Mike Plume Live in Edmonton March 24th 2016

On Thursday night Mike Plume made his return back to Edmonton. This show was the night before my birthday, so there was a crew of us that checked out the concert at The Almanac. A perfect way to celebrate a birthday, great performance by one of my favorite artists, the next day being Good Friday, so a holiday, all this made for a great night out, oh ya and a great crew to go out with, Janis, Cuz, Hurl, Buzzard and my Dad.

This was my ninth time seeing Mike Plume play live, but only the third time I have seen him play solo. This was an intimate show in a small new restaurant/venue called The Almanac which is stumbling distance from home. My guess is that the venue doesn't hold much more then 80-100 people, so the show was sold out in advance.

Mike Plume played for two hours on this night covering songs from his whole career from his first album that came out in 1993 to a few songs from his last release 2013's Red And White Blues, Mike even did a brand new song, which sounded great. Some of the highlights for myself was the Stompin' Tom Connors tribute song "So Long Stompin' Tom" an absolute classic song to the late great Canadian musician. Another song he did which I don't believe I had heard him do live before was "On Remembrance Day". Mike was in great spirits this night cracking jokes, the show was all ages and he made some hilarious comments about the kids with fake ID's. Also making mention of the strong smell of weed that was sticking to audience members after they would step out and then come back inside to the venue, saying it smells a lot like April 20th in here.

Mike also made the announcement that he and his wife Jenny O and daughter Ruby were moving back to Edmonton after being based in Nashville, Tennessee for the past eight or so years. So that was really good news, as it should mean more local gigs, yay!!!

Other songs he did were "Hey Hey What D'Ya Say (Coming Home Again)" that song had the whole crowd singing along with him, "Life Is Funny", "She's Still Everything To Me", "Like A Bullet From A Gun", "Half Full Is The Cup" also in the set was his great hockey song "More Than A Game". Just an awesome night of music and a great way to celebrate my birthday. Good times!!! If your interested in picking up some of Mike Plume's music, click here.

Mike Plume at The Almanac.

Motörhead Monday

Haven't listened to this album in ages, it's fucking awesome, a very underrated album. I'm talking about the Motörhead album 1916 that was released in 1991. Pretty sure I'll be picking a few lines out of this album. Today I picked the song "Shut You Down", a full on rocker this is.

Listen up 'cause I'm telling you
The magic moments were way too few
I'd like to stay but you get too weird
You don't look right since you grew that beard

Seven Inch Saturday (Bob Dylan)

Today's seven inch single is from Bob Dylan. This single which was released in 1965 features the songs "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and on Side B is "She Belongs To Me". Both songs would appear on his album Bringing It All Back Home.

Subterranean Homesick Blues.

She Belongs To Me.

Joel Plaskett Live in Edmonton March 11th 2016

Friday night my buddy Buzzard and I went to the Joel Plaskett concert at a new venue here in Edmonton called The Needle Vinyl Tavern. This show was part of the grand opening weekend. Not only was I excited about seeing Joel Plaskett play a solo show, but was also looking forward to checking out the new venue. Edmonton has lost a few venues in the past year, but it's nice to see that there have been new ones popping up around town, always a good thing. There was a lot of hype about this new venue The Needle, as it's downtown in the old CKUA building (click here to read about the station) so the old building has a lot of history too it housing the radio station for many years. And this venue is one of the bigger ones that have opened, holding 500 for a show. The Needle is also promising live music seven days a week. And the floor downstairs where the washrooms are is an all vinyl floor.

Anyways, we got to the show early as we weren't sure what to expect, but surprisingly, no line up to get in as the place was packed already The Needle offer all kinds of food and craft beers. First thing I noticed walking in was, where the hell is the stage. After slinking our way through all kinds of people, as the bar and the seating for the restaurant is real close together, makes it tough to get around the place. We walked to the back of the place and found the main stage, it's in the back of the place and the area seemed small as did the stage. Good thing lots of people didn't mind sitting where you can't see the stage, cause there is no way 500 people are going to fit into the main stage area.

We got there in time to catch the opener Borscht, who was also playing solo on this night. By being solo it was just Maria Elena Martire as there usually is a drummer that plays with her. I had never heard of them before but was there to check it out. Have to say, it didn't take us too long before we decided to fight through the crowd and step out for a smoke.

Borscht.

Next up was Joel Plaskett, this was my sixth time seeing Joel in concert and third time in the past year. This was the first time I had seen Joel Plaskett playing solo. By the time Joel hit the stage the place was packed, and now having a few beers in me and being in the venue for a while, I was starting to warm up to it. That, and a friendly staff member told me about another bar hidden in the back that wasn't near as busy, huge bonus.

What can you say that I haven't said in previous reviews of Joel's shows, he fucking rocks, even just solo there were times it sounded like a band playing with him. he switched between electric and acoustic through out the night. Even pulling out the keyboard to do a song. Some of the songs I remember him doing, I really need to write my review quicker as I don't recall a lot of them. What I do remember were Park Avenue Sobriety Test, Extraordinary, Work Out Fine, Through & Through & Through, Alright/OK, Rollin', Rollin', Rollin', North Star, Fashionable People, Drunk Teenagers, Song For Jersey, Love This Town it was just before this song where Joel told a great story about back in the day with his first band Thrush Hermit playing the Rebar here in Edmonton when a member of the band was drunk and took the breathalyzer machine off the wall of the bar. No one noticed til they were driving to the next gig when they realized what he had done, they then broke it open and much to their surprise got a 150 dollars from it, so the band ate good for a day or two. Joel also did three new songs on this night, which were all great, can't wait for him to put out a new album. An awesome couple of hours of music by Joel Plaskett with a sold out crowd singing along. Good times!!!

Joel Plaskett at The Needle Vinyl Tavern.

Seven Inch Sunday (Hard Core Logo/D.O.A.)

Today's seven inch single is a split single featuring Hard Core Logo and D.O.A. on Sudden Death Records, this was released in 2010. It was a limited edition release of 500, my copy is #486.

Side A is Hard Core Logo - Who The Hell Do You Think You Are? recorded live at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver 11/07/95.



Side Eh?! is D.O.A. - Blue Tattoo.


Hard Core Logo is a Canadian movie that came out in 1996. The movie was a mockumentary on the punk band Hard Core Logo. It is a movie based on the novel by Michael Turner, the movie was directed by Bruce McDonald. It's an amazing movie and well worth watching.

RIP Keith Emerson

Sad to hear the news today of the passing of Keith Emerson the keyboardist of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, better known as ELP. I remember when I first heard of this band. I was a teenager working in a restaurant as a dish pig, I was a metal head growing up as a kid and I worked with two well educated brothers both of whom were going through University and serving tables to earn some cash. These two brothers always gave me a hard time about being in to heavy metal and tried turning me onto ELP. Well, I still have that best of tape that they made for me. And after a few listens, I have to say I did start to enjoy the music of ELP. Thanks Dave and Alan!!!

Years later, in 1993 I got the chance to see ELP play here in Edmonton at the Jubilee Auditorium. The show was amazing, so glad I got to see Keith Emerson perform. Rest In Peace Keith Emerson.

Black Sabbath Live in Edmonton March 2nd 2016

Wednesday night I was off to see Black Sabbath play here in Edmonton. This was my third concert in six days, and all the bands I saw were British bands. This was my third time seeing the Ozzy led Black Sabbath in concert. This date was the make-up date for the show that was cancelled a few hours before show time at the end of January, when Ozzy was diagnosed with sinusitis. Didn't take long for them to reschedule, thank goodness. As this is the last time Black Sabbath will be touring, hence why the name of this tour is called The End. I was really stoked about this show as I scored row 2 on the floor for this show a week before the show. I haven't had a good seat for a big rock n' roll concert in a long time.

Opening the show was Long Beach, California band Rival Sons. I had never heard the band before this show, and have to say I thought they were quite good. Lead singer Jay Buchanan can scream like no other. Their sound is a mix of heavy heavy Led Zeppelin and a heavy Alice In Chains, kind of a classic rock sound but refreshing. I'm not too sure about the crowd reaction, as it's hard to tell when your in row 2 and would have to turn around to see what's going on. But I know the people around me seemed to be getting off on them. Before they started the stands weren't very full but by the time they were done they had filled up quite a bit. Their guitar player Scott Holiday had a cool stage presence and was very good on the guitar. All and all a pretty decent half hour opening set from Rival Sons.

Rival Sons at Rexall Place in Edmonton.

After a short break it was time for the mighty Black Sabbath. Again on this tour The End it was three original members Ozzy, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler but sadly no Bill Ward, filling in for him was Tommy Clufetos who plays in Ozzy's solo band.

The show started with the song Black Sabbath which was fucking awesome, Ozzy looked like he was still battling some illness, as between verses he would cough and head to the bucket by the drums and spit in the bucket and drink some tea and water. He did ths a few times during the first two songs. Could have just been an itch in his throat because as the show went on he seemed to come around and wasn't coughing. I thought Ozzy sounded pretty damn good on vocals. But who really stole the show was Tony Iommi, but then maybe it was just because for an hour and a half he stood no more then ten feet away from me playing all the classic metal riffs that I grew up on, just amazing to be that close and watch him play. Geezer on bass held it together as he always does, some of them bass riffs are so intricate and heavy.

I really liked the setlist for this years tour more then the last time I saw them less then two years ago. Playing half a dozen songs from the classic 1970 Sabbath album Paranoid. They didn't do any songs from their last release 13, which was fine by me as all I really wanted to hear were the classics, I we definitely got that. The song Snowblind was a favorite for me, but there really wasn't a bad song in the set. Also it was cool to see that the band looked to be having fun on stage, as during the song War Pigs, Ozzy fucked up a bit with the words and you could see Tony and Ozzy looking at each other smiling and laughing. So nice to see a band just being human, fuck up and all, just a band fucking jamming it out. No super fancy light show, they did have a huge screen behind them, but other then that just a great heavy metal show. They closed out the show this time with the encore of Paranoid. An awesome show and worth every penny. Good times!!!

One more thing, to the asshole behind me somewhere on the floor, are you fucking stupid. You throwing your 50 dollar Sabbath lithograph poster that came in a hard shell cardboard tube could have been very dangerous. Luckily it only hit me in the shoulder and deflected off me and hit the guy next to me in the face. Thankfully no damage done, but it could have been a whole lot worse. What made me laugh was when the tube did hit the floor in front of me, the guy that picked it up and opened it and saw that the poster was still in it, turned around and held it in the air and thanked the asshole for the free poster. When the show was done, who shows up but the guy that the poster belonged to, asking for it back. Buddy that had the tube now, a fairly big guy, told the asshole to fucking beat it. I thought something might breakout, but nothing happened, buddy just walked away grumbling.

Black Sabbath setlist for the Edmonton show.

Edit this setlist | More Black Sabbath setlists

Black Sabbath at Rexall Place in Edmonton.

T-shirt front.

T-shirt back.

Limited Edition CD only available at the show, featuring for live songs and four songs from the 13 album sessions.

The Temperance Movement Live in Edmonton Mar.1st 2016

On Tuesday night I went to see British blues rockers The Temperance Movement play at Union Hall. The Temperance Movement is a band that my friend RCD turned me onto recently. He told me about the band, saying I think you will really like these guys. So I checked out their website, watching a few videos and listening to a couple of tracks, and thought they were really good. Next move was to pick up their two full length albums. I had to order them as the local record shop didn't have them in stock. I did manage to get their first album after a few weeks and really liked it. After listening to the album a few times, I had to find out if they would be coming to Edmonton anytime soon. Well, as luck would have it, they were coming to Edmonton, and real soon. Temperance were playing Union Hall in Edmonton on March 1st opening for the Canadian band Monster Truck. I'm not a fan of the venue they were playing and had no interest at all in seeing Monster Truck, but I had to see The Temperance Movement. So I bit the bullet and got a ticket for this show.

I got to the venue plenty early so that I could get a decent spot to see and hear the band. Well, lo and behold they have made a few improvements to the venue, taking out some of the railings and seats so that you could actually get around this venue. Yay, things are looking up for this shitty venue.

The time came for the Temperance Movement to hit the stage. If your a fan of classic rock, bands like the Stones, Free, Black Crowes and such, this is a band that you will surely enjoy. the band came out and rocked the shit out of the place during their forty-five minute set. The band was tight but in a loose way if that makes any sense. Lead singer Phil Campbell sings with a lot of soul and swagger coming off as mix of Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes and Paul Rodgers of Free/Bad Company. The man is so full of energy with moves like a spastic Joe Cocker, and I mean that in a good way. Phil can belt it out like no other. Very very impressed with him and the band. The band played songs from their two albums, including quite a few from their latest release "White Bear" that just came out in February. It's been a while since I have been turned on to a new rock n' roll band that just plays straight up rock. These guys kicked ass in a big way, I highly recommend seeing them live if you get the chance.

After their set I hung around for a bit hoping to maybe get the chance to meet the band and get my vinyl autographed. Sure enough after a while a couple of the guys came to the merch booth and signed autographs. I hung around for a bit longer, but bailed when Monster Truck was about to start. By the way, what a stupid fuckin' name for a band. When I hear the name Monster Truck all I hear in my head is the stupid voice they use for those Monster Truck commercials (you pay for the whole seat, but will only need the edge) done in that stupid fucking Monster Truck selling tickets voice, grrrr. Change the name of your band guys. Nonetheless, I got the hell out of the venue before I had to hear them.

As I was leaving to go home, I thought I'll walk by the tour bus and see if maybe I'll run into the guys from Temperance. Well as would luck would have it, the guys were loading up the bus. So I got to meet all the guys and get the rest of the members to sign my vinyl. One of the guys was actually missing, but they went back in to the venue to retrieve him so as he could also autograph my record. That was cool of them. I talked to the guys for probably about ten minutes. Super nice guys, down to earth and talkative. They mentioned that in the works is another tour across Canada in the fall headlining, I hope like hell that happens. I can guarantee there will be a few friends with me the next time they come through town.

Thanks to the guys in The Temperance Movement for not only putting on a great rock n' roll show, but for also taking the time to meet your fans and signing a few autographs. I know you made some new fans in Edmonton, during the break between bands, having a smoke in the smoking section, I only heard people saying good things about the show. Good times!!!

Thanks to the guy who let me take a picture of the setlist he got off the stage. He too was waiting by the merch booth hoping to meet the guys.

The Temperance Movement at Union Hall.

Autographed vinyl.

T-shirt