Corb Lund Live in Edmonton May 6th 2022

This show by Corb Lund and The Hurtin' Albertans dubbed Back To The Barrooms Tour was originaly scheduled for February but had to be rescheduled after another Covid outbreak. Luckily it was booked again this time for May and with three shows in Edmotnon at the Starlite Room. Corb had booked this tour right across Canada playing barroom venues. Cord could surely play bigger rooms in most of the cities he played but stayed with smaller venues as a way of helping these venues get back on their feet after being shutdown for two years. An awesome gesture on Corb's part. Thanks Corb! I didn't buy tickets for this show when they went on sale and later kicked my ass for not doing so as all three shows sold out super quick. And then Corb announced that he was bringing Mike Plume on tour with him for all the Western Canadian dates. Now I was really kicking my ass. It took me a while but I did manage to get tickets for the Friday night show (night 2 of 3) for my buddy Buzzard and I. It had been six years since I had last seen Corb in concert, and to see him play a bar was going to be awesome. I was looking forward to the show now. Opening the show was Mike Plume. This would be my 23rd time seeing Mike in concert. And as always he put on a staellar performance. The place was packed for him to which was super cool to see. And the crowd seemed to really be enjoying themselves with lots of Plumeheads in the crowd singing along to all hs songs. Great 40 minute opening set and nice break for Plume getting to play these shows with Corb to sold out crowds. Mike Plume.

The Starlite Room was crazy full by the time Corb Lund and his band hit the stage. Corb's show was close to two hours long with him playing all his hits such as "Shine Up Your Boots", "Five Dollar Bill", "I Wanna Be In The Cavalry", "Cows Around" and of course "Rye Whiskey" plus so many others that I don't recall now. One disappointment was, I really thought he might bring Mike out for the song "Big American Headliner". That song is a Mike Plume song that Corb had just covered for his album Songs My friends Wrote that came out just a few weeks before this show. But Corb didn't play that song, but he did bring Mike out for a couple of songs one of them being "This Is My Prairie". Such an awesome double bill. Good times!!! Corb Lund.

Alice Cooper Live in Edmonton April 12th 2022

Alice Cooper with Buckcherry, here is a show I didn't expect to go to. At the last minute a friend of mine Gerrianne got in touch with me and offered me the tickets for free as she couldn't go because of coming down with Covid. Even though it was only an hour or two before show time, you don't say no to free Alice Cooper tickets. I went to this show with my buddy Nazz. This show was held at the Jubilee Auditorium. When this show was origianly announced it was supposed to be Lita Ford opening, which would have been pretty cool. But after being postponed for over a year it ended up being Buckcherry opening. Far as long as Buckcherry has been around (1999) and as many times as the band has played Edmonton, I had never seen them live before, so I was looking forward to finally seeing them perform. I think the only original member is lead singer Josh Todd, but the band still play a sleazy glam metal style of music, which you just don't see or hear of much anymore. I've never owned any of their albums but am familiar with a couple of their songs that got a lot of airplay, that being "Lit Up" and "Crazy Bitch" which of course they played. And it was those two songs that got the best response from the crowd. They closed their set with "Crazy Bitch" with everyone singing along. Overall they were good, I'd like to see them playin a bar setting, that would be a lot of fun. Buckcherry.

Next up was Alice Cooper who was on tour in support of his 2021 album Detroit Stories. This woud be my 8th time seeing Alice Cooper in concert. Having seen him that many times, you pretty much know what you are in store for, and he didn't disappoint. As always Alice's backing band were excellent with Nita Strauss on guitar ripping it up and running all over the stage. Having said that, Alice is no slouch either, at 74 years old he still commands the stage and is sounding great and very entertaining, doing his usual antics. The show opened with "Feed My Frankenstein" from his Hey Stoopid album and closing out his set with "Teenage Frankenstein" from his Constrictor album. His setlist on this night covered his acreer with songs like "No More Mr. Nice Guy", "I'm Eighteen", "Steven", "Go To Hell", "Devil's Food", "I Love The Dead", "Billion Dollar Babies", "Under My Wheels", well you get the idea, great songs, but of course he had to do "Poison" a song I absolutely hate, but who the hell am I, the crowd loved it. And for his encore he closed the show out with "School's Out". Alice doesn't seem to age, another great show. Again, thank you gerrianne for the tickets. Good times!!! Alice Cooper.

T-shirt front.

T-shirt back.

Jr. Gone Wild Live in Edmonton April 9th 2022

Another show I caught as part of the Winterruption YEG Fest was Jr.Gone Wild at the Rocky Mountain Icehouse. This show was presented as Junior's vinyl release show for their new album Still Got The Jacket, which is an amazing album. Their first release in over 25 years. Opening the show was supposed to be Jody Shenkarek but sadly she came down ill before the show and wasn't able to perform. That's too bad because she always puts on a good show. Filling in as opener, well I don't recall anymore. I do remember though who I went to this show with, and that would be my buddy Buzzard and Cuz. This would be my 14th time seeing JGW in concert and again they kicked ass. The place was packed by the time JGW came on and what I noticed about this show was how much younger the crowd seemed compared to the many other shows I had seen by the band. Maybe it's because of their drummer Quinton Herbert who took over drums after the passing of their former drummer Larry Shelast. After all, Quinton wasn't even born the last time JGW had put an album out. Or it could be that a younger generation is catching onto how damn good JGW is. The band was in great form with them playing a big selection of songs from the new album, and the new songs sound so good live. Lead singer Mike McDonald sounded great as did bassist Dove, Quinton has filled the drum role awesome and lead guitarist Steve loree sounded amazing as well. All and all another great performance by Jr. Gone Wild. Good times!!! Jr.Gone Wild

T-shirt.

Had to pick up the vinyl, after all it was a vinyl release show.

Starcrawler Live in Edmonton April 2nd 2022

Here is a show I stumbled upon by finding a flyer for the show on the sidewalk of Whyte Avenue. I saw it and had to double back to see if it was actually what I thought it was. And to my surprise and pleasure it was a show for Los Angeles band Starcrawler at The Foundry On Whyte, a venue I didn't even know existed. Thank goodness I saw this flyer I would never have known about this concert. I had seen Starcrawler in 2018 in Vancouver opening for MC50, and they blew me away, This was a band I would have to see again. And lo and behold, here they were, coming to Edmonton. I promptly picked up a ticket for this show and the show was only a week away. This was my first time being to the venue Foundry On Whyte. It's a small room with a capacity of probably a hundred people and feels like a banquet room more then a live music venue. From my understanding and now knowing, it a all purpose room (banquets, weddings, live music and such). I got to the venue early not knowing what to expect. Being one of the first people there, I got to meet the gentleman that books events for the place. Had a nice chat with him (Jon) and he gave me three drink tickets, so that was cool. Off to a good start. The Foundry On Whyte.

Opening the show was Indigenous artist Robin Cisek from Edmonton. Her music is an electro-pop style with no band just a keyboard and backing tracks, not really my kind of music. Seemed like an odd opener for a rock n' roll band like Starcrawler. Robin Cisek.

By the time Starcrawler hit the stage the venue was quite full. I wasn't sure what to expect, as the last time I saw the band lead singer Arrow de Wilde put on one wild show, with antics like spitting blood, wrapping her mic cord around her throat to the point I thought she was offing herself right on stage, squirming on the floor of the stage. She was just wild on stage and her band were amazing. So what were we going to see on this evening. The first thing you notice about Stawcrawler when you see them live his how skinny lead singer Arrow is but also how energetic and how she commands the stage with her presence and her amazing rock n'roll/punk vocals. Opening the show with the rocking tune Lizzy from their second album Devour You. Their hour long set rocked from start to finish, they even played a couple of new songs from their upcoming album. On this night there were no crazy antics, just Arrow commanding the stage (though there was no stage) and her band rocking the fuck out, a great back up band that is tight and loud. I have to admit I was hoping to see some of the crazy stage antics but it was also good to see that this is a band that doesn't just rely on that kind of schtick. An amazing band and can't wait to hear the new album and see them play live again. Good times!!! Starcrawler.

Setlist from the show.