Pawnshop closing, gigs move to Union Hall
It isn’t so much that Edmonton has lost another music venue, but has gained a “twinned” one. Look on the bright side. Pawnshop Live – a popular Whyte Avenue rock club that’s operated under several different names and owners over the years (Rebar, Stars, etc.) – will close its doors after Saturday’s last show under […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Swervedriver returns
Swervedriver puts the shoe in shoegaze – or maybe it’s the gaze. Either way, this British band formed in 1990 by Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge was considered to be in the vanguard of the anti-grunge genre’s quick spark and peak, with their first full-length Raise being released in 1991, followed by a 1993 sophomore […]
REPORT: North Country Fair an Eden of good vibes
North Country Fair has offered some pretty zany experiences in the past four years I’ve attended. This time was no different. More on that in a moment. There is always great music and this year’s edition that ran June 19-21 had a bevy of it, but what keeps people coming back is the wholesale communal […]
REVIEW: Steven Wilson far beyond prog
Steven Wilson represents something quite rare in today’s music industry: An artist who’s remarkably creative and actually writes interesting material – in case you thought they were all dead by now. More than 700 prog rock fans sold out the Myer Horowitz Theatre Monday night to see their hero perform his first-ever gig in Edmonton. […]
The Tea Party to scratch 20 year itch in Edmonton
It’s good to have the Tea Party back in regular Canadian touring rotation again. Everyone’s favourite Zeppelin-meets-Doors power trio was on the disabled list for a while, but they’re back in action, now celebrating 20 years since scoring huge with their third album, The Edges of Twilight. As part of a North American tour, the […]
Bad Religion to play Edmonton after all
It’s good to see at least one headliner from the cancelled Tail Creek Music Festival has salvaged an Edmonton gig out of it. Bad Religion will now play the Union Hall on Saturday, June 27 – same date the California band was to appear at the Shaw Conference Centre with Limp Bizkit for Tail Creek. […]
5 Edmonton cats to dig at the jazz fest
Beyond the avant-garde atonal adventures of The Bad Plus, or the emotionally powerful pianowork of Fred Hersch or The Rolling Stones’ favourite background singer Lisa Fischer, the Edmonton International Jazz Festival is loaded with local ringers. Accomplished musicians to a fault, Edmonton’s jazz cats largely lurk in the shadows of the festival schedule, but they […]
INTERVIEW: It’s all beautiful to Lisa Fischer
When they call Lisa Fischer the “best back-up vocalist in the world,” they’re not joking. She can sing, sure, but there’s a lot more to it than that. The Rolling Stones, Luther Vandross, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, Sting, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Nine Inch Nails are just a few of the people she’s worked with. […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Festival upon festival
Yellowknife and Edmonton share a kinship of mutual insanity that develops every summer – because we’re all desperate to get as much fun out of it as possible. They even have midnight sun festival called “Raven Madness Days.” We can relate. Doesn’t get dark much around here, either, and this solstice weekend is when festivals […]
Tail Creek cancelled, EDM show goes on
The writing was really on the wall about this one. News that the Tail Creek Music Festival has been cancelled is unfortunate, but it comes as no surprise. Organizers had made the decision to move the outdoor event to the Shaw Conference Centre June 26-28 to feature Limp Bizkit and Billy Talent, among others, but […]
North Country Fair lineup Dunn like dinner
This weekend will be musician Mike Dunn’s sixth year at the North Country Fair – the annual indie music jamboree that happens on the shortest nights of the year near the shores of the mighty Lesser Slave Lake – and now he has a chance to level up. After several stints playing the event with […]
Pallbearer brings light to doom at Farmageddon
A strange thing happened at the Farmageddon heavy metal festival on Sunday afternoon, during a set by the black metal band Xul: The sun came out. This put an end to the pall of heavy rain clouds that had set a stormy pastoral scene on the farmer’s field near Ryley, Alberta, hosting metal acts from […]
