January 31st

 

 It was January 31st, 2003 that I went to Red's at West Edmonton Mall for the Steve Earle & The Dukes concert with Garrison Starr opening. Steve was on tour for his 2002 album Jerusalem.

January 28th

 

 On January 28th, 2017 I went to see Mike McDonald of Jr. Gone Wild play a free solo show at the Cask & Barrel in downtown Edmonton. Much to my surprise it ended up being a full on Jr. Gone Wild concert at this intimate venue.

January 27th

 It was January 27th, 2010 that I saw Motley Crue on their The Dead Of Winter Tour at Rexall Place in Edmonton. Opening acts on this bill were the Joe Perry Project and Airbourne.

January 26th

 It was January 26th 2010 that I saw Steve Earle and Hayes Carll play the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton.

Blue Oyster Cult Live in Edmonton January 25th 2024

  

Thanks to my buddy Karie for the free ticket, him and I ended up going to the Blue Oyster Cult show at River Cree Casino just on the outskirts of Edmonton. This was my second time seeing BOC in concert, the last time being in 1991.

 Opening the show was local band Punch Drunk Cabaret, a steampunk (whatever that means) rockabilly three piece band that did absolutely nothing for me. After a couple of songs I went out for a few smokes.

 Now it was time for Long Island, New York's classic rockers Blue Oyster Cult. When I got invited to this show the first ting I did was to see who is actually still in the band. To my surprise it was nice to see that founding members Buck Dharma on lead guitar/vocals (76 years old) and Eric Bloom (79 years old) on guitar/keyboard and vocals as well. Rounding out the band were Danny Miranda on bass who has been in and out of the band since 1995, Richie Castellano on guitar and keyboards who has been with the band since 2004 and finally Jules Radino on drums also in the band since 2004.

 By the time BOC came on I would say the venue was about half full, so maybe about a thousand people at the most. This was there first show of 2024 making up for there postponed show here that was scheduled for December 2023.

 The band came out firing on all cylinders, they were tight and sounded great. I was surprised how good Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma still sound on vocals and guitar. And Richie Castellano is a monster on the guitar, one of his solos was really fucking good. 

 With a discography of 14 albums the band had a lot of songs to choose from to play live. And in my opinion I thought they chose some great songs. Including "Stairway To The Stars" and "Then Came the Last Days of May" from their 1972 debut album. A couple of songs from their 1974 album Secret Treaties, "Career Of Evil" and "Astronomy". They also played the song "Burnin' For You" from their 1981 album Fire of Unknown Origin. I have heard this song many times and guess I never realized that it is a BOC song. I fucking hate that song, maybe I always just tried to forget that it is a song of theirs. Nonetheless, that was my sign to use the washroom and get another beer. And of course the band had to play "Godzilla" and "Don't Fear The Reaper". Which went over like gangbusters, the audience ate that shit up. Another song from the 1977 album Spectres they played was "Golden Age of Leather". All and all it was a fun night out with some great songs. The show was way better then I was expecting. Good times!!!

Blue Oyster Cult.

Eric Bloom.

Buck Dharma.

January 25th

 It was January 25th, 2019 I found myself in St. Albert at the Arden Theatre seeing Loudon Wainwright III in concert.

January 23rd

 It was January 23rd, 2013 that I saw The Tragically Hip with opening band The Arkells play Rexall Place in Edmonton.

January 20th

 It was January 20th, 1990 that I saw Alice Cooper with opening act Great White play Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.

January 19th

 

Saw my friend's band Mary Prankster play Rock Central Station here in Edmonton on January 19th, 1992.

January 18th

  It was January 18th, 2014 that I was at the Blue Chair Cafe here in Edmonton to see Mike McDonald of Jr. Gone Wild play a solo acoustic show. It was at this show that Mike recorded the Live At The Blue Chair Cafe album. While I have no ticket stub or poster for this performance. I do have a couple of pictures and the album that was recorded at said concert.

January 16th

It was January 16th 2007 that I saw the Tragically Hip with The Sadies open play in Red Deer, Alberta at the Enmax Centrium.

January 15th

 January 15th 2016 saw me at a Fred Penner concert at The Buck in Edmonton. Fred was a children's entertainer who had his own show on CBC between 1985-1997. Got talked into going to this show. I never grew up with this show as it was way past my childhood. I knew of him, as every Canadian does. It was actually quite a fun show.

January 14th

  

It was January 14th 1994 that I attended this show at the Multi-Purpose Rumpus Room in downtown Edmonton. This was a show that my brother Citrus put on. A bunch of bands from Edmonton and Calgary. Bands such as Field Day, Furnace Maintenance, Pal Joey, Mekong Riverboat Show and the All Women Brothers Band.

January 13th

  

It was January 13th 1993 that I saw Emerson, Lake & Palmer play the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton.

Favorite Albums of 2023

  

Well, like my post about favorite concerts of the year, I didn't buy as many albums as I usually do in the course of a year. Financial difficulties was a big part of it. And what the fuck, albums are near fifty bucks these days, way too expensive. I love buying new albums and taking chances on artists and bands, but at the price of records, you better know what you are buying. The record business is pricing me right out of the game. it's no wonder people are streaming music nowadays. I still want to support bands, especially the more underground artists, but because of lack of money, that is hard to do for me these days. I just feel like I am  kind of out of the loop on new bands as of late. Hopefully 2024 will be better for me. Nonetheless, I did buy a few albums this year, and here is my list of my top ten albums for 2023. The list is in chronological order of when I bought them.

* Bob Dylan - Bootleg Series Vol.17 Fragments (Time Out Of Mind Sessions (1996-1997))

* Lucero - Should've Learned By Now

* Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon - Live 1974

* The Hold Steady - The Price Of Progress

* Bob Dylan - Shadow Kingdom

* Jason Isbell - Weathervanes

* Neil Young - Chrome Dreams

* Bob Dylan - Another Budokan 1978

* Elliott Brood - Town

* Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds