Vancouver, BC - June 10, 2026

This would be the first time I got to see a Pete and Bas show without needing a passport. Not that I didn’t try to get them to come to Calgary - believe me, I made that pitch - but at least Vancouver is just a short hop away, unlike all the other shows I’ve seen. The Newcastle show was by far the worst for travel, involving a 27-hour round trip set of flights with six plane changes. Ugh. Totally worth it, though!

Stayed with Jon and Lisa (nephew and niece) in their lovely home, arriving the day before the show. We had a nice visit and went out for dinner at Joey down at Lonsdale Quay.

The next day, we headed to Squamish for lunch and even found some critters who didn’t mind being petted.

Outside the show, waiting for the doors to open, I ran across Terry, a fan I’ve seen around Facebook sometimes. He also dressed the part for the show.

Inside at the meet and greet, Jon and Lisa finally got to meet my heroes. Smiles all around.

In addition to the show, I was also there to film the boys’ cameo portion of the music video for “Ring My Bell” - Pete is mentioned in the song and even supplied a short “POW!” to the vocals. I wasn’t sure if Pete would be wearing a porkpie hat or a trilby and I didn’t want us to be in the same style hat, so I rolled up wearing my bowler. I know Pete doesn’t have a bowler, so that was a safe bet. For the meet/greet pic, Pete and I swapped hats.

I got to wear Pete’s hat. I’ll admit to fangirling a bit, especially since that particular hat of his is one of my favourites. It’s only been seen in a short promo clip of them performing at a hotel lobby in Paris, but I’ve been looking for a duplicate of it ever since, with no luck.

Filming the cameo was a bit of a mess. We had to be very quick due to their crazy schedule and it had to look spontaneous due to their crazy contract obligations. Long story. But we needed a shot of Pete ringing a bell, which we got, but not like I wanted. Still, we might be able to use it.

The other shot we needed was Pete throwing a right hook and yelling “POW!” That one was more successful- and look at that face! Bas has said in several interviews, “you don’t want to see Pete when he’s cross”. Yeah, I’ll bet.

Just before the show got started, DJ Queenie got the crowd pumped up with some hot beats and remixes. I like her a lot, she’s a nice lady.

Delivery Boys were the opening act, same as last year, and they understand the assignment. Get the crowd hyped, set the mood, elevate the energy, and give the audience time to get a couple more drinks in them before Pete and Bas come on.

Once the main event started, the crowd pushed forward and things got pretty claustrophobic. Luckily, I was right against the stage, so I wasn’t surrounded. There was no buffer zone between the crowd and the artists, so I was very, very close to the show.

Every P&B show includes inviting ladies on stage to dance with them. Pete has a strict “no touching” policy and those who respect that will get a nice, long dance with him. The two ladies didn’t follow that rule. They were wildly inappropriate, grinding their asses into Pete’s crotch while they danced. Pete attempted to laugh it off, but he moved away from them and I could see on his face that he was not amused.

Later on, they got back up on stage without being asked (it was easy to do) and Pete barked at them, “Oi! Our stage now, get off!”
Another iconic bit in their shows is the “English Breakfast challenge” - Guys are brought up and given a pint of beer with a raw egg in it. They try to drink it faster than Bas. Bas usually wins, but not this time.

The temperature in the place kept rising and by the end of the show, Bas had gone down to a t-shirt and shorts. They both consumed several pints while on stage, but the heat began to sap everyone’s energy as the night went on. The “Mr Worldwide” encore brought back a boost of energy, though.

It was a good show, the boys were in good form, and other than the pair of floozies who embarrassed themselves and everyone else, the crowd was rowdy, but well-behaved.