David Byrne Live in Edmonton May 20th 2018

Sunday night was the David Byrne show here in Edmonton at the Jubilee Auditorium. I went to this show with Buzzard, Char and Janis. This would be my second time seeing David Byrne in concert. Sadly I had to miss the farewell Slayer concert that was held the same night, but I guess you can't see them all. As much as I want to.

The opening act for this show was an artist from Edmonton, London England by the name of Benjamin Clementine. I had never heard of him before but read a bit about him and he sounded like he would be interesting to check out.

His show started out with just him at a piano singing with a female and child mannequin at the front of the stage surrounded by mannequin body parts. Ok this is weird. He started out alright, I didn't mind the first song. Then another musician joined him on stage, a bass player that also played a little bit of keys and did some vocals.

Then things just got really weird. I'm not even sure how to describe his set. I'm always up for strange/weird music, but this was like something I have never seen or heard before. The music was out there, and then he carried around the child mannequin while singing a song I believe was called "Turkish Boy", by the end of the song Benjamin had carried the mannequin to the side of the stage and dropped it down the stairs to the right side of the stage with it shattering all over the place, weird. Then there was a song that went on forever where Benjamin and his bass player chanted something, not exactly sure what it was. But it went on and on, just when you thought it was done they would start it up again, some people in the audience started laughing, and some just got up and left. It had crossed my mind to leave as well, but I was waiting for him to just say ha, jokes on you. I was enthralled watching, like looking at a car accident. This was one very strange performance. I did stick it out to the end. This was more like performance art then musicianship, in my opinion anyways. Some fucked up shit that's for sure. Way over my head.

After his set while outside during intermission it was some funny listening to people talk about Benjamin's performance. Most people were like myself going what the hell was that. Some had checked out about ten minutes into the set. From what I heard and the people I talked to didn't much care for his set, but it certainly had people talking that's for sure. Very weird.

Benjamin Clementine at the Jubilee in Edmonton.

Next up was David Byrne whom is most famous for being the front man and lyricist for the band Talking Heads, though he much more then that. David Byrne has also worked in film, photography and an author, a very interesting man he is. On this night he is on tour promoting his first solo album in 14 years called American Utopia. The last time he played Edmonton was in 2009 when he was touring for his album he did with Brian Eno. I was never a fan of the Talking Heads or his music until I saw him in concert the first time. So I was looking forward to seeing him perform again.

The show started with just David on stage sitting at a desk with a model of a brain in his hand. This wasn't your normal stage set up. There were no amps to be seen, no drum set, and the three sides of the stage were just beads covering all the sides. David started the show with a new song called "Here", at first I as thinking the music was canned music, but then through the beads came his 11 piece band one member at a time all playing cordless instruments. Drums and keys strapped to each member and a couple that did a whole lot of dancing through out the whole show.

David's setlist was comprised of music from his whole catalog including a good mix of Talking Heads songs, and lots from his American Utopia album, which went over very well. I find that usually when you see an older artist doing new stuff that you are always waiting for his old music, but that wasn't the case with this show. The new music was excellent as is the album. He even did a song from his album he did with St. Vincent, a song called "I Should Watch TV". He probably did about half the "American Utopia" album live. A highlight from the new album a song called "Everybody's Coming To My House" was amazing live too. He closed his set with the Talking Heads song "Burning Down The House" which had everyone singing along. His eleven piece band was amazing, not once through the whole show was there a slow moment, everyone was always moving and dancing, the choreography in the dancing and such was very cool. It was almost like watching a musical.

For the first song of his encore he did the song "Dancing Together" which is song from his album he did with Fatboy Slim in 2010. Then it was another Talking Heads song "The Great Curve". For the second encore he did a song called "Hell You Talmbout", which is song wrote by Janelle Monae. I knew nothing about this song, until now, after researching it. It is a protest song about African American people that have died in encounters with law enforcement. During the song each band member would shout out a name of a person that has been shot by an officer. I didn't much care for the song as it seemed to go on forever, the whole band were in line and drumming along and shouting out the names. I found it to be very long and boring, but figured ok after this things will pick up again, but no, that was it show over. I have to say I was very disappointed with the way the show ended. I thought we would get to hear a couple more Talking Heads songs. Sadly songs like "Psycho Killer", "Take Me To The River" and "Life During Wartime" were left out of the setlist. Other then that complaint, this was a very good show. Just wish I could have heard them songs instead of the way it did end. Have to say though David Byrne sounded great and was in fine form being his quirky weird self. All and all a very entertaining show and well worth checking out. Good times!!!

David Byrne at the Jubilee in Edmonton.

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Paul Simon Live in Vancouver May 16th 2018

Recently went on a vacation to Vancouver to catch the opening night of Paul Simon's Homeward Bound - The Farewell Tour at Rogers Arena. The vacation itself was an absolute shit show, but we did mange to make it to the concert which was what the holiday was based around, and of course visiting with friends and my Brother.

This tour of Paul Simon's is what has been dubbed as his very last tour. This would be my third time seeing Paul Simon in concert, and first time for Janis, and this is an artist that has been on her bucket list, so we were going.

The sold out show opened with a Simon & Garfunkel tune "America", then going in to "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover", that song kind of surprised me. After that song Paul joked about this not really being his last tour, he just wanted to raise the price of tickets. Of course he then back-tracked and did say that this was it, what IT is, I have no idea. Paul seemed to be in good spirits and looked to be having fun on stage with his 16 piece back-up band. At 76 years old Paul had a lot of energy and sounded pretty damn good, his voice was a bit scratchy at the start, but got better as the show went on. There were a few minor glitches with the screen behind the band, but not enough to take away from the performance, after all, it was opening night of the tour.

His setlist had lots of his most famous song including "The Boy In The Bubble", "Mother And Child Reunion", "Me And Julio Down By The School Yard". "The Obvious Child", among the hits were some lesser well known songs like "Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War" a song which was inspired by a picture that Paul Simon found in a book at Joan Baez's house, Paul also went on to say that he believes this was the first time he had ever performed the song live.

Here is a picture of him performing that song with the actual photo on the big screen.

Other songs I didn't expect were "Spirit Voices" and "Can't Run But". After those songs it was back in to more classics "Diamonds On The Sole Of Her Shoes" and "You Can Call Me Al" that really had the crowd up and dancing and singing.

Paul and his band then came out for the three encores which included the songs "Homeward Bound", "Mrs. Robinson" and "Still Crazy After All These Years" which was amazing. The second encore included "Graceland", "The Boxer" which was also amazing.

And finally for the third encore of the evening we got "Questions For The Angels" and to close out the two hour and twenty minute performance he ended the night with "The Sound Of Silence". I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to hear Kodachrome and Love Me Like A Rock but with a catalog of music like Paul Simon's you were bound to not hear everything you wanted, a minor complaint. An awesome show and one I wasn't so sure that we were actually going to get to see after all the stuff that happened the days before. But we made it and enjoyed it very much.

A big shout out to the staff at Rogers Arena for being so accommodating to Janis and I. Janis had just had surgery the day before so was a little slow and hurting, so stairs weren't easy but the staff helped us in so many ways. Thank you! Good times!!!

Paul Simon at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

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George Thorogood Live in Enoch May 7th 2018

On Monday night Janis, Char, Buzzard and I went to the George Thorogood and The Destroyers concert at the River Cree Resort and Casino in Enoch, Alberta. This venue is just in the outskirts of Edmonton. Ya, yet another Monday night concert, damn! I really had no intention of seeing George again, as I have seen him seven times before, but the three people I went with had never seen him, so I said, ya count me in. Hell it had been a while since I have seen Thorogood play a venue where you could actually get up and dance and drink. The last two times I have seen him was at the Jubilee Auditorium which is a soft seat theatre venue not the best place to see someone like George. And George always puts on a good show, and just maybe he would pull out an acoustic guitar and play a few songs, after all his 2017 album release Party Of One was an acoustic album. But as like every time I have seen him, that didn't happen. I guess when your tour is named Rock Party, there is going to be no solo acoustic stuff, too bad!

There was no opening act for this show, so George and his long time band The Destroyers hit the stage right at 8 o'clock as advertised on the tickets. What did surprise me this time around was that he opened with a song called "Ain't Coming Home Tonight" a new song that was written by his guitar player Jim Suhler and was released as a limited edition Record Store Day 7 inch single, the A side of this single is a cover song called "Shot Down" originally done by garage rockers The Sonics, he also did this song on this night. Which was very surprising, as George has been playing the same songs forever live. So kind of a nice surprise to hear them two.

Of course you got all the songs one would expect at a Thorogood show, "Who Do You Love", "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer", "Night Time", "Gear Jammer", "I Drink Alone". "Bad To The Bone" you get the idea, all the hits he has been playing for thirty plus years, some of them 40 years. That don't seem to phase him or his band as George looked to be having one hell of a time, smiling, rocking, Thrusting his hips and generally just rocking the fuck out. And at 68 years old, he has still got the moves and his voice is the same old rough blues voice we have all come to know and love.

For the encore George came out on stage sporting a Canada t-shirt which got a good rise out of the sold out audience of about 1200 would be my guess. he closed out the night by playing "Move It On Over" and "Born To Be Bad". The crowd and myself would have loved a few more songs, but that was it, a 90 minute set and no more. As he was leaving the stage an instrumental version of the Canadian anthem played, a nice touch. All and all another fun Thorogood show, but if you have seen him once, you have seen him a hundred times. A great party band, especially if you get to see them in a drinking venue where you can get up and shake your ass. Good times!!!

George Thorogood at the River Cree Casino.

Altameda Live in Edmonton May 3rd 2018

On Thursday night my concert buddy Buzzard and I went to the Altameda show at The Common here in Edmonton. This was a free show presented by Pabst Blue Ribbon and would be my fourth time seeing local rockers Altameda. I was first introduced to this band at last years Record Store Day after party, and have been hooked since.

When we got to the venue it looked to us like there was no line up, so we went and had a few beers down by the tracks, what we didn't realize when we came back to the venue was that the show was upstairs in the restaurant, not in the basement, which is called 9910. So when we did get in there were no god seats and that this restaurant was kind of posh and packed. We did manage to find a table to sit at, but we couldn't see fuck all, and the place was loud with everyone chatting, shit this wasn't going to be good. Seemed like a stupid place to have a show. Very hipster like.

The opening band Jared And The Mill out of Phoenix, Arizona who are touring across Canada with Altameda. The tour actually started on the west coast and they were about 5-6 shows in to the tour. Jared And The Mill are a band that to me sounded a lot like Mumford And Sons, not my jam at all, I didn't care for them, but they did seem to grab a lot of peoples attention, just not mine.

Next up was Altameda, by the time they came on the place had thinned out a bit and we were able to shimmy ourselves up to the front of the stage, this was much better then where we had started the night. As like the previous three times I have seen them, they were incredible. Led by singer-songwriter Troy Snaterse who can write one hell of a song and is great on guitar and has a cool stage presence. The band did a lot of songs from their debut album Dirty Rain and some new songs from their forthcoming album, the album is wrote and recorded, the band is currently shopping it around to labels, hoping for a late summer fall release. A couple of the songs they did from Dirty Rain were "Queen Of The Street", "Borrowed Suit, Secondhand Dress" what an awesome song that one is, though I think they are all great songs, but that one really sticks out for me. As did "Blackmarket Blues". One of the new songs they played called "Time Hasn't Changed Me" has real Wilco vibe to it. To close out the night they played an old Jackson Browne song "Runnin' On Empty". This truly is a band to watch for, amazing music and musicians. For fans of Petty, Ryan Adams and Wilco. Good times!!!

Altameda at The Common.

To purchase their album checkout their bandcamp page by clicking here.