PUP and Snotty Nose Rez Kids Live In Winnipeg, MB

On a frigid Winnipeg night, two of Canada’s most electrifying live acts turned the Burton Cummings Theatre into a pressure cooker of sweat, catharsis, and communal chaos. PUP and Snotty Nose Rez Kids—each at the top of their game, each ferocious in completely different ways—joined forces for a cross-country co-headline tour that felt less like a pairing and more like a collision of scenes, sounds, and cultures. The result? One of the most exciting, eclectic tour stops Winnipeg has seen in years.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids. Photos by Samuel Stevens.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids opened the night with the kind of confidence that only comes from years of building something entirely their own. From the very first notes of “Run for Cover,” they had the entire theatre on their feet. The duo moved like lightning—sharp, synchronized, and constantly feeding off the crowd’s growing frenzy.

The set was stacked with knockout punches. “BURNING MAN” and “DEVIL’S CLUB” hit with jagged precision, while “MURDER SHE WROTE” and “Real Deadly” had the room shaking as fans shouted every line. Their genre-blurring energy—part hip-hop, part punk ethos, all swagger—translated beautifully inside the historic room, which rarely sees this level of movement.

The medley of “Rebirth / PAINT THE TOWN RED” kicked the pace up even further, making the theatre feel like a house party on the edge of spilling over. But Snotty Nose Rez Kids balanced playfulness with purpose—tracks like “DAMN RIGHT” and “NO DOGS ALLOWED” hit harder in a live setting, amplifying the duo’s lyrical bite and unshakeable identity.

The back half of the set felt like a rapid-fire greatest-hits run: “I Got Paid Today,” “LET YA HAIR DOWN,” “Uncle Rico,” “I Can’t Remember My Name,” “’96 Bulls,” and “BBE” each brought a different flavour, from celebration to nostalgia to full-throttle bravado. By the time “Sink or Swim” closed their set, the duo had the entire crowd chanting, fists raised, as if they were rallying a team in a championship final.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids didn’t just warm up the room; they detonated it. Where Snotty Nose Rez Kids tore through the stage with precision and power, PUP followed by turning the theatre into the happiest mess imaginable. From the opening blast of “No Hope,” the Toronto punks reminded everyone exactly why their shows are borderline religious experiences: joyful, emotional, unhinged, and relentlessly communal.

Fans screamed every word of “Olive Garden,” fueling PUP’s trademark back-and-forth between nihilism and humour. The band tore through “My Life Is Over and I Couldn’t Be Happier” and “Dark Days” with a speed that seemed to defy physics, drummer Zack Mykula playing like he was trying to shatter the floorboards.

“Robot Writes a Love Song,” “Free at Last,” and “Paranoid” offered some of the night’s loudest sing-alongs, while the fan-requested performance of “Mabu” was a highlight—proof that PUP thrives on unpredictability as much as precision.

PUP. Photos by Samuel Stevens.

The energy turned feral for “Morbid Stuff,” “Kids,” “Scorpion Hill,” and “Hallways,” each met with total chaos in the pit and catharsis in the balconies. The emotional gut-punch of “Sleep in the Heat” hit just as hard as ever, followed immediately by the concrete-cracking fury of “Concrete.”

As the set approached its finale, the band delivered blow after blow: “Familiar Patterns,” “Shut Up,” “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You, I Will,” and its immediate counterpart “DVP,” which nearly blew the roof off the theatre. “Hunger for Death,” “Reservoir,” and “Old Wounds” kept the pace frantic, with the crowd somehow growing louder with each chorus.

And then came the moment everyone will be talking about long after the tour ends.

Instead of a traditional encore, PUP invited Snotty Nose Rez Kids back to the stage for a joint cover of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.” This unexpected moment had the room erupt.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids’ sharp delivery and PUP’s explosive instrumentation fused into something that felt both nostalgic and completely original. It was the kind of crossover moment that felt symbolic of the night itself—a meeting of two scenes, two communities, two wildly different energies converging into pure, chaotic joy.

It was the perfect closer to a night that celebrated collaboration, catharsis, and the best of what live music can be.

PUP and Snotty Nose Rez Kids delivered a show that was equal parts overwhelming and unforgettable. The pairing was unexpected on paper but absolutely electric in execution. Winnipeg audiences can be notoriously tough, but on December 2, 2025, the Burton Cummings Theatre felt like a homecoming—one where fans moshed, danced, screamed, and celebrated two of the country’s most essential acts of their genres.

This wasn’t just a concert. It was a reminder that Canadian music is thriving, evolving, and louder than ever.