Well it's been almost a month already since my Sweetie Janis and I went to Ontario for holidays. While there I managed to catch a few concerts. The first one I went to was the
Outlaw Music Festival in Toronto at
Budweiser Stage (formerly known as the Molson Amphitheatre). We lucked out with this show as I managed to get cheap tickets for the show, 20 dollar tickets all-in, as part of Ticketmaster's
Summer Concert Series. And because tickets were so inexpensive we took Janis' daughter Shannon and son Steve and their partners Sheldon and Coline.
This line-up for Toronto's
Outlaw Music Festival was
Willie Nelson headlining with opening acts,
Jessica Mitchell,
Matt Mays,
Alison Krauss and
The Avett Brothers. Not bad for 20 dollars, our tickets were general admission, so on the upper part of the venue on the lawn. But when we got there and went through security, staff were giving away upgrade tickets, so we ended up having tickets in the 200 section which were way closer and probably about 100 dollar tickets, so that was a bonus. I asked the lady handing tickets out if the show hadn't sold very well, why else would they be doing this. She said that Willie just likes to have his audience as close as possible. For a venue that holds almost 18,000 people, my guess would be it was probably about two thirds full. So now we had the choice of sitting in seats closer to the stage or if we wanted to veg out, we could go up on the lawn. Best of both worlds. I had been to this venue once before and really liked it, and have to say, I still do. Great sight lines, sound was good and you could actually have a drink everywhere including the smoking section where you could smoke both cigarettes and weed.
We didn't get there in time to catch Toronto artist
Jessica Mitchell. By the time we got settled in it was time for
Matt Mays. This would be my third time seeing this Dartmouth, Nova Scotian musician. I thought it might just be a solo set but much to my surprise he had the full band backing him up, so that was cool. Matt's set was rocking , even though I didn't recognize a lot of the songs in his 40 minute set. I believe there may have been a couple of brand new songs. The songs I did recognize sounded great, like "
Ola Volo" and "
Station Out Of Range" from his 2017 album
Once Upon a Hell of a Time, as well as "
Building A Boat" from his
Terminal Romance album, my favorite of his. Closing out his set was a song that I really like also from said album "
Tall Trees". You could tell Matt Mays was in his glory having the opportunity to open for Willie Nelson.
Matt Mays will be playing Edmonton on Friday October 25th at the
Myer Horowitz Theatre.
Matt Mays.
Next up was
Alison Krauss a country/bluegrass singer and musician from Illinois. I don't know a lot of her of her music other then the album she did with
Robert Plant in 2007
Raising Sand, an album I love. Sadly her and her awesome back up band didn't play anything off it. Her set was top notch, she as an amazing voice, and after listening to her set I did recognize a few of her songs. Like what is probably her most famous song "
When You Say Nothing At All", which is actually a cover song I have come to learn. Overall she was really good and am very happy to have seen her in concert.
Alison Krauss.
Next up was
The Avett Brothers out of North Carolina. They are lead by brothers
Scott Avett on lead vocals, banjo and guitar and
Seth Avett on vocals, guitar and piano. I've never really got into these guys other then the one album I own
Emotionalism, which is alright. They only played one song from that album. The rest of the songs I was hearing pretty much for the first time. The two brothers and the backing band were certainly looking like they were having fun on stage. Lots of energy, they had the crowd up and dancing and singing along, looked like lots of people were really digging them. I myself found them to be a lot like Mumford and Sons, which I just am not a fan of. They were much better then them, and I did enjoy their set for the most part. Would I go see them again, probably not.
The Avett Brothers.
As the sun went down it was tome for the headliner of the
Outlaw Music Festival, the one and only
Willie Nelson & Family. This would be my third time seeing
Willie Nelson in concert, and man, I was excited. Lots of beers, smokes, beautiful weather, awesome people, great venue and now for some classic Willie, does it get better? It was back to our good seats for Willie's set. Though we did wander back up to the lawn for the back end of the show, after all, that's where things were really happening!
Before the show started there up on stage was Willie's guitar
Trigger, probably the most famous guitar being played in the world right now. I tried my best to get a decent picture of Trigger, but as you will see, I really didn't get the picture I wanted, but nonetheless, did get one.
Trigger.
The show started with Willie's band which is made up of his sister
Bobbie on piano,
Mickey Raphael on harmonica,
Paul English on drums all of whom have been in
Willie's band since 1973, rounded out by
Billy English on percussion and
Kevin Smith on bass, then walked out the man of the hour Willie, picking up ol' Trigger and breaking into "
Whiskey River", such an awesome opener and the song I have seen him open with all three times I have seen him in concert. And of course, when
Willie hit the stage the crowd rose to their feet giving him a standing O'.
His set was so fucking good, just have a look at the setlist. I was surprised by the third song "
Beer For My Horses" which I knew wasn't a Willie song, but after asking the younger folks I was with, was told it is a
Toby Keith song. I know I had heard it before, but never really paid much attention to it until Willie played it on this night, what a fun song. Which of course wasn't the only fun song of the evening.
At 86 years old
Willie looks and sounds amazing. With them big old fat fingers of his, the man can play guitar. The first time I saw Willie in concert I was super close to the stage and was blown away by how good he is on guitar, well, that still stand up today. Willie's set was chock full of classics like "
If You've Got The Money", "
Down Yonder", "
If You've Got The Money, I've Got The Time", "
On The Road Again", "
You Were Always On My Mind" and a couple of
Hank Williams songs "
Hey Good Lookin'" and "
Move It On Over", what can ya say, just classic songs that I heard a lot of during my youth. One of my favourite parts was Willie doing two, soon to be classic pot songs "
It's All Going To Pot" a song him and
Merle Haggard did together on the 2015 album
Django & Jimmie. Following up that song with "
Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die", well to say the venue didn't get a little hazy after them two songs back to back would be an understatement.
To close out the show The Avett Brothers came out and played "
Will The Circle Be Unbroken" and "
I'll Flay Away", with
Willie and Family. What a fucking awesome night out, so much fun! Good times!!!
Willie Nelson's setlist for TO.
Willie Nelson.
T-shirt front.
Back.
Original ticket.
Upgraded ticket.
