INTERVIEW: Nelly Furtado goes everywhere, finds herself

INTERVIEW: Nelly Furtado goes everywhere, finds herself

There’s a good reason why Nelly Furtado isn’t a bigger star than she ought to be. It’s because this has all been just a “hobby” for her. The singer admits as much during a recent interview to pump up interest for her show at the Jubilee Auditorium on Tuesday, part of a big round of […]

BOB SEGER: King of rock songs about rocking rocks Edmonton in March

BOB SEGER: King of rock songs about rocking rocks Edmonton in March

This one has been in the “will get to Edmonton eventually” file for ages, and look how time flies – Bob Seger is finally coming to town. The consummate classic rocker, perhaps best known for “Old Time Rock and Roll” and other rock songs about rocking, will bring his Silver Bullet Band to Rexall Place […]

CNIB singing contest judges the voice and ONLY the voice

CNIB singing contest judges the voice and ONLY the voice

American Idol and its televised talent show ilk have often been criticized for being “glorified karaoke” – so it must follow that actual karaoke has been elevated to a higher Idol-like status. Amateur singing nights are still all the rage, anyway. It’s not hard to find karaoke in Edmonton, but the popular karaoke hangout B […]

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: The Whytes go One More Round

WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: The Whytes go One More Round

The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra started small. It used to be a Tequila Mockingbird Duo. Once upon a time, in Victoria, B.C., there was an open mic night that was so underground that it was literally underground – located in one of the many tunnels that run under the sidewalks of the city, legend has it. […]

DEEP FREEZE: Frozen Fringe Festival fantastic fun for frosty folk

DEEP FREEZE: Frozen Fringe Festival fantastic fun for frosty folk

If you’re going to put on a winter festival in Edmonton, it is imperative that you have a place for people to get away from the winter – and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so challenging to put on a winter festival in Edmonton. Winter sucks, not to put too fine a point […]

GAME ON, GIG OFF: How hockey can hurt (other) live entertainment

GAME ON, GIG OFF: How hockey can hurt (other) live entertainment

Musicians and other performers are deeply conflicted over the end of the NHL lockout – judging from the gust of passionate comments on social media after Sunday’s good news. Amongst the expected grumbles of “who cares?!” and cheers of “yay! drop the puck!” was a nagging worry that the return of Edmonton Oilers games will […]

Why Blue Rodeo never wears out its welcome

Why Blue Rodeo never wears out its welcome

How many times have we seen Blue Rodeo in Edmonton? Given at least one visit for each album plus eight folk fest appearances over almost 26 years, the conservative estimate is that they’ve played here 23 times. Does that sound right? Could be more if you count solo appearances from the two frontmen Jim Cuddy […]

Mark Meer elected Edmontonian of 2012 in landslide victory

Mark Meer elected Edmontonian of 2012 in landslide victory

We should’ve known what would happen if we put Mark Meer on the list. Of course he was voted GigCity’s Edmontonian of the Year – in a landslide, with 68% of the vote. He’s such a tireless self-promoter and wields such a formidable clout in social media that winning our little contest/social experiment was a […]

ONE FINAL YEARENDER: Eight Edmonton news items of 2012

ONE FINAL YEARENDER: Eight Edmonton news items of 2012

And here you were hoping the Mayans were right and you could FINALLY get out of having to read one more “top stories of the year” list. Sorry. Given Pre-Columbian prophetic abilities, surely the Mayans wouldn’t have been able to accurately predict any of these events either: Former Edmontonian Heads Bank of England It was […]

NYE MUSIC PREVIEW: Should old gigs be forgot and never brought to mind?

NYE MUSIC PREVIEW: Should old gigs be forgot and never brought to mind?

New Year’s Eve is a weird gig. Traditionally for musicians it is the highest paying job of the year, but it’s a party more than a concert, and the musicians are expected to be entertainers more than the artists they are the rest of the year. It’s also the one show where you’re playing second […]

REAREND IN VIEW: Our top stories of 2012

REAREND IN VIEW: Our top stories of 2012

The most popular stories GigCity published in 2012 started in January with a viral video of “strange sounds in the sky” that prompted a local debunker to create a hoax video to prove the original was a hoax, but the plan backfired when her video went viral, too, as did the article we wrote about […]

Vote now for Edmontonian of the Year!

Vote now for Edmontonian of the Year!

If Time magazine can choose a “Person of the Year” from eight billion prospects, we can certainly do it from among the mere one million citizens of Edmonton. It’s kind of like Vue magazine’s “best of Edmonton,” but there can only be one. We just don’t have the budget. The only criteria was “made waves […]