LISTEN HERE: Clayton Congregation Comes Together
Clayton Bellamy has been several things to many people: A solo act, a member of the highly-decorated country-rock band The Road Hammers, a short-lived CISN Country radio announcer, and now the leader of “The Congregation” – new project he says “doesn’t have a sniff” of country. Take him at his word. It’s more like the […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Morrissey Shows Up in Edmonton
The joke here is that people were taking bets on when Morrissey would cancel his Edmonton show – again. This guy is George “No Show” Jones-famous for cancelling concerts. But no! Although he’d postponed the previously scheduled April show here, the Pope of Mope fulfilled his contract for the make-up date Thursday night in Edmonton, […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Elton John Crocodile Rockin’ in Edmonton
In 1973, it was still OK to leave 10-year-olds in the car by themselves as the adults went to the grocery store or whatever – so one day I was alone in the car and had the radio on for amusement. Until that moment, music was just a thing in the environment I never thought […]
LISTEN HERE: The Royal Foundry wants to WAKEUP from bad dream
EXCLUSIVE! Hear Edmonton band’s new single several hours before release! The counterintuitive trick about empathy and validation is that you do NOT want to comfort someone with the old tropes: “Don’t worry about it! Everything’s going to be fine! You can do this! Believe in yourself!” – because then you’re dismissing the feeling. Sometimes everything […]
Manson Has Power Over Chaos
Metal heads of Edmonton were rejoicing at the creation of a new music festival, held on July 26 and 27 at Kinsmen Park. However, the first ever Chaos AB festival of metal music experienced some chaos of its own, due to the unpredictable weather. The hot and sunny first night on July 26 saw performances […]
LISTEN HERE: Ken Stead in Trouble
If you’ve got trouble, wait, don’t run! This kind of trouble is lots of fun! This familiar commercial for the old board game may offer insight into the mindset of local singer-songwriter-rocker Ken Stead when he wrote a song called Trouble. It deals with man (or woman, depending) who finds himself in a real relationship […]
WHO NAMED THE BAND: The Dungarees fit perfectly
Naming a country band is just as difficult as naming a rock band. It’s like branding a cow – to use a simile country folk may be familiar with. The cow doesn’t want to be branded. It resists the branding iron, because it hurts. Yet once the scar has healed the cow barely notices the […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Judas Priest rocks new generation in Edmonton
There are three things you can rely on in Edmonton in the spring: unpredictable weather, potholes and a proper heavy metal extravaganza from a classic band. When we found out that Judas Priest was coming to Edmonton in support of their No. 1 album FIREPOWER, I just had to share this local spring tradition with […]
REVIEW: Alessia Cara inspires little girls in Edmonton
Security sure had their hands full at the Alessia Cara concert in Edmonton on Wednesday night. What a tough crowd. Once the 22-year-old star started high-fiving and clasping hands with all the girls in the front row of the Jubilee Auditorium, everyone wanted a piece of her. Moms carried up their little ones to get […]
REVIEW: Alan Parsons Live Project a mixed bag of magic in Edmonton
To be more famous for a throwaway joke in an Austin Powers movie than for recent music must be galling to such titans of progressive pop as … The Alan Parsons Project! Mwa, ha, ha, ha! Besides, it’s the Alan Parsons Live Project now – so named to distance itself from the original British 1980s […]
REVIEW: Alice in Chains pleases several generations with grunge metal mayhem
You can’t argue the success that Alice In Chains has enjoyed of late – with the group’s latest album Rainier Fog earning a Grammy nomination, and summit positions on the Billboard and iTunes charts. But to more discerning ears, how a band that earned much of its notoriety in the grunge-fueled 1990s could still be […]
REVIEW: Lynyrd Skynyrd brings out a little redneck in Edmonton
There weren’t a lot of Confederate flags spotted at the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert in Edmonton on Tuesday night. Maybe four in a crowd of thousands at Rogers Place – not counting the one hanging from lead singer Johnny Van Zant’s microphone. Sure, it was a bit distracting – but not enough to take away from […]
