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.
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