band returned to the stage and did a couple songs for the encore, including “The Downward Road” and “Down on Him”.

All in all, it was a great show with two classic bands. I will miss seeing shows at The Phoenix when it closes at the end of the year. I’ve seen too many amazing bands and artists there to count. Let’s hope they find a new home and keep Toronto Rocking and Rolling for many decades to come.