February 21st

  This is probably my coolest ticket stub, that being from the Tragically Hip show I saw at the Edmonton Coliseum. Opening this show were Odds and Change Of Heart, a damn good all Canadian triple bill.

February 20th

  The concert ad and poster from the time I saw Sons Of Freedom with Econoline Crush and Grimskunk play People's Pub in Edmonton on February 20th, 1995.

February 16th

  It was on this day February 16th, 2007 that I saw Johnny Winter with opening act David Gogo play the Polish Hall in Edmonton. A great double bill of blues music.

February 15th

  It was on February 15th, 2010 that I saw Wilco perform at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton.

February 14th

 On February 14th, 1997 I was at the Edmonton Convention Centre for the Big Sugar and Big Rude Jake double bill. A great night of Canadian talent.

February 12th

 

 On February 12th, 2007 I saw Emmylou Harris play the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton.

February 7th

 

 On February 7th, 2019 I got to see Portland, Oregon band the Mean Jeans rock The Buck here in Edmonton. Opening the show was Calgary's The Mandates and Edmonton's local punksters Real Sickies. This was a super fun show.

February 4th

  On February 4th, 2017 I saw the Sam Roberts Band with opening act Hollerado play the Winspear Centre in Edmonton.

Kerry King Live in Edmonton January 23rd 2025

  My buddy Nazz and I went to see Kerry King play the Midway Music Hall here in Edmonton. Kerry King of course is the guitarist/lyricist and founding member of Slayer. With Slayer on hiatus, Kerry has put together a band and what a band it is. After hearing Kerry King's debut album From Hell I Rise I knew I had to go to this show. And who better to go to this show with then my headbanging buddy Nazz.

 Opening the show was a band from New Zealand called Alien Weaponry. A three piece band led by brothers Henry de Jong on drums and Lewis de Jong on guitar and vocals, rounded out by bassist Turanga Morgan-Edwards. Their music is a thrash tribal sounding style with some of the lyrics sung in Maori language, which of course I myself and am sure most of the audience did not understand. They were super loud to the point that I could feel the vibrations running up through my legs. Overall I didn't much care for them.

Alien Weaponry.

 Next up was the thrash band Municipal Waste out of Richmond, Virginia. A band I had never seen before, I've heard the name lots over the years but for reasons unknown I've never really listened to them. Well, I tell you, they were awesome live. Kind of a cross between DRI, Suicidal Tendencies and S.O.D.. A very fun and entertaining band to see live. Short songs with an awesome crunch and great song titles such as "Slime and Punishment", "You're Cut Off", "The Art of Partying" and "Born To Party", you get the gist. Just a very fun band, great musicians and some funny lyrics. They had the crowd going off, big mosh pit happening through out their almost hour long set. I would certainly go see Municipal Waste again.

Municipal Waste.

 By the time Kerry King and his band hit the stage you could see the crowd had actually thinned out a little bit. I think there were some there just to see Municipal Waste. Still a big crowd though. Not quite as rowdy as I was expecting, maybe that is because, between bands the smoking area was packed with many a joint being passed around. Every circle of friends had a few joints being smoked and passed around to others.

 Kerry King's band is of course Kerry King on guitar, Paul Bostaph on drums who has also drummed for Slayer, Kyle Sanders on bass who has played in various other bands I have never heard of before, but holy shit he was great on bass, Phil Demmel on guitar who has played in Vio-lence among other bands and on lead vocals was Mark Osegueda of Death Angel.

 If you have heard Kerry King's album From Hell I Rise you knew what to expect, as it as an awesome album, if you like Slayer, you will love this album. Pure fucking heavy thrash metal! The band played very song from said album and you knew they had to play some Slayer as well. Opening the show with "Where I Reign" from the album From Hell I Rise. About six or seven songs into the set was the first Slayer song, that being "Repentless" and "Disciple" from God Hates Us All, "Raining Blood" and "Black Magic" from Slayer's debut 1983 album Show No Mercy.

 What did surprise me was when lead singer Mark gave a shout out to Paul Di'Anno the original lead singer of Iron Maiden who passed away in October. The band then did not one but two classic Iron Maiden songs in a row, them being "Purgatory" and "Killers", which sounded great. The closing song of the evening was the title song from Kerry King's album From Hell I Rise. A great night of a wall of loud heavy metal. Good times!!!

Kerry King.

T-shirt front.

Back.

January 31st

  On this day January 31st, 2019 I saw The Trews with opening act Altameda play the Starlite Room in Edmonton. I have no ticket stub for this show as I got guest list for the show. No poster either. Anyone have a poster for this show they might want to part with? I did buy a t-shirt at the show though.

A Celebration Of The Life Of Ben Sir (Worst Days Down) in Edmonton January 18th 2025

  Last Saturday New Ground Booking and Concert Works presented A Celebration Of The Life Of Ben Sir at the Starlite Room in Edmonton. This was also a record release show for Worst Days Down album "Stay Innocent".

 For those that don't know who Ben Sir was, he was an Edmonton musician who fronted the band Worst Days Down. He was also a bartender at The Buck on Whyte Avenue. Sadly Ben passed away in April of 2023 in Vancouver. Ben was an absolutely amazing human being. I first met Ben when I saw him do an afternoon solo show at the Pawn Shop in March of 2012. Ben and four other artists played that afternoon, with Ben being my favourite of the artists that played. I got talking to Ben after his set and instantly felt a connection with the man. Not only did his music strike a chord with me, but so did his kindness, demeanor and generosity. At that show Ben gave me a CD he had recorded as Worst Days Down and a t-shirt all for free. You just felt like you got sucked into the orbit of Ben. It was about a year later that I visited a new bar on Whyte Ave. (The Buck) and met Ben again bartending there. We got talking and he had remembered me from the show. My Cuz and I would visit the bar every once in a while and every time we did, Ben always served us a free pint of beer and took the time to chat. Lots of times we would just go there for one beer and end up staying for more then just the one as it was always fun to talk with Ben and just hangout and talk music and what he and his band were up to. Eventually I got out to see him perform solo shows and shows with his excellent band Worst Days Down. After years of this, I got to see how Ben treated everyone, he was just the coolest most down to earth guy. No wonder he had such a great following in Edmonton and beyond.

A picture from the first time I saw Ben perform (far left) in March of 2012.

  

A picture from the last time I saw Ben perform, December 26th, 2022. Performing with his brother Ethan.

 Anyways, last Saturday my buddy A-Bomb and I went to the Celebration Of The Life Of Ben Sir show. This show had an early start as there were nine bands on the bill. We got there a little late, missing the first two bands. All the bands and artists on the bill had a connection with Ben. I wasn't sure how this show was going to be, was it going to be sad and heavy on the heart. It had it's moments but for the most part it was a celebration of Ben Sir. Some great stories about Ben and a shit load of bands. Most of these bands I had never seen before, but that didn't matter as I was there to celebrate Ben.

 The first band we caught was Edmonton band Medical Pilot. I had never seen them before. They had an alt 90's kind of sound and were alright.

Medical Pilot.

 Next up was KJ Jansen of Calgary band Chixdiggit. KJ did a fun solo acoustic set playing such songs as "Spanish Fever" and "I Wanna Hump You". KJ had the audience singing along to these two songs. KJ's set was fun with some good stories about Ben.

KJ Jansen.

 Next up was Chris Cresswell of the Toronto band The Flatliners. I'm not familiar with his music but have to say I enjoyed his solo set very much, and again some great stories about Ben. By the time Chris hit the stage the venue was packed. With the weather outside being near minus 30 degrees Celsius, it was good to see so many people out at the show.

Chris Cresswell.

 Next up was the Vancouver band Schedule 1. I was ready for some loud music after two acoustic sets. But have to say Schedule 1's post-punk style of music wasn't much to my liking.

Schedule 1.

 Next band up was the Edmonton punk band Choke, who has been doing shows off and on for the past couple years. A band that has been around since 1994. I don't know much about them but thought they were alright.

Choke.

 Next up was the punk band Strike Anywhere from Richmond, Virginia. Again, another band I didn't know much about until I heard the line up for this show. I had heard the name for years but had never listened to them before. So, of course I listened to a few albums before the show and thought they were alright. Live they were pretty good, high energy, political slant to there lyrics. Overall I liked them.

Strike Anywhere.

 It was finally time for the headliners Worst Days Down, of course this was going to be a whole lot different without Ben Sir fronting the band. This show was the album release for the album "Stay Innocent" that Ben and the guys were putting together before his passing. they only had three songs recorded which are all on this album, but there is some demo versions of some older songs and such as well.

 For the live gig this night, Ben's brother Ethan (Henry Sir he also goes by as a stand up comedian) was sitting in on guitar and vocals. I can't imagine how hard it was to play and sing these songs for all the members in the group. But they pulled it off very well, with guest vocalists through out the hour long set.

 Worst Days Down opened their set with the song "Fumes" from their album Elsewhere with Ethan on vocals. What a heavy song to open with, had me tearing up a few times during this song. The lyrics just have a whole different feel to them now. But they pulled it off very well. I wish I knew the names of all the guest vocalists through the set, but I don't. One of the guests was a gentleman by the name of Ben Olson , he was great, as all of them were, but I really liked his energy and vocal style. Chris Cresswell joined the band for the song "A Song For David" that hits hard as well. They also played a couple of the new songs "Stay Innocent", "Carrol And Cordova" which was amazing. And to end the set it was just the band with Ethan on guitar and vocals belting out the song "Entropy", again from the album Elsewhere. They fucking rocked this one out, indeed there were some heavy hearts in the city again. Nice to see that even almost two years after your passing Ben, you are still bringing people together through music and with the crowd that showed up, how awesome of a person you were. We miss you Ben Sir!!!!

Worst Days Down.

 All proceeds from this show went to two causes that meant a lot to Ben.

The iHuman Youth Society and Save the Manatee. And anyone that knew Ben well knows how much he loved Manatees.

Pin I bought at the show.

T-shirt

The Worst Days Down album "Stay Innocent".

 Last but not least, checkout Ben's brother Ethan aka Henry Sir's stand up comedy by clicking here.