Aldo Nova Triumphantly Returns to Montreal After 35 Years [Photos]

Neon lights, shinin’ brightly, make your brain ignite. That’s a rather appropriate description of the Casino de Montréal. It’s also one of the opening lines from “Fantasy,” the hit song that helped make Aldo Nova a star in the early 1980s. Both worlds collided this past Saturday night, and Montreal fans got to double down on an evening of musical awesomeness.

The Casino de Montréal hosted the return of one of our own, Aldo Nova. Incredibly, this was his first show in Montreal in 35 years. The man has won Grammy Awards. Written songs for Celine Dion, Faith Hill, and Jon Bon Jovi. Yet, for the last several decades, he has decided to work from the shadows. Helping others and sharing his incredible talent.

Montréal turned out to celebrate the return of its prodigal son. The sold-out crowd rose to their feet as their guitar hero made his way to the stage. Aldo Nova opened the concert with “Modern World,” a track from his Blood On The Bricks album. The lyrics are still spot on despite how long ago the song was released.

A couple of older songs followed. “Monkey On Your Back” from Subject: Aldo Nova really got the crowd rolling, and “Under The Gun” allowed Aldo to unleash one of his epic guitar solos. With every note, the crowd cheered longer and louder. “We came here to rock!” shouted Aldo to the crowd. He suffered a frightening neck injury last year, but looked to be in great shape here.

Taking the time to salute the crowd in both English and en français, Aldo shared some stories with us. He mentioned how incredibly proud he is to finally be back in the town where he grew up. “Don’t wait so long before the next time!” came a cry from the crowd. A sentiment shared by all who were there, judging by the cheer of approval from the crowd. It was also a chance for his now adult children to see him play.

“Ball and Chain” followed. A song inspired by a stripper from Longueuil that he was seeing at the time. Much of “Fantasy” had been inspired by her, he chuckled. From 1985’s Twitch, two songs were played. The experience of making that album had chased him from the industry for a time. Associated with bad memories, they may be. On this night, “Tonight (Lift Me Up)” and “Fallen Angel” received nothing but love from the adoring crowd.

“Blood On The Bricks” brought the people to their feet again, with some urging from guitarist Jack Frost. Frost has been Aldo’s touring guitarist for the last few years and was an untamed bundle of energy during the show. His entire backing band was fantastic. “Fantasy” brought down the house before the band returned with “Medicine Man” as an encore.

Always a man of the people, Aldo stuck around afterwards to sign as many autographs and take as many pictures with the fans as he could. The odds aren’t usually in your favour at the casino, but everyone who was at that concert came out feeling like a winner.