July 9th

  My ticket stub from the time I saw Fu Manchu with Speedealer and Brand New Sin play The Rev in Edmonton on July 9th , 2002.

July 7th

 

 I saw the band Tool play Rexall Place in Edmonton on July 7th, 2010. this show blew my mind at the time. Good stuff!

July 6th

 It was on this day July 6th, 2001 that I saw one of my all time favourite artists, the one and only Stompin' Tom Connors play at Jack Singer Concert Hall in Calgary. I went to this show with my brother Captain Citrus.

Greg Attonito of the Bouncing Souls Live in Edmonton June 28th 2025

  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.

Joe Vickers.

 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.

Garrett Dale.

 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!!!

Greg Attonito.

July 5th

 

 While visiting my brother in Montreal in 2003, we made the trip to Ottawa on July 5th, 2003 to see Elvis Costello and The Imposters play the Ottawa Bluesfest. A great show, and after his set we caught some of Daniel Lanois's set on one of the side stages. Good times!!!

Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs Live in Edmonton June 20th 2025

 

 When this show was announced I was super excited about seeing Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs play in a bar, that bar being the Midway Music Hall. I've got his first two album with the Dirty Knobs and think they are great, so this was a must see show for me. After spreading the word to my buddies it was Buzzard, Cuz, Nazz, A-Bomb and I that were making our way to this show. What did disappoint me was a few weeks before the show I got an email from the event organizer saying that this would be a seated show. What the hell, I wanted to see this show because a general admission bar show where I can get up and close and shake my ass all night is what I signed up for, not to be seated at a rock n' roll show. Nonetheless, it was a seated show, not for me though, I stood at the back by the soundboard for all of Mike Campbell and danced the night away. There was no way I could have sat still for this show.

 Opening the show was Shannon McNally from Long Island, New York. I had never heard of her before, so had to checkout her music before seeing her. I listened to a couple albums and thought they were alright, but nothing special. Seeing her perform live was really good, playing a folk/rock style of music. Within the first few minutes of being on stage she brought up the memories of her hometown hockey team beating the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals way back in the early 80's. That brought out some laughs and boos. Though I can't remember the titles of the songs she played in her short half hour set, I did enjoy her set more than I was expecting. The highlight for me was when she brought out Mike Campbell's guitarist Chris Holt for a couple of songs including an awesome cover of Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue", they nailed it. Overall a great opening set.

Shannon McNally.

 It was now time for Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs. For those that don't know, Mike Campbell was the guitarist in Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers from the very beginning (1976-2016). Not only was he the guitarist but also wrote or co-wrote many  songs with Petty. Mike was to Tom Petty what Steve Van Zandt is to Bruce Springsteen, songwriter, guitarist and friend. And if you have heard any of his three albums he has done so far with his band The Dirty Knobs you can't help but notice the similarity in his music style and voice to that of Tom Petty, bound to happen when you play in the Heartbreakers for forty years.

 The Dirty Knobs band included and much to my surprise, longtime Heartbreakers drummer (1995-2016) Steve Ferrone, guitarist Chris Holt, bassist Lance Morrison and of course Mike Campbell. Looking at Mike Campbell and listening to him play, you would never guess he is 75 years old, unreal.

 Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs hit the stage at precisely at 9 and didn't leave the stage until 11:20, a solid almost two and half hour show of loose rock n' roll. The whole night felt one big long jam session with Mike saying several times through the show that he was disregarding the setlist and playing whatever the hell he wanted to play. The band was great and Mike was looking to have a lot of fun in what I thought was a small turnout for the show, my guess would be maybe 300 people. The band played lots of Dirty Knobs songs such as "External Combustion","Dirty Job", "Wreckless Abandon", "Shake These Blues", "Hands Are Tied" and of course the song "Fuck That Guy", I was surprised how early in the set he did that song, that song had the crowd singing along big time.

 Then there were the Tom Petty songs he and the band played, classics like "Even The Losers", "You Got Lucky", "Refugee" and "Runnin' Down A Dream" all songs that Mike co-wrote with Tom Petty. There may have been a couple other Petty songs but that's all i recall right now. there were a couple of covers too, the Beach Boys song "Lonely Sea" which was dedicated to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys who passed away a week earlier. A cool cover of Van Morrison's "Gloria" and to end the night the Gordon Lightfoot song "Sundown".

 An awesome night of rock n' roll. Good times!!!

Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs.

July 2nd

  The ticket stub from the time I saw the Mike Plume Band rock the fuck out of the Mercury Room in Edmonton.