James Taylor and Jackson Browne Live in Edmonton May 9th 2022

Well, after three years of sitting on these tickets this show finally happened. Originaly scheduled for April of 2020 and having bought the tickets well in advance it was a long wait. I honestly didn't think this show was actualy going to happen. But it did, mind you, when we originaly bought the tickets, the opening act was supposed to be Bonnie Raitt. But after all the postponements and delays, Bonnie Raitt was no longer on this tour. This was a disappointment to me as I was really looking forward to seeing her in concert again. The new opener now was Jackson Browne, which is cool too. I went to this show with Janis and my buddy Buzzard. This would be my second time seeing Jackson Browne in concert. The first time I saw him perform was a solo show, this time around he had a full band with him, which I enjoyed much more then solo. Jackson opened the show with the song "Somebody's Baby". Janis right away piped up saying this song is from the movie "Fast Times At Ridgemount High" and she would be correct on that. I actually had to look that up to see if she was right, and yup, she is. Jackson played for about an hour and sounded great, enjoyed his set very much, especially with a band. Other songs i recall him playing were "Fountain Of Sorrow" and "Late For The Sky" from the album Late For The Sky. It was also nice that he didn't do a lot of preaching about environment issues like he did the first time I saw him. Like my buddy says "I came to hear you play music not preach to me", so thankfully there was very little of that. Jackson Browne is a well known environment activist. James Taylor joined him on stage to play "Pretender" and "Running On Empty" a great way to end his set. Jackson Browne at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

Headlining the night was James Taylor and His All-Star Band. This would be my third time seeing James Taylor in concert. I guess you could say James Taylor's music is a guilty pleasure of mine. His laid back style of music is soothing and so great with a great band backing him up. James just comes across as a very genuine man. His hour and half long set was full of hits like "Sweet James", "Carolina In My Mind", "Fire And Rain" and some cover songs of Carole King "You've Got A Friend" and "Up On The Roof" as well as a Marvin Gaye song "How Sweet It Is (Be Loved By You)" and then during his encore Jackson Browne joined him on stage for the Eagles song "Take It Easy". Early in the show James thanked the crowd for hanging on to their tickets for three years. I thought that was good of him to acknowledge how long we had waited for this show. At 74 years old, Taylor's voice is still very strong. Janis, Buzzard and I all really enjoyed this double bill. Good times!!! James Taylor at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

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My Top Ten Concerts of 2022

Well 2022 sure beat the hell out of past couple of years. So nice to have shows happening again and to get out to a few. Nice to have something to look forward to. Live music keeps the heart beating and helps with the economy and so much more. So here I will list my favourite shows of 2022, in order by date.

But now having said that. I do have a little rant I'd like to get off my chest. This would go out to booking agencies, concert promoters, venue owners and bands. It's bad enough now that you can't get a hard copy ticket, hell some shows now you can't even print off your tickerts, it's going more and more digital everyday, and that sucks! Not everyone has a computer or smart phone. I know, because I have a few friends that don't own either and friends that want nothing to do with social media. So it's getting harder and harder for fans of live music to know what shows are going on. We need more postering around town for all shows. There was a time when you could have a poster and a ticket stub for the shows you attended, that's not the way anymore, and I miss that. Sure postering costs money but I believe in the long run you will reach more fans. I know when I post about shows on social media that I have been to, I sometimes get comments back saying "I had no idea that show happened" and why is that. Well, I believe because part of the reason is no postering and also we really miss the weekly entertainment papers like Vue and See Magazine. Sure there might be a few websites that advertise the shows and such, but again, not everyone has or uses the internet. And if you don't know about the site, well you are shit out of luck. Hell, the local newspapers The Sun and Edmonton Journal don't even have concert listings anymore. It used to be every Friday you could ckeckout what was happening around town. Again, that isn't happening anymore either. So what I am saying is, and maybe I'm just gettimg old, but I and others miss having hard copy tickets, posters and reading material. I have had this conversation with othets and they tensd to agree with me that there needs to be more postering done for shows in the city. So venue owners, promoters, booking agencies, bar owners and bands please bring back gig posters.

My top 10 shows of 2022. All shows were in Edmonton.

* Wednesday March 23rd The Darkness with The Dead Deads @ Union Hall

* Thursday March 31st Altameda with Eamon McGrath @ Starlite Room

* Saturday April 2nd Starcrawler @ Foundry On Whyte

* Saturday April 9th Jr. Gone Wild @ Rocky Mountain Icehouse

* Friday May 6th Corb Lund with Mike Plume @ Starlite Room

* Friday September 2nd Dirty Honey with Mac Saturn @ Starlite Room

* Tuesday September 13th Roger Waters @ Rogers Place

* Friday October 21st Dave Hause with Ben Sir @ The Buck

* Saturday October 22nd The Sadies with Kacy Anderson

* Friday October 28th and Saturday October 29th Starcrawler @ Foundry On Whyte

My Favourite Albums Of 2022

Here is my list of favourite albums I bought in 2022. There really isn't much of a list, as I didn't buy a whole lot in 2022. Several reasons I guess, for one I moved a year and a half ago and I don't walk by the local record store everyday anymore. Another reason would be that there just wasn't a lot of new albums that interested me in 2022. And, money being a little tighter with concerts back up and running, I was more interested in getting out to see bands in concert. But here is a small list of some of my favourites. A couple of these albums may have been released the year before but didn't get a vinyl release until 2022. List is in no particular order.

Jr. Gone Wild - Still Got The Jacket After 25 years, local cow-punkers finally released a new album, and damn it is good. Not a bad song on it in my opinion.

Altameda - Born Losers Another band from Edmonton now based in Toronto put out their follow up to Time Hasn't Changed You. At first I wasn't sure what to make of this album as it is quite a bit mellower then the previous album. But after a few listens I fell in love with it. An album that grows on you. Again, not a bad song on it.

Black Crowes - 1972 With the Black Crowes reuniting the band or more like Chris and Rich as there are no othe original members in the band anymore released this all cover album of songs from 1972. A fun album.

Corb Lund - Songs My Friends Wrote Another ex-Edmontonian released this all cover album performing songs that, like the title says, songs that his friends wrote. Another fun album.

Dave Hause - Blood Harmony A mellow album that comes across as sincere in it's lyrics.

The Sadies - Colder Streams An album that was recorded and ready to be released just before the sudden passing of Dallas Good. A great album.

Drive-By Truckers - Welcome 2 Club XIII A rocker of a na album and a great reminder why I like this band so much.

Neil Young + Promise Of The Real - Noise & Flowers Neil was sure punching out the albums in 2022. It felt like everytime I did go to the record shop I was picking up a Neil album. Seven releases in 2022, everything from new material, lost albums and live albums. Of the seven I picked up the live album with Promise Of The Real is my favourite. A rocker with the Willie Nelson's sons Lukas and Micah band backing Neil up, rocking in the vain of Crazy Horse. Great album.