On Friday I was back at the Almanac for another show and this time it was for Ron Hawkins, whom is best known for being the lead singer and songwriter of the very under rated 90's band Lowest Of The Low. I have seen Lowest Of The Low three times previous but the first time I have seen him solo, or more like duo actually, as Ron had another guitar player with him by the name of Brian MacMillan. Being a big fan of LOTL I was really looking forward to this show, as I haven't seen him perform since 2002.
Opening the evening was Ego The Jackal aka musician Connor McGowan who is originally from Ireland but now calls Edmonton home. I had never heard of him before this show, but after looking in to him. He use to be the frontman for the Derry, Northern Ireland rock band Skruff.
Ego The Jackal his newest project is Connor playing solo and playing a folk style of music. His 40 minute set was quite good, as he his a great finger picking guitar player and his voice was very soulful at times reminding me of Ben Harper a bit. He also did a great version of the Springsteen song "Dancing In The Dark". What bothered me during his set and actually this happened through out the night, was all the chitter chattering going on. This also happened at the Plume show last weekend and at another show I was at a few weeks ago. The artist is performing which requires listening, shut the fuck up people. If you don't like the artist or music, have some respect and go outside and talk, or better yet, go to your local watering hole and talk away. But if you have come to a live music venue, do everyone a favour and shut up!!! Overall Ego The Jackal set was pretty good.
Ego The Jackal at The Almanac.
Now it was time for Ron Hawkins and Brian MacMillan to do their thing. By this time the venue was a little over half full. I really thought there would be a better turnout for this Friday evening show. For those that didn't make it, you missed an awesome show. But again, who all knew about the show, as there was no posters or advertising for this show.
I was excited about hearing Ron do some Lowest Of The Low songs, especially tunes from the first LOTL album "Shakespeare My Butt", but Ron is on the road touring for his latest solo album "Spit Sputter and Sparkle", so wasn't too sure how much he would play. As Ron has done a lot of music with not only LOTL, different projects such as his solo stuff, Ron Hawkins and the Rusty Nails and the Do Good Assassins. I'll be honest and have to admit, I haven't heard much of his other stuff. Well Ron certainly didn't disappoint, he played music from all his bands, but did a lot of his early LOTL tunes. His two hour show just flew by with one great song after another, quite a bit from Shakespeare, such as "Eternal Fatalist", "Salesmen, Cheats And Liars", "Bleed A Little While Tonight", "Rosy And Grey" that song had the biggest and loudest sing-a-long of the evening with everyone singing the verse...
"Well, I've kissed you in France and I've kissed you in Spain
And I've kissed you in places I'd better not name
And I've seen the sun go down on Sacre Coeur
But I like it much better going down on you
Ah, you know that's true"
That was a classic live music experience. Ron even took a request playing the song "For The Hand Of Magdelena". This was an awesome night of music, other then the people talking through out the show. Good times!!!
Ron Hawkins at The Almanac.
Setlist for Ron Hawkins.
Lowest Of The Low have reunited a few times for shows out east, here is hoping that they make their way out west to play some shows, maybe the Interstellar Rodeo.
I had the opportunity to have a brief chat with Ron after the show. I showed him a couple of ticket stubs I had from the LOTL shows I saw in 1994. He was kind enough to autograph them for me.
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