Interstellar Rodeo Edmonton July 22nd 2018

On Sunday I made my way down to Hawrelak Park for the last day of the Interstellar Rodeo Festival. This was the first time in five years that I haven't gone all three days. A variety of reasons for that, wasn't all that keen on the line up this year, though that usually doesn't hold me up, but the cost and personal reasons. But of all days that I really did want to go was Sunday because of Alejandro Escovedo and Courtney Barnett were playing. But as of Saturday I wasn't going. But lucky for me, my sweetheart Janis and her friend Erin went on the Saturday. While they were there having a bite to eat at one of the picnic tables, the couple next to them asked if they were coming on Sunday for the show. They said that they weren't, that was when the couple asked if they were interested in buying their tickets for 20 dollars a piece as they were not able to make it. Thanks to Janis she picked up a ticket for me for Sunday. So, I was now going, and the price was right too!

Because I didn't pay full price and the weather was touch n' go, I didn't head to the festival grounds until mid afternoon, that and there was really no bands that interested me til later in the day. Well the weather ended up cooperating, no rain after the lunch hour, so that was perfect. I got to down to the Hawrelak Park Amphitheatre in time to catch the band out of Regina, Saskatchewan called The Dead South who are now signed with Six Shooter Records, the label that puts on this festival. There music is described as a mix of folk and bluegrass, they were good at what they do, but not my jam.

The Dead South.

Next up was the Interstellar all Stars, this has been a tradition of the Interstellar Festival in which they put together a group of musicians for a jam. This year the group consisted of Jason Plumb from Regina whom fronted the Waltons, Tim Baker from St. Johns, Newfoundland the lead singer and songwriter of the band Hey Rosetta!i> and Rose Cousins from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Their set was good with the highlight being when they did the Tragically Hip song "Ahead By A Century" that had the crowd singing along. It actually gave me chills hearing it. Pretty damn cool.

The Interstellar All Stars.

Now it was time for Alejandro Escovedo, one of the artists that I really wanted to see. This would be my second time seeing Alejandro in concert. Escovedo who is from Texas is a veteran of the music scene having recorded and toured since the late 70's. The man has played punk, roots rock and alt country and good old rock n' roll. As Ford Pier the MC of the festival mentioned in the introduction of the band, that Escovedo played in the punk band The Nuns who opened for the Sex Pistols in San Francisco their final concert. So ya, Alejandro has been around for a while.

Escovedo's hour long set was rocking through out playing a Rank & File song, Rank & File being an old punk band he was once in. Of course he also played his solo stuff including the songs "Sally Was A Cop", "Chelsea Hotel 78", "Sensitive Boys" and "Five Hearts Breaking", those were the songs I knew at least. Escovedo gave me a Keith Richards kind of vibe. I really enjoyed his set and was a great way to warm up the crowd for the final artist of the weekend.

Alejandro Escovedo.

Closing out the festival was Australian singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett. She was the artist that most excited me about this years line-up. Her latest album Tell Me How You Really Feel is one of my favourites of this year, so I was really looking forward to hearing her play live. And she did not disappoint at all. She rocked that stage right from the get go opening with the song "Hopefulessness" from her new album. This lady writes some amazing lyrics and with so much wit, like these words in the opening song "you know what they say, no one is born to hate, we learn it somewhere along the way, take your broken heart, turn it into art", and that's just the first verse. Another great song she performed was "I'm Not Your Mother, I'm Not Your Bitch".

Another great line of lyrics again from her new album in a song called "Nameless Faceless" "he said "I could eat a bowl of alphabet soup, and spit out better words than you". Courtney certainly has a way with words.

At the start of her set I was standing up by the soundboard having a few beers, as last call was coming and I didn't want to waste any beer tickets, so I had a few lined up, as I was watching and listening to her music all I could think was this would be even better if I was up close. So I wasted no time and downed my last two beers and made my way up to the front of the stage. And yup, it was even better up close. Courtney brought her "A" game and rocked the hell out, she brought the punk to Interstellar. Very impressed!

Kind of sad that I didn't go all three days to this years Interstellar as this is a very fun laid back festival even if you don't know all the bands, it is always a really good time. Great job by Six Shooter Records putting on this festival and to all the awesome volunteers. Good times!!!

Courtney Barnett.

Courtney Barnett setlist I got from the show.

Sloan Live in Edmonton July 19th 2018

Last Thursday my Cuz and I made our way down town to the Legislature Grounds Capital Plaza where they are holding the Taste Of Edmonton food festival which runs for 10 days where there is all kinds of food to sample from restaurants and food trucks, they also always have music guests every night. We were there for the music and beers not food. And on this night it was Canadian rockers Sloan playing. This would be my fifth time seeing Sloan in concert, but it had been quite sometime since I last saw them, so I was looking forward to this show, and it was free, so that's always a bonus too.

We got there in time to catch a few songs by the opening band Whale and the Wolf. What I saw of them I thought they were alright, maybe should have checked out more of them, oh well!

Whale and the Wolf at Taste Of Edmonton.

So before Sloan came on we got ourselves a few beers and got up close to the stage. Hard to believe that Sloan has been around for 26 years and are currently on the road promoting their latest release titled 12, which is an album I really like.

Of course just as the band hit the stage the rain starts falling and never let up through out the whole hour plus show. And it rained hard, soaked right through by the time the show ended, but all that were there, and there was a decent crowd considering how hard it was raining, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Sloan is made up of Chris Murphy, Andrew Scott, Jay Ferguson and Patrick Pentland. What is really cool about this band is how they all trade off on instruments and singing through the whole show. There music or at least a lot of it reminds me a bit of The Beatles and just great pop music with the right touch of rock n' roll. And with twelve albums out there is a lot of music to pick from. I've never been real good with the titles of their songs, but some of the one's I did know were, a couple of new ones "Spin Our Wheels", "44 Teenagers" and "Gone For Good" which got great responses from the crowd. Of course the old ones always get an even better response like "Money City Maniacs", "The Good In Everyone" and "Who Taught You To Live Like That". I thought the whole show was kick ass. Maybe it was just me, but they almost sounded sloppy but in a good way, just a good rock n' roll show, maybe it was just the sloppiness of the rain, but it just seemed like the guys were having fun and not uptight or anything. I loved it, I thought it was a very fun show and has renewed my interest in the band again. Good times!!!

Sloan at the Taste of Edmonton.

The Cult Live in Edmonton July 13th 2018

Last Friday my buddy RCD and I went to the The Cult show here at Union Hall, a rare club show for a band like The Cult. This was a free show if you were lucky enough to get in on the tickets, in which I was. The show was put on by Aurora which is a medical marijuana producer and distributor, soon be a legal product for recreational use here in Canada come October 17th. Aurora has been doing a concert series called the Aurora Illumination Series where bands play club shows which are free for the fans all across the country. The show here in Edmonton, which is the second show that Aurora has put on here was The Cult. I honestly didn't even realize this British rock band was even still together never mind touring. While I have never really been a fan of this band, this would be my fifth time seeing them in concert. Having seen them with GnR, opening for the likes of Metallica twice, Lenny Kravitz, yet never really cared for them. Oh ya, also saw lead singer Ian Astbury front The Doors 20th Century thing they did. I do have more respect for them now then I did back in the day, and thought seeing them play a club show would be pretty damn cool.

A day after I scored the tickets much to my surprise they announced Mike McDonald as the opener. Mike is a local musician who also fronts the band Jr. Gone Wild, but this would be a solo show. Seemed like a really weird gig for Mike. I wasn't so sure how he would go over with a Cult crowd, I was actually quite nervous for him. But he did awesome, the crowd were into him, and there seemed to be quite a few people in the crowd that knew his music, after all he has been playing since the 80's so it's not like he is unknown. I myself am a huge fan of both his solo and JGW music. This would be my fifth time seeing Mike McDonald play a solo show.

Mike's 45 minute set was excellent with great song choices for this kind of crowd, mixing in solo and JGW tunes. The venue was quite full for him too, which makes sense as those that had free tickets had to be there by 8:30. I think Mike was even surprised by the great response he got from the crowd.

Some of the songs Mike did were, "The Longest Song In The Universe" from his first solo album Is This Thing On?, as well as a couple from his Live At The Blue Chair Café album. Which included "Fifty Dollar Whore" and "Slept All Afternoon". Mike also played a few new Jr. Gone Wild tunes that have yet to be released, "Five Million Songs In One", "Barricades (The Hockey Riot Song)" which is song actually written by Steve Loree the other guitar player in JGW, "Fools Errand" also was played. Just so many great songs. It was awesome to see Mike play to a near full venue and pull it off. Great job Mike.

Mike McDonald at Union Hall.

Next up was the main act that everyone was waiting for The Cult. The Cult have gone through many a member in the band, this version of the band included as always Ian Astbury on vocals and Billy Duffy on lead guitar, rounding out the band was Damon Fox on keyboards, Grant Fitzpatrick on bass and drummer John Tempesta who has also played in Testament and Rob Zombie's band.

By the time The Cult came on the place was super packed. The band opened with "Wild Flower" which sounded incredible, a great opening song, then into "Rain". Then there were a few songs that I'm not all that familiar with, like I say have never really followed the band that close despite seeing them quite a few times. I still don't think Ian has the strongest voice but hey that's just my opinion. I did think that they closed the show out great playing "Sweet Soul Sister", "Fire Woman", "Love Removal Machine" and for the encore "She Sells Sanctuary". I had to laugh as Ian still loves to bang around the tambourine a lot, I remember that from all the other times I have seen him. At least this time he seemed sober and didn't have the attitude that I have seen him have before. Like the time I saw him get booed off the stage after four songs when they opened for Metallica back in 1993. All and all this was a fun show to be at. Good times!!!

The Cult at Union Hall.

Free t-shirt I got for signing up for the Aurora newsletter. Just wish the t-shirt mentioned The Cult on it.

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