The Lumineers turn Sonic Boom to folk
It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment where the mainstreaming of folk music reached maximum saturation and jumped the shark. Certainly that recent KIA commercial with Nathaniel Rateliff is very embarrassing. Some point to the X-Ambassadors having their lead single, Renegades, an otherwise fine song, permanently branded to the Jeep Renegade. Can’t hear it without […]
Sonic Boom a cold and rainy circus
Every successful new band has a gimmick – sometimes more than one. Twenty One Pilots has at least as many as their name, and showed them all closing out the first night of Sonic Boom 2016 in Borden Park. They wore alien masks, did back-flips off the piano, crowd surfed the entire drummer and his […]
Brit channels legend in The Simon and Garfunkel Story
It’s not enough that the British defeat us hapless Colonists in all things to do with Rock ‘n’ Roll (just go to the scoreboard: The Beatles, The Stones and The Sex Pistols vs. Elvis, Dylan and Bon Jovi – it’s no contest) – but they have to come plunder our beloved American icons, too. Dean […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Sonic Boom blows up genres
It’s really very simple: If you like listening to the alternative rock radio station Sonic 102.9, you’re going to love Sonic Boom. This last festival of summer is like listening to Sonic minus the commercials – plus being at the mercy of the elements, food that’s bad for you, there’s line-ups for everything, and you […]
Kenny Rogers deals last hand at Northlands Coliseum
You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table – there’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done. Oh, Kenny Rogers, leave it to you to sum up the Northlands foofarah almost 40 years before it happened. What are they goin’ to do with themselves? How fitting that the building now […]
Volbeat motors manic metal mashup
Volbeat wears its influences on its sleeve – or would if frontman Michael Poulsen didn’t prefer to bare his arms to display his many tattoos. His vest. He wears his influences on his vest: Sewn patches of Motorhead, Johnny Cash, the Ramones, the death metal band called Death, and so on. Bursts of just about […]
How did our festivals do?
Imagine you’re on the fence about going to Sonic Boom, Edmonton’s last proper outdoor festival happening Sept. 3-4 in Borden Park. Maybe you’re festival-ed out. Maybe you’re sick of summer. Maybe you’re tired of life. Then you find out Twenty One Pilots is playing – and that’s the deal maker. Sure, OK, let’s have one […]
WEEKEND MUSIC: Big hand for Fitz
In the middle of festival season, a rare weekend without one finds Edmonton with a cadenced assortment of gigs both big and small. From Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas, and Volbeat, at Rexall Place, to a couple of gigs at the River Cree, to the smaller but equally vital smaller venues, there’s a little something […]
INTERVIEW: Has Zakk Wylde gone myld?
Zakk Wylde has been typecast as a metal dude for so long that it’s taken fans some time to get used to his somewhat mellower direction. On his “Book of Shadows II” solo tour, coming to the Ranch Roadhouse Tuesday night, one might even be tempted to call him “Zakk Mylde.” Not to his face. […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: No bad blues
One of the great things about the blues is that it can be played by musicians who’ve never met or who don’t even know the same songs. One of the bad things about the blues is that it can be played by musicians who’ve never met or who don’t even know the same songs. That’s […]
FRINGE: 4 swell musicals
The Fringe is oft a bouquet of music, a transport of melody or even a delirious grab bag of song and dance. Let’s start with the delirious. There was once an East German girly/boy named Hansel who longed to be a singer in a rock band. He also wanted to be a girl but the […]
Rockers rock Edmonton Rock Festival
People like Kim Mitchell and Randy Bachman have played here so much that we take them for granted. These guys are world-class artists who’ve put a lot of rock standards on the scoreboard, but around here they’re just part of the landscape, ignored, sometimes even scorned by younger generations. If you miss them now, hey, […]
