Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit Live in Edmonton March 2nd 2023

When this show was first announced I was very excited about seeing Jason Isbell in concert again, that was until I saw the price of tickets. A whopping 150 dollars a ticket, a bit expensive in my opinion, but being a big Isbell fan, I sucked it up and bought tickets for my buddy Buzzard and I. This would be my fourth time seeing Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit in concert. Every other time I had seen him in concert was in a festival setting, so this was going to be nice to see him headline this show at the Jubilee Auditorium playing to his audience. This was also my first show of 2023, three months into the new year and I was finally getting out to a show. Jason and his band opened the show with the song 24 Frames which was a great way to start the show. The band was in great form with Jason sounding great on vocals. Most of the songs played in his almost two hour set were mostly from his last four albums, with one new song called "Death Wish" from his forth coming album Weathervanes, which at the time had not been yet released. Other songs played that I recall were "Dreamsicle", "Hope The High Road", "Alabama Pines" among many others, and even a couple cover songs too. One of them being a Drivin' N' Cryin' song "Honeysuckle Blue" a song and band I am a big fan of. I didn't realize that Sadler Vaden the guitar player in the 400 Unit once played in Drivin' N' Cryin'. So that was cool to see him sing that song with Isbell. The last song of the set was the Fleetwood Mac song "Oh Well". A great show by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit.

Opening the show was Ottawa native Kathleen Edwards. This would be my fourth time seeing her perform live. Kathleen just recently came out of hiatus after being away from the music scene for five years. It was good to see and hear her back on stage playing live again. Joining her on stage with her band was ex-husband Blue Rodeo member Colin Cripps on guitar. Kathleen's seven song set was strong as were her vocals and band. I really enjoyed her set. All and all a great double bill. Good times!!! Kathleen Edwards.