A final report from Ottawa Bluesfest 2025: Papa Roach and Daughtry

[More from Ross MacDonald and Karen Coughtrey. – AC]

Saturday night, July 19, 2025, would turn out to be a wet one in Ottawa but spirits and fan devotion would not be dampened or deterred on this penultimate night, and 2nd night in a row of punk, rock at RBC Bluesfest . We Were Sharks, Daughtry, and Papa Roach all rocked the main stage. 

Local punk rockers We Were Sharks were first on stage. Opening with ‘New Low’ and ‘Golden’ lead Randy Frobel was full of energy, leaping around the stage to help energize the crowd. 

Frobel marvelled at getting to play the mainstage at Bluesfest, “If you’d told me at 12 I’d be playing Bluesfest for you, I would’ve called bullshit” he said, “we’ve got a lot of friends and family here, it’s nice to see. It’s been a tough couple of months and you don’t know how much we appreciate it.” If things have been hard they are perhaps looking up as Frobel also announced they are going on tour in September with American rock band, Teenage Bottlerocket.

They played some older stuff ‘Hotel Beds,’ ‘Never Looked Better’ and ‘Beyond Repair’ along with some gems from their newest album 2021’s New Low, ‘Shameless’ and ‘Bring Me Down.’ Frobel has good between song chat, explaining stories and connections to songs such as their song ‘Sober.’

They packed 15 songs into their set, getting the night off on a fantastic hard rocking note.

The crowd would grow with fans and the curious, for as surely as he has matured and evolved over the years Chris Daughtry is still known in some circles for being a finalist on the competition show American Idol back in 2006 and this would be the first time they’d performed here since their concert at the baseball stadium in summer 2007.

They would open with ‘The Reckoning’ and ‘The Day I Die’ (a new single released April 2025) and then a cover of Journey’s ‘Separate Ways (Worlds Apart.)’

Chris would begin what would become a theme of the night of advocating for mental health and threw ‘Pieces’ out to anyone in the crowd who’s been through the darkness or finds themselves there now, reminding them that as someone who has been there he can assure them there is always light on the other side. 

He then thanked the crowd for their generosity in singing along with the new songs he was hitting them over the head with and went back in his catalogue to 2006 to play ‘It’s Not Over.’

In a truly special moment in the show, instead of singing it solo, Chris brought out his daughter Adalynn Rose on ‘Waiting for Superman.’. She was trepidacious at first but has a lovely voice and settled in to sing a beautiful and heart warming duet with her father.

Chris continued his acoustic solo set with a song he says that if he hadn’t written it, he’d probably not be here today and asked the audience to light up the sky (despite it still being daylight) and to join him in singing ‘Home.’

Then it was back to rocking hard with ‘The Dam,’ ‘Over You’ (a song he wrote as a break up song but now thinks of as a big fuck you to whatever is holding him back, stopping him from becoming who he wants to be,) ‘Heavy Is The Crown’ and finished off the set with ‘Artificial.’

And then Papa Roach took over the mainstage for their first ever Ottawa concert opening with ‘Even If It Kills Me.’ They celebrated 25 years of mainstream success with ‘Blood Brothers’ and called on the crowd to help with ‘Dead Cell.’

Jacoby explained he lives for connecting with crowds through music and after asking the crowd who had attended the Green Day concert the night before, spoke of their connection with the band, growing up just 45 minutes away. He also mentioned he would have joined the crowd in taking in that concert had he not been sick, but he had clearly recovered as the band put on a strong show even when having to perform in the rain. 

They played Tupac’s ‘California Love’ as Jacoby introduced the band and brought out his son Brixton Gabriel Shaddix who came out with a T-shirt cannon. 

They dedicated their performance of ‘Forever’ to Chester Bennington, the late lead singer of rock band Linkin Park, who passed away nearly to the day (July 20th) eight years ago, and included Linkin Park’s ‘In The End’ as part of that performance.

As they have since the beginning of their career (and its the subject of countless songs) and as the aforementioned dedication might hint to, Jacoby also spoke on mental health. Before ‘Falling Apart’ Jacoby would share:

“Like my friend Chris Daughtry I’ve fallen into darkness… I kept reaching for the light until I grasped on to a little shred of that hope and I held on for dear life. That was 13 years ago, today I stand on this stage a free man. I walk this earth a free man, free from the bondage of addiction, mental slavery, depression and I am grateful I can share my story and connect with all you beautiful people.”

He bookended the song by saying “I keep falling but I keep getting back up!”

This was then followed by a suicide prevention video reminding those who have lost someone, know someone who has lost someone, know someone who struggles or are someone that struggles themself, that the first step to finding a solution is to talk about it and ask questions and that one can visit https://findahelpline.com/ to find services local to your country that you or a loved one might need (Anywhere in Canada you can also call 9-8-8 for a 24/7 suicide crisis helpline.) 

This cause is extremely important to the band and they will be donating to a local suicide prevention charity. They implored the crowd to wave their lights during ‘Leave A Light On (Talk Away The Dark)’ and concluded the introduction video with “To anyone who is in the dark, you are not alone we will always leave a light on for you.” The song was ended with a moment of silence for the ones we’ve lost and the ones left behind. 

Tony Palermo performed one hell of a drum solo after ‘Scars’ and then they suggested the crowd get out their dancing shoes for their brand new song (released June 25, 2025) ‘BRAINDEAD.’

Jacoby told the audience not to give up on chasing their dreams before ending the set with ‘Born For Greatness.’

The encore was a continued celebration of their 25 years of mainstream success and they took us down memory lane, complete with video snippets from throughout their career. They ended the night with ‘Last Resort’ and an announcement that they would be back in November on their Canadian tour with The Used. 

We Were Sharks
Randy Frobel – vocals
Jason Mooney – guitar
Will Plummer – drums
Colin Jacques – guitar
Matthew Sears – bass

Daughtry
Chris Daughtry – lead vocals, guitar
Brian Craddock – guitar, vocals
Elvio Fernandes – keyboards, guitar, vocals
touring members
Marty O’Brien – bass
Anthony Ghazel – drums

Papa Roach
Jacoby Shaddix – lead vocals
Jerry Horton – guitars, vocals
Tony Palermo – drums
touring member
Anthony Esperance – keys, percussion, guitar