Dirty Honey Live in Edmonton Sept.2nd 2022

My concert reviews are going to be short as I have a lot of shows to catch up on from 2022. So the rviews are going to be mostly pictures that I took. This show last September of Dirty Honey and Mac Saturn at the Starlite Room was one of my favourite shows of last year. A great double bill of two great rock n' roll bands. I went to this show with Cuz and my buddy Nazz. Opening the show was Mac Saturn from Detroit. I had never heard of the band before until I saw that they were the openers for this show. I checked them out on Spotify and listened to their album Until The Money Runs Out and thought they were pretty good. Well after seeing them live, their album really doesn't do them justice. What a great band to see live. This five piece band know how to rock, lead singer Carson Macc has a Chris Robinson/Steve Tyler kind of vibe to him and a great voice, so much energy you couldn't help but get into them. Actually the whole band had great energy and vibe to them, reminding me of a Rolling Stones and Black Crowes mix. An amazing opening set and would highly recommend seeing them in concert. After their set I was outside the venue having a smoke and got the chance to talk to the guys and smoke one with them. Great bunch of guys. Mac Saturn at the Starlite Room.

Headlining the evening was Dirty Honey a band out of Los Angeles. By the time the band hit the stage the venue was packed. Dirty Honey play a 70's influenced mix of rock n' roll like Aerosmith, Zeppelin and Black Crowes with a slight touch of glam. Simply put, they are a kick ass rock n' roll band! An awesome double bill. Good times!!! Dirty Honey at the Starlite Room.

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Steve Earle & The Dukes Live @ River Cree Casino Aug.12th 2022

When this Steve Earle show was first announced I had passed on going as tickets were over a hundred dollars which I thought was a bit ridiculous. And having seen him more then a few times, I decided I would skip this one. Well, I ended up going as my buddy Buzzard had an extra ticket and gave it to me. Thanks Buzzard! The show was on a Friday night, so what the hell, let's do this. This would be my 11th time seeing Steve Earle in concert. Opening the show was The Mastersons who are husband and wife duo of Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore whom both play in Steve's band The Dukes. They're good but this would be the third time in a row of seeing Steve in concert with them opening. It's kind of getting old, I'd like to see a different opener for a change. We had a few beers in the casino while they were on.

After their set it was time for Steve Earle and The Dukes. This would be the first time I had seen The Dukes wihtout the original bass player Kelley Looney after his passing in 2019. Steve and The Dukes were on the road promoting Steve's latest album Jerry Jeff which is a tribute album to one of his heroes Jerry Jeff Walker. Steve and The Dukes were in fine form for this show opening with three songs from the album, so all Jerry Jeff Walker songs starting with "Gettin' By", "Mr. Bojangles" and "Hill Country Rain". I also recall Steve playing "Guitar Town" early in the set which really got the crowd up and singing and dancing. Another song in which I was very happy to hear live was "Ben McCulloch". Then there was also "I Ain't Ever Satisfied" and "Galway Girl". In the middle of the set was "Copperhead Road", a song that everyone is familiar with, nice to see him play that in the middle of the set and not the encore. "Transcendental Blues" was another favorite of mine. I was very happy with his song choices for the night. The last two songs of the night were both cover songs, them being "Casey Jones" the Grateful Dead song and then ending the night with The Band's song "Rag Mama Rag". Loved how Steve Earle and The Dukes belted these out. I was just surprised that Steve would do these cover songs when he has so many of his own songs that he could have played, kinda weird. Nonetheless this was an amazing show. Good times!!! Steve Earle & The Dukes at River Cree Casino.

Jr. Gone Wild Live in Edmonton July 30th 2022

On a beautiful Saturday afternoon my buddy A-Bomb, my Cuz and I made our way to downtown Edmonton for the Taste Of Edmonton Festival, which is a festival of different restraunts selling their goods in Churchill Park. It is a ten day festival of food and music. This was the last day of the festival with the music headliner being Edmonton's Jr.Gone Wild with Ayla Brook and The Sound Men opening, another Edmonton band. This is a free festival with lots of great music and food and beverages. Being such a beautiful summer day we walked downtown through the river valley swilling beers on our 45 minute trek. At Churchill Park we met up with my buddy's Buzzard and Nazz. What was really making this Jr. Gone Wild show special was that on their Facebook page leading up to this show there were some cryptic posts saying this was a must see show and would be epic. Hmmm, interesting, what was this all about. Well a day before the show, lead singer Mike McDonald finally posted on social media saying this would be Jr.'s final show as they were going on hiatus again. What the hell! They had released there latest album Still Got The Jacket in the past year, and is an amazing album, and things seemed to be rolling along quite well for the band. They had recently did a tour in eastern Canada and even did some shows out west. Talking to a couple of the members before and after the show, they had said that it was just time for a break. Not knowing if there would be anymore shows or not. What a shame as this band has been knocking it out of the park as of late. So this was going to be special, but also kind of sad.

Opening the show was Ayla Brook & The Sound Men, a roots/rock band from Edmonton. This would be my second time seeing them play live. I enjoyed there 45 minute set, with the band playing lots of songs from their latest release Desolation Sounds, songs like "(I Think) I Hit My Limit", "Cheap Microphone & An Old Guitar" and "Floated So Far" in which Kimberley MacGregor joined them on stage for this song. She too is a great musician. There were also some older songs from Ayla's album (I Don't Want To Hear Your) Break Up Songs. A great set from these guys. Ayla Brook & The Sound Men.

Now it was time for Jr. Gone Wild. I was expecting a bigger crowd then there was, still a decent turnout, just thought there would be more. Jr. Gone Wild's hour and half long set was excellent. The members of JGW being Mike McDonald on guitar and vocals, Steve Loree on guitar and vocals, Dove on bass and rounded out by Quentin herbert on drums. This was my 15th time seeing the band live. I thought the band sounded amazing as they always do. Lots of new songs from the Still Got The Jacket album and of course some awesome oldies too. Some songs from their album Still Got The Jacket (their first new album in 25 years) performed were "Girl In The Crowd", "Old And Ugly" (my favourite song on the new album), "Barricades", "Cool For My Kids (Good Lookin’ For My Wife)", "Dodge" and "Fly At Night" a Chilliwack cover. A great show and hopefully not their last one. Hopefully after some time off the band will reunite and play together again. Here is hoping so. After the show we met up with another friend and ended up going to River City Revival House under the Starlite Room and swilling more beers until closing time. A very fun night out of music beers and friends. Good times!!! Jr. Gone Wild.

Primus Live in Edmonton June 10th 2022

My buddy Nazz and I attended this Primus show in Edmonton at The Expo Centre. When I saw that Black Mountain was opening. Don't get me wrong, I really like Primus but Black Mountain was an added bonus. This would be my fourth time seeing Primus in concert and second time seeing Black Mountain. We got to the venue early as we didn't want to miss the Vancouver band Black Mountain. Black Mountain's line up has changed from the last time I saw them which was back in 2008. It was great to see a great turn out for the openers. I was actually surprised by how many people were there for Black Mountain. I dig their style of pschedelic/stoner rock music. They sounded great and put on a great show. Black Mountain.

Now it was time for Primus. This tour was dubbed A Tribute To Kings with the band playing the Rush album A Farewell To Kings in its entirety. In the weeks before this show I'd been listening to the Primus album Antipop an album I didn't realize I like as much as I do. The song Lacquer Head being one of my favorites on the album, I just couldn't get enough of it. I had said to my buddy nazz on the way to the show "I really hope they play this song tonight". Well after the opening song "Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers" what do they play, yes "Lacquer Head", well that made my night and we were only two songs into the show. Other songs I recall them playing were "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver", "Fisticuffs" and "My Name Is Mud" plus others that I can't remember now. Keep in mind this show was last June, so my memory isn't great. Primus then did the Rush album "A Farewell To Kings" in which they did an amazing job of. After doing the album in full the band came back for an encore of a few songs, one of them being "Here Come The Bastards". I'd seen primus three times before this show and I think this was probably my favorite show of theirs. Primus sucks! Good times!!! Primus.