MC50 Live in Vancouver Oct.17th 2018

Well it's been a week already since I have been back from my holiday in Vancouver. At least this time around it was uneventful other then three concerts in five nights.

The first concert of the trip was seeing MC50 at The Commodore Ballroom. My Bro (Capt. Citrus) got the ticket for me back in May, but I wasn't so sure if I was going to make it or not. But as luck would have things worked out, thanks to my Dad. I went to this show with my Brother and my Cuz who came along with me for the trip.

We missed the first band of the evening Vancouver band Vicious Cycles, as we were having some beers before the show. We did get there in time to catch the second band Starcrawler from Los Angeles, California.

I knew very little about this band previous to hearing that they were opening for MC50. After checking out their website before the show, I thought they might be interesting to checkout. Especially after finding out that Ryan Adams had produced their debut album that came out in January of this year.

Holy fuck am I ever glad we decided to check them out. Led by lead singer Arrow de Wilde with her back up band which consisted of Henri Cash on guitar, Timothy Franco on bass and Austin Smith on drums, a great band but you have never seen anything like Arrow. She absolutely stole the show. She is one crazy lady, you couldn't take your eyes off her, and if you did, you were bound to miss something weird. When she came out on stage and started singing and stocking the stage you could just tell this was going to be different. Arrow is super skinny and had a look in her eyes like I mean business. In all honesty she scared the hell out of me. As she sang she would cross her eyes and roll them to the back of her head. At one point she stared down her microphone cord with this really weird look in her eyes, she then took the cord and wrapped it around her neck like she was strangling herself, she then dropped down to the stage. I wasn't sure if this was an act or if she was actually killing herself right on the stage. She then collapsed to the stage, there she was laying on stage motionless. I looked at my Bro. and Cuz, like what the fuck is going on. Thankfully it was just an act as she did stand back up and start gyrating and singing again only to then fall off the stage into the crowd. A couple audience members at the front of the stage then tried helping her back on stage, but she was stiff as a board so they basically rolled her back on to the stage. Like I say, this was one weird fucking lady. Then there was the blood that was coming from her mouth, was this just an act or did she actually smash herself in the teeth with the mic, I'm still not really sure. Arrow at times looked like the girl from Exorcist. You just could not stop watching her, all this while her band was rocking the hell out. I would describe the bands music as a mix of Sabbath like riffs with some old school punk rock all rolled into one. Right at the end of the set Arrow left the stage to leave the band jam out on the final song, and holy shit these guys could rock. This was probably one of the weirdest performances I may have ever seen.

Starcrawler at the Commodore Ballroom.

For the main act we had MC50, which is the founder Wayne Kramer's latest version of MC5 (Motor City 5). Wayne the only living member left of the original MC5 other then Dennis "Machinegun" Thompson, the drummer is still alive but did not join this tour. Wayne Kramer put together an all-star band to tour in celebration of MC5's 50th anniversary of their debut album Kick Out The Jams.

Joining Wayne on this tour were Marcus Durant (Zen Guerrilla) on vocals, Brendan Canty (Fugazi) on drums, Kim Thayil (Soundgarden) on guitar and on bass was Billy Gould (Faith No More). What a kick ass band. The band started the show by playing the Kick Out The Jams album in its entirety, and they nailed it. The whole band looked to be having a blast playing these MC5 songs. Punk songs before there was even punk, so obviously all the guys in the band were influenced by MC5. Wayne Kramer looked and sounded great, lots of energy running around playing, wind milling on the guitar and a smile on his face through out the whole show. Marcus on vocals did a great job and hell I even saw Kim smile a few times during the show. And Billy on bass was fucking given'r all night, he was probably my favorite out of all the musicians on stage.

After playing the album Kick Out The Jams, the band played some tunes from MC5's other two albums. Songs like "High Time", "The American Ruse", "Back In The USA", "Gotta Keep Movin'" and a Them cover "I Can Only Give You Everything". The band could have easily just mailed in their performance but they didn't at all. They were all very engaged and in to it. Very impressive. I was kind of surprised though to see The Commodore only about half full, for those that didn't go to the show, you missed a classic. Good times!!!

MC50 at the Commodore Ballroom.

T-shirt.

Jr.Gone Wild Live in Edmonton Oct.7th 2018

Last Sunday Buzzard, Cuz and I went to the Jr.Gone Wild concert held at the Rocky Mountain Icehouse. This show was part of the sixth annual UP+DT (UP & Downtown) Music Festival. This triple bill was Jr.Gone Wild, The Maybellines and Jody Shenkarek & The Country Vulture.

The first act of the night was Jody Shenkarek & The Country Vulture. This was my first time seeing Jody play live. I have known of her and her music for years but never got to see her perform before. Her music is a mix of country, rock and folk. She has an amazing voice and her band was excellent too. I'm glad I finally got to see her play, I enjoyed very much.

Jody Shenkarek & The Country Vulture.

Next up was The Maybellines. The Maybellines were an alt-country band from Edmonton from 1995-1998 led by Brent Oliver on bass and vocals (Brent is also one of the organizers of the fest), and Gavin Dunn on guitar and vocals. Gavin also played in the opening band with Jody. This was their first live show in twenty years, and they sounded great, reminding me of Uncle Tupelo at times. A great set by them, though maybe a touch too long.

The Maybellines.

And to close out the night was Edmonton's cow punksters Jr.Gone Wild, one of my favorite Edmonton bands. This would be my 11th time seeing them in concert. What made this show special was JGW also had Ford Pier with them on keys. This was only the second time I have seen Ford play with them, the first time being JGW's first reunion show. Ford played in the band for the Too Dumb To Quit album, in which the band performed in it's entirety on this night. This was super cool as there are some songs on that album that I had never heard them perform live before. The show started with that album in full with lead singer Mike McDonald telling stories about the recording of the album in between songs, actually Dove (bass), Steve Loree (guitar) and Ford all had a little something to say about the recording. Drummer Larry Shelast was the only one not to speak through out the show.

The band sounded amazing even after having playing five shows in four nights on there Too Dumb To Quit tour. They played Vancouver for the first time in 25 years and played two shows in Calgary a matinee show and a night show, and a warm up show in Nanton, Alberta before heading to Vancouver. So this was the last show of the brief tour.

This was such a fun show, the band was awesome, it was fun seeing Ford Pier on keyboards, that guy is a bundle of energy jumping around like a maniac and making faces and egging the crowd on. After playing the TDTQ album they played a bunch of new songs which also sound amazing. Checkout the setlist to see all the songs played (Thanks, Mike for the setlist). There was also word that Premier Rachel Notley was at the show, not that I saw her. Can't wait to see if these guys finally release a new album, because all the new songs sound like classic Jr.Gone Wild. It was good to see the band perform again, it had been over a year since I had last seen them play. A great night of Edmonton music. Good times!!!

Jr.Gone Wild.

Jr.Gone Wild setlist from the show.

Pearl Jam Beer

Earlier this summer my brother Citrus was in Washington on holidays seeing a couple of concerts. While he was there he picked up a six pack of Pearl Jam beer. While he didn't attend either of the two hometown Pearl Jam concerts in Seattle he still managed to find this beet at a local store. Lucky for me he brought me a can of the beer when he came to visit a month ago.

The beer is a Seattle Pale Ale brewed by the Georgetown Brewing Company. I enjoyed the beer very much, and especially liked the can. The beer my Brother picked up from an Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town, it had an Even Flow and Release and went Down very nice, it made me Breathe and made me feel like a Better Man. Thanks Citrus, you were the Man Of The Hour. It was a nice Parting Ways gift. It was a beer I won't Soon Forget.