Last Saturday my buddy A-Bomb and I went to the Greg Attonito show at The Buck. This was a rare chance to see the lead singer of punk band The Bouncing Souls, Greg Attonito play a solo acoustic show in a intimate setting.
Starting the evening was Alberta artist Joe Vickers whom also plays in the Edmonton band Audio/Rocketry. I had seen Audio/Rocketry a few times and always enjoyed them, but had never seen Joe play solo. Because I wasn't all that familiar with Joe's solo material, I reached out to Joe for some help with the song titles. And lo and behold he got back to me with his setlist from that evening. Thank you so much Joe, much appreciated.
Joe's set started with a song called "Worst-Case" from the 2023 Audio/Rocketry album Voyager. Joe mentioned at the start of the song that it was about losing another friend to Vancouver, and right away the first thing that came to mind was the loss of Edmonton musician Ben Sir of Worst Days Down who we lost in April 2023. Next was another song from the same album called "Old Strathcona".
Joe also did a cover of The Weakerthans song "Left & Leaving". The next two songs were Audio/Rocketry songs from their 2016 self titled album, them songs being "Somewhere In Between" in which he dedicated the song to Ben Sir, man this song had me tearing up while he sang it, and "Postcards/Heaven Spots" which was a foot stomping song. then another cover song called "Sorry You're Sick" by Ted Hawkins. Joe then closed out his set with two songs "Gun Shy" and "Vacancy" from his solo album Waiting On A Muse. Both songs were awesome. Joe Vickers set was so good and an awesome way to start the evening, a great singer/songwriter and musician. I will certainly be picking up more of his music and watching for future performances.
Next up was Garrett Dale, originally from Oklahoma now calling Edmonton home. This would be my second time seeing Garrett play. Garrett used to play in the punk band Red City Radio. this being the second time seeing him, I had an idea of what I was in for. the first time I saw him play i didn't much care for his set opening for Dave Hause. This time Garrett was dressed up in a cowboy outfit, did I mention this guy is kind of weird. Again his set was high tempo punk played on acoustic with lots of yelling and carrying on. He certainly does his own thing and quite the character. I couldn't tell you any song titles, but he is entertaining, at least for a while. His set was a little long for me, and after a half hour I got tired of it and went downstairs for a smoke. While outside smoking, who comes out the door still playing, yes Garrett Dale still givin' er'. He ended up playing two more songs on the street of Whyte Avenue. I couldn't get away from the guy, lol. Maybe if I see him a few more times I'll end up being a fan.
To close out the night was Greg Attonito lead singer and founding member of The Bouncing Souls. I have seen the New Jersey punk band Bouncing Souls three times but has been 22 years since I last saw them. So to see Greg do an acoustic solo show would be a treat. Not sure how often he does these, but I'm thinking it's kind of rare.
Greg opened his set with the Bouncing Souls song "Say Anything" from their 1997 self titled album, which was super cool and had the crowd singing along right off the start. I don't know all the titles of the songs he sang, but will make mention of the ones I did know. Another old one he did was "Argyle" from the 1997 album Maniacal Laughter. The biggest sing-along of the night was to "Lean on Sheena", that had the crowd singing loudly and dancing. A few other songs he did were "Hopeless Romantic", "Quick Chek Girl", and "Gone" from the 2001 album How I Spent My Summer Vacation. Greg also did a few cover songs, one of them being a Springsteen song "Hungry Heart" and The Ramones song "Rockaway Beach". A solid night of tunes and a treat to see someone like Greg Attonito do a solo show in a small bar like The Buck. Good times!!!
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