MUSIC PREVIEW: Give K-Days a break!
Citizens of Edmonton have been bitching for decades about K-Days and how it sucks your wallet dry.
It does. In these modern times, a family of four can blow $300 easy – and have nothing to show for it at the end of the day but another Pikachu stuffie crusted with cotton candy and grime, tummyaches all around, and everybody needing a shower. It’s a local summer tradition, a rite of passage we get tricked – by our kids – into doing year after year.
But you know you don’t have to do that, right?
You can just come to K-Days for the bands. You can see them free with your gate admission, $20 for adults, $18 for youth and seniors.
Name another event where you could pay $20 to see The Beach Boys (last weekend), Ice Cube (who played on Tuesday), Cheap Trick (Wednesday), The Village People (Thursday, K-Days Pride Day), The Rural Alberta Advantage (top picture, Friday), Lil’ Jon (Saturday) or Kongos (closing Sunday)? OK, you could probably see some of these acts in smaller clubs where the cover charge may be less than $20, probably more like $50 at the River Cree; and certain ones among them fall under the typical K-Days booking strategy of “Triple A bands that saturated their market yesterday and today.” But still. Kongos is pretty cool. The Rural Alberta Advantage has Albertan mojo – it’s right there in their name! And The Village People? Cultural icons. Moreover, these headliners are stacked with solid opening acts in every genre, locals, up-and-comers, and nostalgia.
So you can pick your poison, “something for everybody” is the other K-Days marketing strategy – and get into an outdoor festival concert for only $20. Or you could pay $30-$60 for “premium seating” like they have at the Big Valley Jamboree; plus there’s merch, drinks, and hey, you might want a little greasy nosh after all. Oops, forgot about parking. K-Days is designed to gouge you everywhere you turn. You know what to do – bring more money.
Thursday 26
Amy Helm – As the daughter of Levon, Amy Helm certainly had both privilege and opportunity to become a staple of the folk fest circuit and an artist in her own right; and with her captivating voice and way with melody, also proves the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Helm, one-time member of her late father’s band and session singer on many other artists’ albums, is on tour behind her second album, This Too Shall Light. Opening the show at the Aviary is no slouch in the singer-songwriterly department, Edmonton’s own Mike Plume. 8 pm, $30 advance
War Baby – Experimental rock trio from Vancouver exists in the netherworld betwixt “metal” and “alternative” with meaty grooves, drony vocals, edgy lyrics and a general head-banging primal energy – how could you possibly go wrong?! Band tours on its latest EP release, Coma Kid. Opening the show at the Buckingham will be The Allovers and The Tee-Tahs. 8 pm, $10 advance
Friday 27
Sasquatch Gathering – Here we have the exact opposite of K-Days: A semi-nomadic organic free-range good-vibes musical happening – which is to the North Country Fair what Interstellar Rodeo is to the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. This year the “Gathering” is being held at Metis Crossing, a lovely riverside site an hour or so Northeast of Edmonton. On stage for the three-day event will be 16 acts familiar to the Alberta indie scene: Including Arlo Maverick, the Celeigh Cardinal Band, King of Foxes, Joe Nolan and the Dogs, Wildwood and more. Advance tickets are $85 and include camping, kids 12 and under are free, and dogs are welcome. There’s a potluck supper on Saturday. Firewood and hot showers are available. Complete information and directions HERE
Tanya Tucker – Delta Dawn, what’s that flower you have on? Could it be a faded rose from days gone by? And did I hear you say he was meeting you here today, to take you to his mansion in the sky? Geez, that’s dark. Even for a 13-year-old girl. Tanya Tucker didn’t technically write Delta Dawn, which made the Texas teenager famous in 1972 – but she’s certainly made the song her own, along with dozens of other classic country hits on 24 studio albums since. River Cree Casino, 9 pm, advance tickets $58
