Grand Rising Tour: Gunshine and OMENS - Winnipeg, MB

For a band in the middle of a twenty-six-date tour, it would be easy for one stop to feel like just another night on the itinerary. For Gunshine, however, Winnipeg carried a little more weight. The September 22, 2026, stop at the Pyramid Cabaret was the only Canadian date on the Grand Rising Tour, giving the Manitoba crowd a unique place in the tour’s run—and the audience responded accordingly.

The evening opened with rising local band OMENS, who wasted little time establishing the mood with a compact, aggressive set built around songs including “Make It Quick,” “Black Magic,” “Any Means,” and “Won’t Save Us Again.” The band continued to push the intensity with their songs “Fuck Around and Find Out” and “Goodbye Forever (See Ya Never),” before closing out with “Loose Ends” and “Divide and Conquer.”

It was an appropriately forceful introduction to a night centred on bands that aren't particularly interested in playing it safe.

OMENS. Photos by Samuel Stevens Photography

Then came the main event, Gunshine. The Florida rockers opened with “Grand Rising”; the band immediately had the Pyramid Cabaret feeling like a room built for this particular brand of rock ’n’ roll. The set moved through “Goth Girl,” “Wall Said To Call,” “Swing Away,” and “Feel Alright,” maintaining a momentum that made the night feel less like a stop on a lengthy itinerary and more like an event in its own right.

The show continued on with many other tracks like “My Oh Miley,” keeping the set moving with all its might. However, the band's two closing tracks, “Table Dancing” and “Daylight,” were where the band really started to make an impact with the crowd. The songs the band performed that this particular night were absorbed by the Winnipeg audience and told the story of a band comfortable moving between swagger, melody, and outright release.

Then came the moment that made the Winnipeg show particularly memorable. After the main set, the crowd wasn't prepared to let the night end whatsoever. The fans that occupied the walls of the Pyramid Cabaret began calling for another song before the band had even attempted to leave the stage. That kind of response says more than a routine encore ever could. There was no need for the traditional theatrical disappearance and prolonged wait—the audience had already made its wishes unmistakably clear.

Gunshine essentially didn't even fully walk off stage before guitarist Austin Ingerman got to his microphone to say how much they were honoured by that statement. The band answered by performing their song “Something Real.”

As an encore, the song provided a fitting final chapter to a night that had already established a strong connection between the band and the audience. More importantly, it underscored the feeling that had carried through the evening: Winnipeg wasn't simply another city on the Grand Rising Tour. For one night, it was the place where the tour's Canadian audience got its turn. It's extremely rare for a band to tour North America and only include Winnipeg as its sole Canadian stop.

With twenty-six dates on the schedule and only one Canadian stop, there was no second chance for fans elsewhere in the country to experience this particular tour in person. Winnipeg got that opportunity, and the crowd at the Pyramid Cabaret made sure Gunshine knew exactly how much it meant.

Gunshine. Photos by Samuel Stevens Photography