Big Sugar

Big Sugar brings the Hemi-Vision 30th Anniversary to The Bronson in Ottawa on May 24, 2026. Led by guitarist and singer Gordie Johnson, the Toronto-born project has long fused heavy blues-rock and hard rock with reggae and dub accents, plus the harmonica and sax textures of Kelly “Mr. Chill” Hoppe. Built on deep bass lines first anchored by Jamaican player Garry Lowe, their sound found a clear shape on Hemi-Vision in 1996, a record that set Big Sugar on the late-90s Canadian rock map.

This “evening with” show looks back to that era, leaning into thick guitar riffs, rolling grooves and spacious dub echoes that define the album, while opening space for extended versions and jams. The set threads Hemi-Vision material with cuts from Heated, Brothers and Sisters, Are You Ready?, Revolution Per Minute and the more stripped-back Yardstyle, tracing how Big Sugar keeps shifting its balance between electric blues power and Caribbean pulse—always driven by Johnson’s voice and tone at the core.