July 28th

 The ticket stub from the time I saw Corb Lund and Jr. Gone Wild play the Starlite Room in Edmonton on July 28th, 2013. This show was a benefit show for help with the flooding in Southern Alberta at the time.

Corb Lund & The Hurtin' Albertans Live in Leduc July 1st 2025

 

I'm not doing well with keeping up on reviews, so this is gonna be a short one.

 I went to this free Canada Day concert of Corb Lund & The Hurtin' Albertans in Leduc with my buddies Hurl and A-Bomb. Leduc is about a half hour drive south of Edmonton. My buddy Hurl invited me to go to this show with him, as I don't drive and I haven't hung out with him in ages, so of course I accepted.

 This would be my 13th time seeing Corb Lund in concert. And as always Corb and his band put on a great show. The show was an outdoor show held at Leduc Recreation Centre, a good crowd was out for the show too, which was good to see.

 Corb and the boys played an hour and half set covering tunes from his whole catalog, songs from his very first album Modern Pain to his latest album El Viejo and a few cover songs by Hayes Carll, Fred Eaglesmith and Ian Tyson thrown into the set as well

 A big thank you to my buddy Hurl for the invite and ride to and from the show. Good times!!!

Corb Lund & The Hurtin' Albertans.

The Starlite Room 35th Anniversary Street Party May 17th 2025 (Edmonton)

  Last Saturday Buzzard, Cuz, A-Bomb, Shultz and I attended the 35th Anniversary Street Party for the Starlite Room (The Bronx/The Rev/Temple). A venue I have been attending for 35 years now and have seen many shows at this venue and have some really really good times at. And this street party is one more to add. An excellent triple of local bands Whitey Houston, Jr. Gone Wild and Corb Lund and The Hurtin' Albertans, a show that they held on the street in front of the Starlite Room. A late afternoon start with the weather co-operating, wasn't exactly sunny and hot, but then with it being May long weekend, at least it wasn't snowing, cause we all know that can happen too.

 The afternoon started with the two piece band Whitey Houston with Lyle (Whitey) Bell on bass and vocals and Rob (Gravy) Hoffart on drums and joining in on the fun was Kimballz on maracas, watching her is always fun. Whitey Houston has been around since 1999 but don't play very many shows anymore, (this would be my 5th time seeing them) but this show was excellent, playing songs from their self titled 2005 album, songs such as "Heavy Metal Parking Lot", "I Get Around", and fan favourite "I Got Fucked By Liberty Mutual". A solid set of fuzzed out bass heavy rock. We were off to a great start.

Whitey Houston.

 Next up was Jr. Gone Wild who were playing the last show of their four date tour. This would be my 16th time seeing them in concert. The band don't play too many shows lately, so it's always a pleasure to see the band live. And after three previous shows the guys were sounding good. 

 JGW opened their set with a couple of old songs such as  "I'm So Glad" from their 1995 album Simple Little Wish and then into "I Don't Know About All That" from their 1990 album Too Dumb To Quit. And then in to a smattering of newer songs from their awesome 2021 album Still Got The Jacket. The new material goes over so well with their audience, playing such songs as "Five Million Songs", my favourite "Old And Ugly", "Girl In The Crowd", another fave of mine "Warren's Van" and "Fools Errand" that had the crowd singing fuck you to the sky. Such a great set by these Edmonton veterans. With how great their last album is, I'd love to see these guys put out a new album and play more shows. Keep up the great work Mike McDonald (guitar and vocals), Dove (bass), Steve Loree (guitar) and Quinton Herbert (drums).

Jr. Gone Wild.

 Headlining the street party was Corb Lund and The Hurtin' Albertans. This would be my 12th time seeing them play live. Corb who was the bass player in the Edmonton metal band the smalls has played this room a many times not only with the smalls but with his solo band too. By the time Corb and the boys hit the stage the crowd had swelled to, hmm, by my guess I would say 900-1000 people. A very mixed crowd of cowboys, metal heads, scenesters and old time fans of Corb.

 With Corb Lund reissuing his old material on vinyl for the first time here in the near future, Corb and The Hurtin' Albertans were treating us to two old albums from front to back. Starting with his 2002 album Five Dollar Bill and then for the second part of their set it was the 2005 album Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer. With Corb having 12 albums out, you don't get to hear too many of the older songs anymore. So it was so awesome to hear oldies like "Expectation and the Blues", "Five Dollar Bill", "Apocalyptic Modified Blues" and "Daughter You Don't Marry No Guitar Picker" and of course "Time To Switch To Whiskey" which is one song that has been in his sets forever and always has the crowd singing along.

 And for the second part of the show it was the Hair In My Eyes album which included old favourites like the title song "Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer", "Always Keep An Edge On Your Knife", "Big Butch Bass Bull Fiddle" and "All I Wanna Do Is Play Cards". Both these albums that Corb and band played are so damn good, and so nice to hear so many of these songs again. Corb and his band The Hurtin' Albertans sounded great and looked to be having a whole lot of fun playing these songs again. All and all this was an incredibly fun day, not only the great music by all three bands but, running into so many friends, seemed like every time I turned around I was running into someone I knew. Some great visits with friends I don't see often enough. This was a great start to what looks like should be a great summer of shows. And last but not least a very Happy 35th Anniversary to the Starlite Room. Here is hoping this venue will be around for many more years. Good times!!!

Corb Lund and The Hurtin' Albertans.

May 6th

 On May 6th, 2022 I saw Corb Lund and The Hurtin' Albertans with Mike Plume opening play the Starlite Room in Edmonton.

December 21st

  

 On December 21st, 2002 I saw the Corb Lund Band play the Power Plant here in Edmonton. Opening the show was local act The Swifty's and from Victoria Carolyn Mark. A great show and a really good time!

Outlaw Legacy (Ben Haggard) Live in Edmonton Nov.9th 2024

  

 On Saturday night my buddy Buzzard and I made our way to the River Cree Casino to see the Outlaw Legacy show featuring Ben & Noel Haggard (Merle Haggard's sons) headlining with opening acts Ned Ledoux (whoever he is) and Tyler Reese Tritt and Tristan Tritt (Travis Tritt's  son and daughter). I know nothing about Travis Tritt, I wouldn't know a tune of his if I heard it, so the Tritt's really meant very little to me. This line-up is such a casino show. Buzzard and I have seen Ben & Noel a few times before and have always enjoyed seeing them perform, but I wasn't going to pay a hundred bucks to see them this time, way too expensive. But thanks to my buddy who was looking for a night out with some live music, bought the tickets and treated me to a night out.

The first act of the evening was Tristan Tritt, I knew nothing about him, but for the hundred dollar ticket we wanted to be sure to checkout every artist. Well much to our surprise, we got in the venue at 8:45, with the ticket saying 9:00 start, we figured we gave ourselves enough time to grab a few beers and be seated for start time. Well, we got in and Tristan was already playing. By the time we got to our seats and I asked the guy next to me how much we missed, he said Tristan was already on his third song. What the fuck! And he only did a four song set. It was him singing with sister Tyler Reese adding some background vocal and some dude playing acoustic guitar. What we did hear was alright, country with a rock influence, not bad.

Tristan Tritt.

Next up was Tyler Reese Tritt. Same set up, Tyler, Tristan and some dude on guitar, only I didn't see or hear Tristan do any background vocals, he was just kind of there, weird. Again, only a four song set, all covers I believe, I know one of the songs was called "Texas Hold'em" the other three not sure. Whatever they were, she had people in the half full venue singing and dancing. What I will say about Tyler Reese Tritt is that she has got a set of lungs on her, she can fucking sing. I was impressed.

Tyler Reese Tritt.

Next act up was Ned LeDoux, first artist of the night with a full band. No clue who Ned is but after some research I see he is an country singer/songwriter from Wyoming and the son of country artist Chris LeDoux, again, no idea who he is either. After four songs into his set, I said to Buzzard "fuck this, I'm going for a smoke", they were just middle of the road country, did absolutely nothing for me. But after the fourth song Ned said he had a special guest joining him on stage, someone he had written the next song with and we would know him. Well much to my surprise it was Corb Lund joining the band on stage for a song they wrote together called "Dance With Your Spurs On", so that was very cool. But after that song I bailed for a smoke. Sure glad I waited as long as I did before I left.

Ned LeDoux.

Corb Lund with Ned LeDoux.

 The last surprise of the night was when Ben Haggard hit the stage and announced that older brother Noel Haggard wouldn't be joining the band tonight because of cross border issues. Well that sucked. I've seen Ben and Noel live twice before and they are always excellent, with Noel sounding a lot like his father Merle. But that wouldn't be happening tonight.

 Ben did a great job on his own, with him and the band playing only a forty minute set, which was way too short. Ben did great versions of some of his dad's classic songs such as "I Think I'll Just Stay Here And Drink", "The Bottle Let Me Down", "Are The Good Times Really Over" and closing out the night with "Okie From Muskogee". His set was good and he did a great job without Noel, but at the same time, Noel was missed big time, with his gritty voice and presence. And the set was just too short.

 On thew way out of the show, I heard a lot of grumbling about no Noel and how short the show was for the money spent. I would have to agree. Nonetheless, it was a fun night out with my buddy Buzzard. Good times!!!

Ben Haggard.