Favorite Shows of 1998

In 1998, I only went to a total of 12 concerts, but sure have a lot of good stories from them shows. Out of the 12 shows I saw, 3 were Big Sugar concerts and 3 were Bob Dylan shows.
On May 13th I travelled to Vancouver to see the Bob Dylan,Van Morrison and Joni Mitchell triple bill at GM Place that was happening on the 14th. When I got to Vancouver, I saw that The Dave Matthews Band was playing that night of the 13th at The Plaza of Nations an outdoor venue. The show was sold out, so I went to a ticket agency to see if I could get a ticket for the show.
While at the ticket agency, I was able to get a ticket for the Dave Matthews show, but got talking with the guy there, and told him I was from Edmonton and going to the Dylan show the following night. He then told me about a warm up gig for Bob Dylan at The Rage, which is a bar that holds about a thoousand people. He had a few tickets left for the show at a hundred dollars a piece. Well, it didn't take me long to scoop one of them up. I was all over that. One problem, it was the same night as the Dave Matthews show, but the venue for Dylan was right across the street from Plaza of Nations. Perfect!!!! I was able to see two thirds of the Matthews show then went and caught the intimate Dylan show at The Rage.
I had been hanging with a friend of mine (Miles) from North Van all day drinking and doing mushrooms on a beautiful hot sunny day. So I was well lit up for the Matthews show, then off to the Dylan show I went.
And what a fucking awesome show the Dylan one was. Amazing to see him play such a small venue. This show is one of my top ten shows I have ever seen in my life, and the best hundred dollars I have spent on a concert. Dylan was rocking this night, the most rocking and animated I had seem him play. Good times!!!!

The following day May 14th, I got to see one of only five dates for this great triple bill of Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and Bob Dylan play GM Place in Vancouver.
After seeing Dylan play a bar the night before, it was going to be hard to beat that show. But then, this was going to be my first time seeing Van the Man and Joni and neither one let me down, Van Morrison was excellent, Joni Mitchell was good and again Bob put on another awesome show. A great night of music legends.


On June 26th, I saw Big Sugar play a show I will never forget. It was a win to get in show, a promotional concert for Labatt's Blue. Lucky me, I won tickets for this show. The show was held at a airplane hangar at City Centre Airport in downtown Edmonton. The hangar is weird venue to be seeing Big Sugar playing, or any band for that matter. It was like a long curlling rink, so not a whole lot of room. I think there were about 300-400 people that had won tix for this show. The show was on a Friday night and the weather was shitty, with pouring rain happening just before the show started. Which made for a very muddy parking lot at the hangar. One we got into the venue, to my surprise they were selling cans of Blue for a buck a piece, NICE!!!! So you can imagine the amount of beer people were drinking. We were all making pigs of ourseleves. There were beer cans stacked in pyramids allover the long tables they had set up, beer cans all over the place, drunks everywhere, and I mean hardcore drunks,lol. How could you not be with cans of beers for a buck. The venure was extremely hot, with it being so small and all the rain outside. So of course you had to go outside for fresh air once in a while, which wasn't a great idea, cause outside the hangar it was a mud bath. People falling down in the mud, then coming back into the venue covered in mud, which started to make the inside of the venue a mess on top of all the beer cans everywhere. Finally Big Sugar come onto stage and start rocking the place big time. Sounding good a crowd that is primed and ready to party. It all started good, until about 4 songs into the set when the generators started cutting out,because of the shitty weather outside, this happened about 4 times through out the 40 minute set, causing all kinds of delays, which gave everyone even more time to drink. They finally shut the show down much to everyone's disappointment.
On the way out of the show, who do Lori and I run into, my friend A Bomb, I didn't even know he was at the show. But here he is standing outside in the rain in a total daze. Drunk, ya, you could say that. So from there, we carried on to our place, walking from downtown to the northside where I lived at the time. On the way home walking down Yellowhead Trail, we run into my boss whom was living above the Harley shop on Yellowhead, so of course he invites us drunks in for hoots and drinks.
All and all a very fun night, the show wasn't as good as expected for a Big Sugar concert, but it surely wasn't the bands fault, bad venue, bad weather, but good times nonetheless. I'll never forget that show. The show was a fiasco but fun.
About 2 weeks later, I get a letter in the mail from Labatt's apologizing about the show and offering a pass to see Big Sugar play again at the Shaw Conference Centre. This time the beers weren't a dollar a piece :(


Other shows I saw in 1998 include Steve Earle with Buddy and Julie Miller at The Winspear Centre, Mighty Mighty Bosstones with the Pietasters at Dinwoodie Lounge, Edge Fest in Calgary at the Race City Speedway with bands Tea Party,Green Day,Foo Fighters,Sloan and many others, Big Sugar the make up show for the Labatt Blue hangar party this time at the Shaw Conferene Centre, Eric Clapton with Bonnie Raitt at the Coliseum (Bonnie Raitt stole this show), Stompin' Tom Connors at the Shaw Conference Centre, Bob Dylan with Jann Arden at The Coliseum and finally Big Sugar yet again this time with Gov't Mule at the Shaw Conference Centre this was an excellent double bill of dirty rockin' blues.
All and all, not a lot of shows this year, but some damn good stories.

Whitey Houston,Pride Tiger and C'Mon @ The Pawn Shop

Sunday night was a good triple bill of all Canadian music at The Pawn Shop. While Monday was a holiday, I have to say that Sunday isn't a night for all out partying to some great bands. I must be getting old, it just didn't seem to be as happening as I thought it would be.
The night started with local duo Whitey Houston rocking the venue, they sure make a lot of noise for a bass player and drummer and of course the hot lady playing the maracas in the background. The place was quite full for these guys.
Next up was Pride Tiger from Vancouver with their 70's influenced Thin Lizzy sound, they rocked the joint. I have to say the drummer/lead singer is a lot of fun to watch perform, he seems very happy to be doing what he does, always smiling,banging away and the woo's here and there, fun band, good tunes. Second time I have seen them in the last year and wasn't disappointed.


Headliners C'Mon (from Toronto) lead by Ian Blurton formerly of Change Of Heart were next. For a 3 piece band they play some dirty rock n' roll with no letting up during their hour long set. But you could see the place emptying out as the night went on. I wasn't the only one not quite ready to rock out on a Sunday. Kind of a shame actually.
All and all, not a bad night of music, just wish it had been on a Friday or Saturday. I give this show a 7 out of 10. I went to this show with A Bomb and Earl.

Put That In Your Joel and Plaskett!!!!!

Thursday night May 14th BZ,Earl and I went to see Joel Plaskett play at McDougall Church here in Edmonton. Ya, I know, a church, weird place for a show, but what a wicked show it was. Joel put on an awesome show and played close to 3 hours with a short intermission after 45 minutes. Joel had his father playing with him and two excellent back up lady singers, and one of them (Ana Egge) hailing from Estevan, Sask. which is where my cuz and Dad are from. She did a song called Farmers Daughter that was quite good. The venue held about 500 people and was packed. What an excellent 3 hours of music. He played lots of new songs from his album Three which is probably my favorite album so far this year, highly recommend buying it. The only bitch I have about this venue was lack of booze, thank god there is a bar just down the street :) But when the music is this good, who needs booze. All and all , I give this show a 9 out of 10. Good times!!!!

Favorite Shows of 1997

Another year, another list of favorite shows that I saw in 1997.
After finally getting to see KISS in 96 in Vancouver with the make up on, they finally made their way to Alberta for a couple of shows in Calgary and Edmonton. And of course, my brother and I were all over that. We went to both shows back to back and had a great time at both of them. My Bro and I did sid for the Edmonton show, and once again lost our minds, as we had row 12 on the floor for the Edmonton show, which meant we had Gene staring us down for the whole show.I took Donna from the PO to this show. In Calgary it was just my brother and I that went.



Then on June 14th I went and saw U2 play Commonwealth Stadium. I wasn't really a big fan of U2 but thought I had to see this show as it was huge production and to see them play for 60,000 people is always a spectacle. I left this show being a big fan of U2. They put on an excellent show, and I enjoyed the opening band Fun Lovin' Criminals as well. They ended up playing 2 shows as the first one sold out so quick. Well after seeing them play the first show, I went to the second show on the 15th as well. I bought a ticket at the show for 20 dollars, nice deal.



On July 28th A Bomb and I went to see The Bloodhound Gang play at The Rev. This show we almost didn't go to cause it was a week night and we are lazy fucks. Am I ever glad that we decided to go, this was an awesome show and a lot of fun. A good time was had for sure.

Shit, almost forgot, before the Bloodhound Gang show, on July 19th in Camrose was the Another Roadside Attraction show which is a festival that The Tragically Hip used to put on. What a great time this was. We had several cars travel to this show, Warren, Kim, Chantel, A Bomb and myself and others all went. This was an excellent line up with Van Allen Belt, Ron Sexsmith, The Mutton Birds, Change Of Heart which rocked the grounds big time, Los Lobos which were awesome, they had A Bomb and I dancing like I have never danced before, the sid helped I think, hell A Bomb was even singing in Spanish and knew the words, how, I have no idea, but what a fucking excellent set Los Lobos put on, next up was Wilco, which was my first time seeing them, they rocked too, and after Los Lobos some lady gave me mushrooms which really made Wilco sound good. I was rocking now, let me tell you. After Wilco was Ashley MacIsaac the whacked out fiddle player, he was good as well. Next up was Sheryl Crow who did nothing for me, and then finally The Hip which were great as per usual. All and all, what a day of music and tripping out. Oh ya, and the beer gardens, lets just say it was hell. You wanna see drunks, holy shit, even I couldn't handle being in the beer gardens. Good times!!!!

In 1997 Edmonton had another big show at Commonwealth Stadium, this time The Rolling Stones again on Oct 2nd with Blues Traveler opening, awesome double bill. Once again the Stones were excellent and I really enjoyed seeing Blues Traveler. This was my third time seeing the Stones and they didn't disappoint. For some old timers and what they have been thru, they sure do put on a good show.

Other shows I saw in 97 were Big Sugar with Big Rude Jake at The Convention Centre, Let's Go Bowling with Mad Bomber Society at the Rebar on Whyte Ave., David Wilcox at Myer Horowitz Theatre, Bush with Veruca Salt at The Coliseum, Weezer in Calgary at MacEwan Hall Ballroom, Alberta Classic Rock Weekend in High River,Alberta the bands that played at this fest were Rik Emmett of Triumph,Deep Purple,George Thorogood,Nazareth,Pat Travers,Blue Oyster Cult shit bands like Prism,Chilliwack and others, it was a fun weekend, lots of drinking and carrying on, another festival I saw this same year was Edge Fest held at Commonwealth Stadium ( the old stadium was a busy place that year), bands at this fest were Our Lady Peace,Tea Party,I Mother Earth,Silverchair,Redd Kross,Econoline Crush,Glueleg,Age of Electric and others, Moe at The Rev, Jethro Tull at The Jubilee Auditorium, and finally Joan Jett at the Thunderdome another fun year of concerts. Good Times!!!!

Favorite Shows Of 1996

1996 was a slow year for concerts here in Edmonton. I did get out to some, but overall a weak year.
On March 16th of 1996 my brother,Warren and I made the trip to Banff for Snow Job. Much Music used to do a concert series in the mountains called Snow Job. This year it was held in Banff. At this show we saw a band called Presidents Of The United States of America with The Goo Goo Dolls, they played in the field of Banff High School, this was a great double bill and before Goo Goo Dolls went all sappy. A good time was had by all. This show was free, but you had to get passes a couple of weeks before, which we did.
Three days later at the Thunderdome was blues legend Bo Diddley with local harp player Rusty Reed sharing the stage with him.I believe Earl and I went to this show. Excellent show.
Also in 1996, KISS finally got the original band together again and donned the make up for a reunion tour. I was all over this show when it was announced. I had to travel to Vancouver for it, which was fine by me. My brother was living in Vancouver at the time. And like myself, my brother wasn't about to miss this show either. The show was on the September long weekend, and two days before the KISS show was another reunion show with the Sex Pistols, talk about a fun weekend of 70's music.
At the KISS show, my brother and I hung out at the venue before the show, drinking beers and tweaking out on mushrooms. By the time we got into the show at GM Place, we were tripping quite hard. There were all kinds of people in KISS costumes, and to our surprise as we are sitting in our seats watching the spectacle, out of nowhere come two people dressed in cave man outfits, why, I have no idea. My brother and I looked at each other, like, did you just see what I saw, yup. Well, here comes the laughter, after that we couldn't even look at each other without losing it. Finally the show started, this was the firs time for my Bro and I to finaly see our heroes play in make up and it was everything we expected and more. What an amazing time we had at this show. All and all, an excellent weekend in Vancouver.



Also the long weekend in Vancouver, I made the decision to stay an extra week to see The Allman Brothers Band play at The Orpheum Theatre. Only to have show cancelled day of. That sucked big time, I was very disappointed and fucking cost me a few bucks to stay the extra week. Bastards!!!
Other shows I saw in 96 were The Alleyboys at People's Pub, Rymes With Orange at the Thunderdome, Sass Jordan at Thunderdome, Great Big Sea at The Rev, Big Sugar with Wide Mouth Mason at The Rev, Neil Youg and Crazy Horse with Moist and Pete Droge and The Sinners, and to end the year The Tragically Hip with The Rheostatics at the Coliseum.