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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!!
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".
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Last but not least, checkout Ben's brother Ethan aka Henry Sir's stand up comedy by clicking here.
Last Friday my buddy Buzzard I went to River Cree Casino to see Alan Doyle (ex of Great Big Sea) perform. This was a show that was way out of my price range, but Buzzard really wanted to go and was nice enough to buy my ticket, Thanks BZ. Friday night was miserable weather wise and really just wanted to stay home in a warm place under a blanket. But I was committed to going, therefore, we made our way to the show.
Opening the show was Jake Vaadeland & The Sturgeon River Boys. Jake is a songwriter from Cut Knife, Saskatchewan. Jake and his band play a bluegrass style of music and are quite good at what they do. I enjoyed their first three songs, but then like most bluegrass music, I find myself finding all the songs starting to sound the same. Jake does have a great voice and the two members playing with him are good as well. Just not really my thing.
Jake Vaadeland & The Sturgeon River Boys.
Even with a raging blizzard happening the venue was filling up for Alan Doyle, my guess would be about three quarters full. Alan Doyle used to lead the Newfoundland band Great Big Sea before going solo, and ya, there were a lot of Newfies in the audience ready to party and have a good time. And Alan and his band did not disappoint. this was the first date of his 2025 Welcome Home Tour.
Alan and his band opened the show with the song "Dancing Like We Did Last Night" from his 2024 album Welcome Home. And from their, the crowd were on their feet dancing, clapping and singing along the rest of the evening. always fun to see a crowd having a blast, especially when it's a bunch of East Coasters getting down. I don't know a lot of Alan's solo material but what I heard sounded great. It was the Great Big Sea songs that I'm more familiar with, and ya, of course he did a few of them. Including "When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)", "The Night Pat Murphy Died", "The Old Black Rum" and "Ordinary Day", I'm sure there were a few others. While it was no Newfoundland kitchen party, it was the next best thing. Good times!!!
On January 23rd, 2015 I got free tickets from my boss at the time for the Tim Hus and 100 Mile House show at the St. Basil's Cultural Centre here in Edmonton. Tim Hus is a folk/country artist from Calgary with Edmonton duo 100 Mile House opening.
On January 20th, 2017 I went to an art show by artist Kevin Kunce at The Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts. The opening night of the art show had the Edmonton band Bombchan performing, a great blues based rockin' band.
On January 19th, 2019 I saw Erik Grice and Troy Snaterse of Altameda play an acoustic in store show at Blackbyrd Myoozik in Edmonton. The free show was an album release show for their album Time Hasn't Changed You.
Because I have nothing else to write about at the moment, I thought I would post this. I bought this over a year ago and never wrote ab...
