June 17th

  The ticket stub from the Danny Michel show I saw June 17th, 2016 in Edmonton at The Needle Vinyl Tavern.

Danny Michel & Steve Poltz Live in Edmonton November 22nd 2024

  

 A couple of Friday's ago my buddies A-Bomb, Buzzard and I went to the Danny Michel concert at the Myer Horowitz Theatre here in Edmonton. This would be my 9th time seeing Danny Michel in concert.

 Going to this show I knew nothing about Steve Poltz, but thought we have to checkout his opening set. Good thing too, because he didn't open the show, it was Danny and Steve sharing the stage through out the whole show. And just by looking at Steve Poltz you could tell this guy is a character. Steve was born in Halifax but is now based in San Diego I believe. Steve is not only a musician but he is also part comedian. He had the crowd in stitches with some of the stories he told during the almost two hour show.

 Steve opened the show with a Tom Waits song called "In The Neighbourhood" a great way to start the evening. And then the stories started, and man there were a lot of stories. With Danny and Steve trading off songs all night, it was Danny who did the next song, and it was a version of a Steve song called "A Brief History Of My Life" done in Danny's version.

 Then it was Steve's turn, and this is how the whole night went. Steve told a story about writing the hit song with Jewel called "You Were Meant For Me", which was a very successful song for Jewel in 1995. Now, I didn't know whether to believe him or not, as that is how Steve comes across with some of his stories. But Lo and Behold after looking into it, true story. Steve did help write that song, in which he performed.

 This sure wasn't a typical Danny Michel concert, having seen him many times in concert it was pretty cool to see him collaborate with Steve on some songs and doing songs on his own as well. Songs such as "Whale Of A Tale" from his Fibsville album. As well as "Two Hearts" from his album Tales From The Invisible Man. To close out the first set of the evening Steve did a song of his ow called "I Want All My Friends To be Happy".

 After a brief intermission it was time for the second set in which Danny opened with a song of his called "Samantha In The Sky With Diamonds". And then some more hilarious stories from both Danny and Steve. There were more song from Steve in which I can't recall the titles of the songs other then his own version of "A Brief History Of My Life". A couple of other songs Danny did were "Nobody Rules You" and "Don't Be So Hard On Yourself". This was a very fun show to see and I look forward to hopefully seeing both in concert again soon. Good times!!!

Some pictures from the show.

 After the show both Danny and Steve came out to the lobby to chat with fans and such. I picked up Danny Michel's 25th Anniversary release of his album Fibsville in which he autographed for me. Both gentlemen were very nice and took lots of time to take photos and talk with their fans.

Autographed album.

July 27th

  

 On July 27th, 2013 I was at the second day of the 2013 version of the Interstellar Rodeo held at Hawrelak Parks Heritage Amphitheatre in Edmonton. Sadly this festival is no longer held, having folded in 2019. This was always such a good time and great line ups,like this one.

 Highlights for me at on this day was seeing Mike Plume Band open the days festivities. And my favourite performance of the day was seeing Danny Michel for the first time in concert. Danny had the Garifuna Collective backing him up which was incredible. The whole day was an absolute blast.

January 12th

 

 It was January 12th 2018 that I saw Danny Michel play the Myer Horowitz Theatre here in Edmonton.

Danny Michel Live in Toronto June 29th 2019

On our last night of holidays I got to see Danny Michel in concert, a free show at the Harbourfront Centre in downtown Toronto on a beautiful hot evening. This show was part of the Canada Day long weekend festivities. This would be my sixth time seeing Danny in concert. And as always, this was another great show.

I hadn't seen Danny in concert since the release of his EP White & Gold last year, so it was nice to hear some of the new songs like "Purgatory Cove" and "Born in the Wild". He also of course played some of his classics like "What Colour Are You?", "Feather, Fur & Fin", "Wish Willy", "Click Click" and "Tennessee Tobacco", plus many others. Sadly I had to miss the last fifteen minutes of the show as I had a train to catch to get back to Burlington. I was really hoping to hear the song "The Right Thing" from his White & Gold album, so not sure if that was played or not. One more reason to go see him again, in hopes of hearing that song live.

Danny sounded great for doing his first show in over a month, though he did mention he was being distracted with everything else going on around him, like the planes taking off and landing on the lake in front of him, the boats coming in, planes flying over, and just the general chaos of people all over wandering the harbour front.

Still a very fun show, and for free, can't go wrong there. Good times!!!

Danny Michel at Harbourfront Centre.

In concert news...Danny Michel will be playing at Festival Place in Sherwood Park on Thursday October 3rd.

Danny Michel Live in Edmonton Jan.12th 2018

Last Friday Janis and my buddy Buzzard went to the Danny Michel concert at the Myer Horowitz Theatre here in Edmonton. This was my fifth time seeing Danny in concert. We missed the opening act local artist Erin Kay as we were out having a few beers before the show. I heard she was quite good, it's too bad we missed her set.

As for Danny Michel, once again he put on a very fun and entertaining show, playing for about an hour and a half. Danny played solo, no back up band. Danny mixed up the set with material from most of his career, playing some oldies like "Tennessee Tobacco" from his 2006 album Valhalla, "Feather, Fur & Fin" from his 2008 album by the same title. Also played were "Wish Willy" and "Who's Gonna Miss You?" from the album Sunset Sea. And of course between almost every song Danny has a story to tell, and these stories most times are fuckin' hilarious. I have heard most of these stories a few times already, but he tells them with such enthusiasm you can't help but be engaged and laugh your ass off. One of the stories he told on this night was one I had never heard before, a story about meeting Paul Simon backstage at a show in Toronto. Another great story full of laughs, if you should ever get the chance, ask Danny about his Paul Simon apple tree. he had the audience in stitches at times with the stories. But it's not the stories that your there for, it's the music, and Danny does an awesome job on those as well.

The subjects of Danny's songs are so full of adventures he has been on, including his latest big adventure on the Russian icebreaker ship Khlebnikov. Danny was invited on this 18 day adventure by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield as it went through the Arctic Ocean. Danny was the music guest among as already said astronaut Chris Hadfield, scientists, filmographer and photographers. The album Khlebnizov is very Russian music influenced as you would imagine after recording this album on the ship. He then brought the recording to a studio and added orchestral arrangements to make a very cool album. Danny did a couple of songs from the album including the song "24,000 Horses". And because the venue had a huge screen behind him on stage, Danny showed some really cool film footage from the adventure. Also on stage with Danny this time was a grand piano in which he did a few songs on, something I had never seen him play before, that was cool.

Danny also did some songs from the recording he did in Belize with The Garifuna Collective, a very Graceland like album called Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me. Songs from that album he did were "What Colour Are You?" and "Sad and Beautiful World".

All and all this was a really great show by Danny Michel, I love how Danny just comes across as a very genuine man and really seems like someone that wants to make the world a better place. Kudos to you Danny Michel! Good times!!!

Danny Michel at the Myer Horowitz Theatre.

Danny Michel Live in Edmonton Dec.2nd 2016

On Friday night my buddy Buzzard and I went to the Danny Michel sold out show at St. Basil's Cultural Centre here in Edmonton, this show was put on by the New Moon Folk Club. This was my fourth time seeing Danny Michel in concert, and second time this year seeing him.

Danny Michel is a singer song-writer from Waterloo, Ontario, not only is he a musician but he is also a producer and filmmaker, hell he could also be a part time comedian, some of his between song banter are down right hilarious.

Danny did two sets on this night which made for an almost two hour show. And again he put on a great show to the 400 attendees. Danny played a great set of songs that included fan favorites like "Feather, Fur & Fun", "Wish Willy", and it was before this song that Danny told a great story that he tells often but is still funny every time he tells it. Other songs played were "Tennessee Tobacco", "Sad And Beautiful World", "What Colour are You?", and from his latest album Matadora he played "Nobody Rules You", "Click Click", "Good Old Days" and "Samantha In The Sky With Diamonds". Of course that's not the only songs played but the ones that come to mind. Danny also played a brand new song "24,000 Horses" which will be on an album called Khlebnikoz to be released on January 20th 2017.

This album Khlebnikoz was recorded while Danny Michel was on an 18 day expedition with Canadian astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield and others aboard the Russian ice breaker Kapitan Khlebnikov in the arctic. You can read and watch video about this trip by clicking here. This album is going to be very influenced by Russian music, as Danny not only played a song off the album at the show, but he also played a little clip of it from his phone that night at the show.

All and all this was an amazing show by Danny as per usual. Good times!!!

This picture here was taken when I ran in to Danny Michel at the Ottawa airport the day after I had seen The Hip play in Kingston and the day before Danny was to head north for his Arctic expedition. He was nice enough to autograph this for me after the show.

Danny Michel Live in Edmonton June 17th 2016

So after a good afternoon nap, I was refreshed and ready to head off to the Danny Michel concert at the Needle with my buddy Buzzard. This was my third time seeing Danny Michel in concert.

We missed the opening act, and by the time we got to the Needle the place was packed. Trying to get to the front of the stage was a pain in the ass, as they had a terrible set up for this show. Why the hell would you set up tables on the dance floor is beyond me. This wasn't billed as a cabaret show, yet set up like one. The venue isn't set up for that kind of show as the dance floor really isn't that big. Nonetheless, we did manage to get up to the front after a whole lot of squeezing between people and tables. There was very little room to move around and took away from the show if you wanted to grab a beer and dance. Needle, what the hell were you thinking, you could have sold more tickets as well if you had taken the tables out.

Again this show was just Danny Michel playing solo, and what a fucking show he put on. He played for about an hour and a half, playing lots of old and new material. Some of the songs he played from the new album Matadora were the title song, Paris Las Vegas, Good Old Days, Click Click, Nobody Rules You and Samantha In The Sky With Diamonds which is a song about European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti whom spent 200 days at the International Space Station. Danny told a funny story about this song in which he had sent the demo version to his buddy Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who turned around and sent it to Samantha. Danny wasn't too happy about it at the time as the song was only a demo, but he laughs now as it is a great tribute to her.

Danny is a very engaging performer telling great stories about his songs. Other songs played at the show were Feather, Fur & Fin, and songs When I'm You, Who's Gonna Miss You?, Wish Willy from his 2010 album Sunset Sea. He also played What Colour Are You?, Sad And Beautiful World from his album Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me which is my favorite album of his. There were other songs played as well but these are the ones that come to mind as I write this. Danny also brought out local musician Ayla Brook for a couple of songs which led into a guitar duel which was funny and entertaining. Danny produced an album of Ayla's called "After The Morning After" which is a great album in itself. The two of them looked to be having a blast playing together. Actually Danny looked to be having a great time all evening, as he always does. This was Danny's last show of his current tour.

One thing I can say about Danny Michel's music is if I am ever down or feeling in a funk I can out on one of his album's and it breaks me out of whatever funk it is I am in. His music resonates with me, his lyrics are very uplifting and honest and the music makes me wanna sing and dance.

After the show Danny was at the merchandise show signing autographs and meeting his fans. I stuck around to meet Danny and pick up his new album to get autographed. It was awesome to meet the man again, we had a nice chat, with Danny recognizing me from the show earlier in the day at CKUA and mentioning to me that he always picks a few people out of the audience that he feeds off while performing. Well, I was one of them people, he said to me "watching you sing along and dance all night made him smile and he really fed off my energy. That was so nice to hear from a performer like Danny, as I was feeding off his energy as well. Such a cool and humble and entertaining performer Danny is. He also said to me while pointing at me and then himself "you and I are friends, I can just tell" that made me feel incredible. Danny you rock!!! Good times!!!

After the show I went to Buzzard's for a few more beers. When I was ready to leave he asked if I needed a cab. I said no that's alright, I'm going to walk (about a 45 minute walk home). I was in such a good mood after the show I just wanted to throw on some Danny Michel music on my headphones and walk. Well my walk home was more like a dance and sing-along all the way home. I hope no one filmed me dancing and singing across the High Level Bridge as I am sure that shit would go viral as I am neither a good singer or dancer, but what a great walk home.

If you ever get the chance to see Danny Michel in concert I highly recommend going you will not be disappointed. Speaking of...Danny Michel will be back in Edmonton in December 2nd as part of the New Moon Folk Club concert series.

Danny Michel at the Needle Vinyl Tavern.

I didn't take many pictures at this show as I was too busy dancing and singing.

Autographed vinyl.

Danny Michel at the CKUA Party In The Park June 17th 2016

Woke up Friday morning with somewhat of a hangover after the Voivod show, thank goodness I booked the day off. I got my shit together, had a couple of morning beers and made my way downtown to the CKUA building for their Party In The Park. For those that don't know about CKUA, they are an Alberta radio station that has been around since 1927. More then two-thirds of the station's funding is made by the audience that listens to this excellent eclectic station. Very little advertising, great DJ's and a very wide range of programming. It is the only station I listen to anymore, it's been about 7 years now.

Anyways, Friday June 17th CKUA were hosting their Party In The Park which included live music, tours of the new building they are in now, and because this was at lunch time, there were food trucks and previews of upcoming summer festivals.

I got there about 25 minutes before Danny Michel was set to perform, so I figured that was enough time to find a pub and have a couple of quick beers, which is exactly what I did. I got back to the CKUA building just in time to catch Danny play. He only did two songs, which were both new songs from his latest album Matadora. The songs he played were Click Click and Nobody Rules You both on acoustic. They sounded great and were a great build up to the show later that night which he was headlining at the Needle Vinyl Tavern. Kudos to Danny for coming out to perform at the Party In The Park at 1:15pm considering he had played the night before in Lethbridge which is about a five hour drive to Edmonton. The crowd had thinned out a bit by then, still a decent amount of people, hell we all know the Government workers downtown can take extra long lunches, especially on a Friday.

I was happy to see Danny Michel play a couple of songs, and now it was time to get home and have a nap before the show that evening. Good times!!!

Danny Michel at the CKUA Party In The Park.

Danny Michel Live in Edmonton Nov.28th 2014

Friday night I made my way to the St. Basil's Cultural Centre to see the Full Moon Folk Club presentation of the Danny Michel concert. While it was damn near forty below here, there is no better way to warm up then going to see some live music.

This seemed like a weird venue for a concert, but it was alright, basically just a big banquet room set up cabaret style. The show was sold out well in advance, and for good reason, Danny Michel puts on one hell of a show. This nights show was Danny playing solo, so just him and his guitar and pedals and a loop machine. This was my second time seeing him in concert, as the first time was at the Interstellar Rodeo Festival in the summer of 2013 when he played with the Garifuna Collective. After seeing that amazing show, I was an instant fan of Danny Michel.

Danny did two sets on this night, playing such songs as "Sad And Beautiful World", "Tennessee Tobacco", "What Colour Are You?", "Feather,Fur & Fin","Wish Willy" among others. Danny Michel is a very engaging performer, telling funny and interesting stories before every song, his sense of humour is hilarious. His guitar playing is a very under rated, his voice sounded great even though it sounded like has was fighting the dryness of an Alberta winter. And the man can write a song. For his encore he did a couple of cover songs, one was the Dire Straits song "Walk Of Life" and an old Elvis song "The Shrimp Song". A great show and look forward to him coming through town again soon I hope. Good times!!!

Some live footage I took at the show.



A couple of pictures from the show.

Interstellar Rodeo Festival in Edmonton Day 3 July 28th 2013

Sunday was the last day of the three day sold out Interstellar Rodeo Festival. My buddy Hurl and I missed the opener of the day John Fullbright. But we were sure to be there in time for the Interstellar All-Stars jam which was Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo, Danny Michel and a guitar player originally from Mexico now based in Toronto a guy named QuiQue Escamilla backing up these three were a few guys from the Garifuna Collective. After seeing Danny Michel perform on the Saturday, I wasn't going to miss this.

Even with the weather being shitty, overcast, raining and the wind whipping around off and on, there was still a great turn out in the early afternoon for the All-Star jam. Each guy did about three songs, of course Jim Cuddy doing some Blue Rodeo songs, and Danny Michel doing three songs from his latest album "Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me" and again Danny got a great response from the audience. Guitarist QuiQue Escamilla did a couple of songs in Spanish, his last song was a spiced up mexi version of Johnny Cash's "I Walk The Line" in which he had the whole crowd singing along with him. It was a pretty decent start to the afternoon.

The Interstellar All-Stars, Jim Cuddy, Danny Michel and QuiQue Escamilla backed by The Garifuna Collective.

Next act of the afternoon was an artist from Vancouver by the name of C.R. Avery. We saw him to an interlude set on Saturday between acts. During that small set he was doing this weird human beat box spoken word poetry thing, which did absolutely nothing for me, I thought he was god awful. So when he hit the stage on this afternoon, I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to him. It didn't take long before he had my full attention as he wasn't doing the spoken word poetry shit, as he was doing some rap stuff, still some beat box stuff as well, but not so prominent. The lyrics in his rap stuff was very interesting and then with his band and C.R. on harmonica he really had me. The man is a hell of a harp player and his band was damn good as well. By the end of his hour long set he made a fan of me. The man is talented in a lot of ways. The guy is a freak, like a Tom Waits on meth. I am intrigued and will be looking in to his music here real soon. A very interesting set.

C.R. Avery.

After C.R. Avery it was the Skydiggers. I didn't even realize this roots rock band were still around. Was never a fan of them therefore didn't really pay any attention to them.

Next was Amelia Curran a singer-songwriter from St. John's, Newfoundland. She played a folk/country/roots kind of music. She only did about a half hour set, which is too bad cause I thought she was really good. I will be looking in to her music a bit more. Her latest album Spectators was released last year on Six Shooter Records.

Amelia Curran.

I was looking forward to the next band which was Elliott BROOD from Toronto. This was my second time seeing this three piece alt-country band perform, and again, they were excellent. The crowd was packed in front of the stage for them and really getting in to it. They had the place a bouncing and singing along. A great set by Elliot BROOD.

Elliott BROOD.

We missed Serena Ryder's set as we went out for a few smokes and had a couple beers and then got in line to meet Steve Earle and get his autograph. It was nice that Steve was doing his signing before his set as Hurl and I were going to miss the tail end of his show as we had another concert to go to this same night. More about that later. I was looking forward to meeting Steve Earle as I have been a huge fan of his for many years. After standing in line for a little over a half hour Steve Earle made his way out to meet his fans. Steve looked healthy and good, which is good to see if you know anything about Steve Earle's past. Steve not only signed autographs, but took the time to shake hands and actually talk to all those in the line up, and as well, took the time to be photographed with every single person. Class act, as I have been to autographs sessions before where the musician wanted to no part of being there. So this was a very pleasant surprise. Thanks Steve Earle!!!

Steve Earle and I.

Autographed album.

The last act of the festival was Steve Earle and The Dukes. This was my eighth time seeing Steve Earle in concert, I have seen a few not so good shows by him, but this wasn't one of them. If anything, this was one of the better shows I have seen him do in the last 5 years. Although Steve's wife Allison Moorer wasn't in the band this time around, the rest of the band kicked ass. Steve himself even said that this was probably the best edition of the Dukes he has ever played with. Steve was very engaging through out his set and the song list for the his show as awesome. He even played one of my favorite Steve Earle songs "Ben McCulloch" from his 1995 Train A Comin' album. Steve mixed his setlist with songs from his whole career, and the new songs from his latest excellent album Low Highway worked great. Sadly, Hurl and I had to bail two thirds of the way through the show as we were off to the Starlite Room to catch the "Edmonton For Southern Alberta" benefit show. So the last song we heard on the way out was Copperhead Road. Didn't bother me any missing that song as I have heard it way too many times. Even though the night was rainy and windy and a touch chilly after being ou tin the elements all day, there was still a large crowd there for Steve Earle. A great performance by Steve Earle. Good times!!!

Steve Earle and The Dukes setlist.

1.The Low Highway
2.21st Century Blues
3.Calico County
4.Taneytown
5.Hard Core Troubadour
6.I Thought You Should Know
7.That's All You Got?
8.Love's Gonna Blow My Way
9.After Mardi Gras
10.This City
11.Ben McCulloch
12.Invisible
13.I Ain't Ever Satisfied
14.Guitar Town
15.Copperhead Road
16.Survivors of ..(instrumental)
17.The Galway Girl
18.Down the Road Pt 2
19.Down the Road

Encore:
20.The Revolution Starts Now

Steve Earle and The Dukes.

Steve Earle t-shirt front.

Back.

I have to say that the Interstellar Rodeo Festival is one of hell of a well run festival. For only there second year running, the people from Six Shooter Records and all the volunteers that put their time in to this festival did a great job. Even with the weather not co-operating the people still came out and stuck through it all. From the music line-up, to the venue, food vendors, Big Rock Breweries and of course all the fans that were respectful and again all the volunteers, cheers to everyone to a job well done. Looking forward to seeing what next years line-up will be. The dates for next years Interstellar Rodeo Festival are going to be July 25th-27th 2014.