MUSIC PREVIEW: Cheap Trick class act
For all the complaining from members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they still get to stick “Member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” to their names – and that’s no cheap boast. Speaking of which, Cheap Trick – member of the Rock […]
REVIEW: Hair a joyful 1960s revival
The 1960s were the “dawning of the Age of Aquarius” – Aquarius being the sixth sign of the zodiac. Society was in ferment, hippies were in the streets, the sexual revolution was upon us, the Vietnam war was polarizing American society – and Hair was on Broadway. Audiences both loved it (“…sloppy, vulgar and terrific”) […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Sloan ranger, away!
The revered Halifax act Sloan brings their One Chord To Another 20 year anniversary tour to Edmonton this weekend, playing a sold out gig at the Needle Vinyl Tavern on Friday. The indie rockers have managed to retain their four member roster throughout their evolutions and devolutions, from their debut full-length Smeared in 1992, through […]
Fuzz Kings rock Dad Punk
What happens to punk rockers when they reproduce? We get more punks, maybe. There are a number of other answers to be found right here in Edmonton. Some punk-parents add hyphens to their names, become singer-songwriters, country-folk musicians. Many look forward to the day they can take their kids to see the bands they once […]
Insane Clown Posse invading Edmonton
To name them is to know them: Insane Clown Posse – and they are coming. Beware. Clowns are scary, gangsta rappers are scary – how can you possibly go wrong? This infamous duo of grease-painted Detroit rappers will perform at the Union Hall on Saturday, July 9. Tickets are $37.50 and are on sale as […]
REVIEW: Shumka tells uplifting tale
In their first years in the early 1960s Edmonton’s Ukrainian Shumka Dancers were known for their bucolic rural dances, colourful costumes, broad folksy humour and their signature hyper-athletic style of dance. But the company’s ambitions reached far beyond that. They expanded their horizons by pushing forward the art of ethnic dance. They fused ballet and […]
Iron Maiden blows mighty wind in Edmonton
Aside from sports, there is no better place for male bonding than a heavy metal concert – and there is no band with a bigger testosterone cult following than Iron Maiden. Why this is so remains a mystery. Perhaps it has something to do with nerd culture. Maiden is basically a horror comic set to […]
Twenty One Pilots a stress relief in Edmonton
The huge impact Twenty One Pilots has made on young people was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in Edmonton on Thursday night. These guys are the new real deal. It behooves old people to pay attention. A full house of teenagers and 20-somethings at the Jubilee Auditorium know this music by heart and […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Iron Maiden fantasy
What is it with British metal bands and their sinister fantasies? Demons, dragons, wizards, watery tarts distributing swords as a system of government, dead albatrosses hung around the necks of doomed sailors foolish enough to have shot the wrong bird – it’s not like the British people don’t have enough real violent history that they […]
Hateful men drive Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross
Playwright David Mamet hit the American theatre scene in the early 1980s with the brutal impact of a clenched fist in the gut. He did not write plays about delicate family dynamics or tender romance. His world was a savage one filled with rage and confrontation. The intensity of his colourful, lean, paint-peeling language at […]
Family business: The Raven Age opens for Iron Maiden
Let’s get this straight off the top: The Raven Age would not be opening for Iron Maiden if guitarist George Harris weren’t the son of Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris. This is rock ‘n’ roll nepotism at its finest. The proper response is: Yeah, so what?! “Of course that’s how we got on the tour,” […]
