Johnny Reid puts the soul in country
There was feeling of a Sunday church “revival” at the Jubilee Auditorium on Thursday night – and Johnny Reid was the preacher. It was obvious that this Scottish-Canadian country superstar was back in Edmonton to show his audience a good time. No expense was spared when it came to production of his Revival tour, named […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: The Heat is on!
There was a seminal moment in the annals of rock ‘n’ roll, in some garage somewhere, where rockabilly musicians decided to play punk rock – or maybe it was the other way around. There may have been a fist fight. Hey, what if I used this upright bass to play Black Flag songs? How dare […]
REVIEW: Santana parties like it’s 1969
It’s been 50 years, or close enough for rock ‘n’ roll, since Carlos Santana played Woodstock – and you get the feeling it’s just been one long glorious guitar solo ever since. This 70-year-old Latin-rock legend still likes to have fun. It sure looked like Santana and his stellar band were having a blast at […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: The Dears darlings of indie rock
The Dears have been around almost as long as “indie rock” has been a thing, forming in Montreal in 1995 and releasing their debut album End of a Hollywood Bedtime Story in 2000. Their particular brand of rock music, both dark and orchestral, has found them fans across the continent, and three of their albums […]
REVIEW: Bahamas pretty heavy for soft rock
There’s a keen musical mind lurking behind the dark wit of the man who calls himself Bahamas. Or maybe it’s the other way around. During his show at the Winspear Centre on Monday night, Bahamas picked out a couple in the front row who’d told him they just got engaged to his song Lost in […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Bahamas or Dwight Yoakam, tough choice
You concert promoters need to get it together. You give us weeks of nothing but sporadic metal and classic rock shows during a usually dead time of year – and then on the same otherwise unassuming first Monday night of March you book two must-see acts in two concert halls at opposite sides of town. […]
Jack Semple channels B.B. King
The late B.B. King revealed more personality in three notes than all of those wankers who made it to the cover of Look At Me I Play Guitar magazine. There was even a rumour going around that B.B. didn’t actually know how to play chords (like Thelonious Monk didn’t know how to play the piano). […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Get your headphones on!
A couple of local well-heeled promoters – Mangled Tapes and Sweaty Palms – are putting on an intriguing little affair on Saturday night that will likely be the talk of the city’s core music scene for a good long while. Taking place at the Bleeding Heart Art Space (9140 – 118 Avenue) beginning at 7 […]
REVIEW: Anthrax just wants to have fun
Anthrax is one of the founding fathers of the thrash movement that had its birth in the early ’80s, and reigned for at least a decade after that. Blending the speed of Motorhead with the melodic twin guitars and vocals of Iron Maiden and a huge dose of groove, Anthrax stood apart from the rest […]
REVIEW: Janes stage another successful rescue musical
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a daunting musical for even so fruitful a production company as Plain Jane Theatre. The play started life as a 1988 Pedro Almodovar film – the Spanish director’s first successful international hit. Now regarded as a classic, its track record as a stage musical has been […]
Avenged Sevenfold an amazing metal mash up
Avenged Sevenfold comes off like this superhuman Frankenstein monster made of body parts of other hard rock bands – and you better get out of its way if you know what’s good for you. Specifically, it’s Metallica stitched together with AC/DC plus Black Sabbath and Soundgarden and a small piece each of Pink Floyd and […]
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 […]
