April 27th

  It was on April 27th, 2019 that I saw Matt Andersen play the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton. Opening the show was a band called Wild Rivers.

Edmonton Blues Fest. (Featuring Matt Andersen & The Big Bottle Of Joy) Aug.18th 2024 Live in Edmonton

  

 I almost forgot to write about this show that my buddy Nazz and I went to. It was the final night of the Edmonton Blues Festival. Sunday night's headliner was Matt Andersen. This would be my second time seeing Matt in concert. Matt is a Canadian blues singer-songwriter and guitarist from New Brunswick.

 First thing I noticed about the crowd on Sunday evening was that it was a younger crowd then Friday night. That, I would contribute to the booking of Matt Andersen. Nice to see Cam Hayden who books this festival taking a chance on someone like Matt. 

 Matt Andersen and his band The Big Bottle Of Joy were great, mixing his setlist with songs that covered his career thus far. Band was tight and Matt's voice sounded great and played well. 

 Sorry about the short review but this show was a few weeks ago now. Having to work on Monday I kept things pretty mellow but still had a really good time. Weather was beautiful, good crowd, good vibes, good friends. Good times!!!

Matt Andersen.

Matt Andersen Live in Edmonton April 27th 2019

On Saturday night Janis, Buzzard, Mook, Erin, Allen and I went to the Matt Andersen concert at the Jubilee Auditorium. I was looking forward to this show as I had never seen Matt in concert before and have only recently started getting in to his music. Having heard his music on CKUA and reading a bit about him, I picked up his album on Record Store Day, his newest one Halfway Home By Morning and really like it, great album. I actually ended up winning tickets on RSD to this show as well, so that was a bonus.

Opening the show was a band from Toronto called Wild Rivers. I had never heard them before but got to the venue early to check them out. They are a four piece band led by Khalid Yassein on vocals who play a folk-pop kind of music. I was impressed with her vocals, and the song writing was alright too. Overall though would I go out of my way to see them again, probably not.

Wild Rivers.

Next up was headliner Matt Andersen who hails from New Brunswick, playing with Matt this time around was the four piece horn section The Mellotones who are from Halifax, making it a nine piece band for this show. Matt opened the show with the song "Free Man" from his latest album. The first thing you notice about Matt is he is a big man with a big voice, that and he makes a big guitar look small. Most of his almost two hour long set was made up of songs from the Half Way Home By Morning album. Watching and listening to him and his band reminded me a lot of The Band, which is funny because about half way through the show Matt and his band did a cover of "Ophelia" which sounded awesome. He also did a three song acoustic set, which also sounded great. I really enjoyed the show with no slow or boring parts through the whole show. For the encore he did the Neil Young song "Helpless" in which he had the audience singing along with him. Not only was Matt and his band excellent but he was also quite funny joking that there aren't many jobs where you want people yelling at you other then being a stripper or a musician, saying "I bet your glad I picked being a musician". I figured being a big man like Matt that he would be sitting on a stool playing but he didn't sit down once through the whole show. A very impressive concert and musician/band I would certainly go see again. Good times!!!

Matt Andersen and The Mellotones.

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