So last weekend my brother Captain Citrus and his girlfriend Sherry came to Edmonton from Vancouver for a visit, as luck would have it there were a couple of shows that we were able to get out to. The first show we attended was the Swingin' Utters concert at the Starlite Room. This show was originally booked for Friday but got flipped with the Calgary show, so it was now on the Thursday night instead of Friday. That was cool by me as I had the Friday booked off from work already and now opened Friday night for another show we wanted to go to.
My brother got here Thursday afternoon, so we met after I was done work and got some drinks in us before heading out to the show. This would be my first time seeing Swingin' Utters in concert. I wasn't all tat familiar with there tunes as I only have one of their albums. But hey, I'm always up for a concert, and if my bro says it will be good, I'm in, I trust his taste in music.
We got to the venue early as we wanted to see all the bands on the bill. When we got there, we learned that the show had been moved to the smaller venue The Temple, which is in the same building. Lack of ticket sales had the show moved. My estimate for the crowd would be probably be around a hundred people.
The first band of the night was local punk band A Gentleman's Pact. This would be my second time seeing them play, and like last time I saw them, I didn't think they were anything spectacular. I think if they had cut their set in half, 20-25 minutes would have been sufficient for an opener.
A Gentleman's Pact at The Temple.
The second band of the night was a band called The Last Gang from Orange County, California. This band was led by Brenna Red on lead guitar and vocals. Their style of music is in the punk vein and again, nothing really special. Middle of the road punk, exactly the kind of music you would expect from a Fat Wreck Chords signed band. I found them to be rather boring.
The Last Gang at The Temple.
The headliner of the night and the main reason we were at the show was the Swingin' Utters from Santa Cruz, California, another band that has been signed to Far Wreck Chords since 1996. This band is much different then most bands on that label. From what my brother had told me the Swingin' Utters don't tour very much anymore so to see them play live was going to be a treat. And he was right, they were a kick ass band to see in concert. While I didn't know there songs all that well, they sure put on a kick ass show.
Lead singer Johnny "Peebucks" Bonnel was full of energy and sounded great and looked to be having a whole lot of fun performing. The rest of the band was awesome as well. The band is currently doing a small tour in support of their first new album (Peace and Love) in four years. I had heard this album a few times and recognized some of the new songs which sounded great. This was a fun show, and I'd like to give a big shout out to my buddy JFK for putting my Bro. and I on the guest list for the show. Good times!!!
The Swingin' Utters at The Temple.
Swingin' Utters t-shirt.
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