REVIEW: Tenacious D gets a C minus in Edmonton
As a rock star, Jack Black makes a pretty good actor – and that’s exactly what he’s doing in his band Tenacious D. He’s pretending to be a rock star. He’s as believable on a concert stage as he is in his movies, which are all exactly the same: Rollicking wholesome family blockbusters where the […]
Metric, July Talk team up for Edmonton spring show
It’s always nice when artists put a little thought on who they’re going to tour with – and it sounds like Metric and July Talk are a perfect match made in Canadian modern rock heaven. The two bands team up for the Art of Doubt tour, named for Metric’s latest album, in case there was […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: 4/5 of Fleetwood Mac better than no Fleetwood Mac at all
Fleetwood Mac rolls into Rogers Place on Saturday night – on the band’s first tour without Lindsey Buckingham since 1995. He allegedly wanted to delay the tour, while the others wanted to go ahead – well into next year. We can be thankful the latter crew won, because even though Buckingham won’t be on stage, […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Renewed Stone Temple Pilots to rock Howler
The Bear’s Annual Halloween Howler celebrates its 26th anniversary on at the Shaw Conference Centre on Friday night with surviving stalwarts of the alternative rock genre – Stone Temple Pilots. The band soared to the peak of their genre in the 1990s with hit after hit after hit, from Plush to Vasoline to Big Bang […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: It’s a Barbie World!
If anyone’s looking for a blast from the past this weekend – in the opposite direction of the typical classic rock gig, look no further than the Rewind Tour at River Cree Casino on Friday night. Aqua will be performing. Yes, that’s right, the Norwegian Eurodance group that burst onto the scene with their 1997 […]
Slayer kills at farewell show in Edmonton
Springtime in Edmonton. The trees are blooming, grass is growing, birds are singing, and the locals have shed the many layers to hit the great sunny outdoors. What better circumstances for this year’s metal juggernaut tour to roll through town? The four bands on stage at the Shaw Conference Centre on Sunday night have all […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Which side are you on?
We can’t ignore the connection – and friendship – between Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Jesse Hughes from Eagles of Death Metal. Hughes got into hot water recently because of some things that he said. Homme and Hughes co-founded Eagles of Death Metal in 1998. After QOTSA got big, Homme played […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Geoff Berner stays on message
Rachel Notley is on the record for being a “huge” fan of Geoff Berner. “I love his sense of humour, his angles on issues, he’s very cutting, he’s very witty,” the Premier of Alberta told GigCity in 2016. And Geoff Berner – the klezmer-loving accordion-squeezing political folksinger from B.C. – is on the record for […]
Cannabis Expo lights up the unenlightened
The stigma around marijuana is changing. Sure, some politicians still have no functional grasp of the subject of pot. Before voting on Canada’s Cannabis Act last week, Senator Nicole Eaton said that “five grams is about four tokes.” But the marijuana community isn’t allowing ignorance to stop them. In fact, it is emboldening them to […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Frequency off the dial
Can a DJ be a rock star when all they apparently do is push the “play” button, and then dance around waving their arms and looking fabulous, while thousands of equally fabulous fans dance their brains out for nine straight hours? It is the age-old argument. Headlining Boodang’s annual Frequency rave at the Shaw Conference […]
REVIEW: Halloween Scream a place of belonging
The sidewalks along Jasper Avenue were alive on the night of Scream Edmonton – one of the biggest Halloween raves in Western Canada. The line-up for entry to the sold-out Shaw Conference Centre on Saturday night was long, and you could sense that everyone was preparing themselves for the night of their lives. The fans […]
REVIEW: Pop just the tip of de Burgh
Chris de Burgh doesn’t get all the credit he deserves. A lot of people tend to focus on his saccharine love songs of the ’80s, particularly Lady in Red – ignoring the fact he also has a proven track record of powerful songs about social issues, both present and past. But this wasn’t news to […]
