With my Dad being in town visiting from Saskatchewan we always try to take him to some event whether it be a musical, Janis will take him, or a concert if there is a band or artist he likes. Well lucky for us this time around The Mavericks were playing at the Winspear Centre with Mike Plume opening the show. I thought my Dad might enjoy The Mavericks and I knew he liked Plume as we have seen him together a few times. And hell, I'm always up for a Mike Plume show, so I bought Janis, Dad and I tickets for the show. The seats were in the upper deck of the venue, but they were reasonably priced and the show was a near sellout. So it was off to the show we go!
We got to the venue in time to say a quick hello to Mike before he hit the stage. We made our way to our seats which were way up top, by far the furthest away I have sat for a Plume show, but it was kind of neat sitting up there listening and watching Mike perform. He sounded amazing in this great sounding venue. Also from sitting up top I could see the reaction from the rest of the attendees, and looked to me like Mike made a great impression on all those that made it to their seats to catch the opener. That was good to see. Mike only played a half hour set as he did the last time he opened for The Mavericks which was almost two years to the day at the same venue. Mike's choice of songs were great, a lot like the last time he opened with only a couple of different songs. This time around he opened with the song "My Old Friend" from his latest release Born By The Radio, followed by "Mama's Rolling Stone" again from his latest album. Other songs played were "On Remembrance Day", "So Long Stompin' Tom" a great tribute song to the late great Stompin' Tom Connors, closing out his set with"8:30 Newfoundland" and "More Than A Game" which is probably the second best hockey song ever wrote. Mike got a good laugh from the audience when he sang the line "From the Dome to Saskatoon" from the 8:30 Newfoundland song, he got some hoots and hollers from the Saskatchewanians in the crowd, that was when he quipped "easy to draw, hard to spell".
Another great set by Mike Plume, too short but again awesome! If you are interested in seeing Mike Plume play a full length show, he will be playing at the Station On Jasper in Edmonton on Friday November 29th. Tickets are available by clicking here. Also watch for some exciting news coming from the Mike Plume Band camp. Watch Mike's webpage and social media pages for updates.
Mike Plume at the Winspear.
Headliner of the night was The Mavericks who are on tour for their 30th Anniversary as a band. This would be my second time seeing them in concert and Janis' third time. Janis had seen them play outdoors at the Interstellar Rodeo in 2018 and really enjoyed their show that time, with the energy and the outdoors setting she said ti was awesome. So I was hoping I would enjoy them more this time around then the last time. Well, that didn't happen. We tried to like them, we checked out the first three songs before we stepped out for a smoke and drink, thought maybe that will help. We went back to our seats and watched another 3 songs to no avail. I just can't get into this band. The near sold out audience sure was though, as was my Dad, he seemed to like them. People were up and dancing and singing along. I myself just found them to be schmaltzy with their mix of Latin Tex-Mex country music. When it comes to that kind of music, I'll take the Los Lobos any-day.
Our second trip outside for a smoke and drink ended up with us just hanging out with Mike for the remainder of the show. Liquor sales were done by then, but Mike came through feeding me beers until the end of the show. We stayed for the whole show as my Dad stayed in his seat and watched it til the end. We had more fun just hanging out with Mike and bullshitting for an hour or so. A very fun night out and a big thanks to Mike for the great tunes and beers!!! Good times!!!
The Mavericks at the Winspear.
I picked up Mike's Christmas album which he finally released on CD, as it was only available digitally before and still is. You can purchase all of Mike Plume's music by visiting his bandcamp page by clicking here.
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