November 12th

  On November 12th, 2009 I saw the Mike Plume Band play The Brixx in Edmonton. The show was originally booked for the Starlite Room but was moved to the basement of the Starlite room called The Brixx. Great show by Plume and Band.

July 2nd

  The ticket stub from the time I saw the Mike Plume Band rock the fuck out of the Mercury Room in Edmonton.

September 9th

 

 It took me until last year 2023 to see a concert on September 9th. And for this show I had to travel to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to see it, but what a show it was. Myself and couple of buddies met my Dad in Moose Jaw to attend Homestand 23 at Ross Wells Ballpark featuring headliner Corb Lund and The Hurtin' Albertan's and the Mike Plume Band as well as Lindi Ortega and Jordyn Pollard. A good time was had by all!

September 7th

  

 It took me almost 40 years to see a concert on September 6th, but in 2023 I finally saw one. That show being the Mike Plume Band at the Starlite Room in Edmonton.

July 21st

  

 On July 21st, 1995 I was at the Sidetrack Cafe in Edmonton for the first of a two night stand by the Charlie Sexton Sextet show with the Mike Plume Band opening.

Homestand '23 featuring Corb Lund, Mike Plume and others, September 9th, Moose Jaw, SK

 

 Going to this show in Moose Jaw was a few months in the making. It started with Buzzard and I running into Mike Plume at the Jason Isbell concert here in Edmonton. It was at this show that Mike told us about his upcoming tour with his band in the fall, and also told us about the big show in Moose jaw where he would be opening for Corb Lund. Well we knew for sure that we would see the Edmonton show but Buzzard right away said road trip for the Moose Jaw show. Well after hemming and hawing for months about going to the show, we finally pulled the trigger on going to the show during a late night of drinking in mid August. We got our tickets and booked a hotel room in Moose Jaw for a few nights. So now we are committed to going, Buzzard, Cuz and I. After telling my Dad who lives in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan that we were going to the show, he said he wanted to go as well, as he is a fan of Mike Plume and Corb Lund and has seen both of them before, so now Dad is going to meet us in Moose Jaw for the show. This going to be a good time.

 First things first though, we gotta sober up from the Mike Plume show we had just attended in Edmonton. We were leaving the following morning for the seven hour trip. Well we didn't get going until noon hour as we had a very late night before. But after a nights rest, it was off to Moose Jaw we go. Road Trip! First out of town concert I had been to in four years. And of all places Moose Jaw, would never have guessed that would be the place.

 After the seven hour drive of three hungover guys we were some glad to finally arrive in Moose Jaw. A day off of work and no drinks for that long is not how you enjoy a day off, but we pulled it off. The drive was uneventful, which was a good thing. But by the time we got to Moose Jaw and met up with my Dad, it was time to get some drinks in us. So we found ourselves a bar to go to close to the hotel and proceeded to get a buzz on and close the place down. Good times! Then it was back to the hotel room and carry on, finally finishing our night of drinking at 5am. I guess we needed some beers. The following day was the Homestand show at Ross Wells Ball Park. Thankfully the show didn't start until 6pm. My dad woke up us around 10am, which was way too fucking early, hell we had just shut er' down not too long ago. Man, I was hurting the day of the show. Some lunch and a wander around downtown Moose Jaw and a mid afternoon hopefully would help.

 This show billed as Homestand '23 being held at Ross Wells Ball Park was there third annual holding of the event. The Ball Park opened at 1:30 so those that wanted to could watch the Banjo Bowl which is the name for the CFL football game between the two rivalries of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers versus the Saskatchewan Roughriders on the big screens at the park, Saskatchewan loves their Roughriders! We skipped out on watching that as we had no interest. After the game was when the concert got started.

 Lucky for us it was a beautiful day for an outdoor concert. Things got started around 5pm with Jordyn Pollard from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. Her music I would describe as pop country. Not really my kind of music, but it was good that Homestead got things going with a Saskatchewan musician.

Jordyn Pollard.

Next up was Lindi Ortega who is a country singer-songwriter from Toronto. I've always wanted to see her in concert and now I was finally getting my chance. She was accompanied on stage with another guitar player, not sure of what his name was. Her set was alright other then the volume was way too low for her. Not sure why that was but it was disappointing.

Lindi Ortega.

 By the time the Mike Plume Band came on, I had got a few beers in me and was starting to feel a whole lot better, and the ball park was starting to fill up. Mike and his band were in fine form with his guitarist Dave Klym almost stealing the show. He was ripping it up and so animated. he is a lot of fun to watch and man can that guy play the guitar. Of course the rest of the band were tight and sounding great as well. Mike sounded great on vocals but did hear his voice crackle a few times, which can be expected when this is the fifth show in five nights. One surprise during Mike's 75 minute set was him and the band breaking into the Jimmy Buffett song "Margaritaville". That had the crowd singing along, a tribute to Jimmy who had just passed away a week before this show. There was good crowd in front of the stage for Mike with lots of people singing along and having a good time. This was my 26th time seeing Mike Plume in concert. A great set!

Mike Plume Band.

 This picture I got off of Instagram from drummer Ernie's account.

 Now it was time for headliners Corb Lund & The Hurtin' Albertans. Well us Albertans weren't hurting anymore, we all had more then a few beers in us by now and were having a really good time. It's a;ways fun seeing Corb Lund and his band perform. This would be my 12th time seeing Corb in concert.

 By the time Corb Lund hit the stage the place was packed, my guess would be 2500-3000 people in attendance and the front of the stage was super packed and everyone was having a blast.

 Corb had a few sound issues at the start of the set but it got figured out after a song or two. Corb and his band sounded great playing songs such as "Five Dollar Bill", "Bible On The Dash", "I Wanna Be In The Cavalry", "Bible On The Dash", "Cows Around" and what surprised me was him playing three new songs from his upcoming album El Viejo to be released in February 2024, I think it was three anyways, two for sure, one being "Old Familiar Drunken Feeling", a song he said was a true story about him eating some edibles before a show in Colorado. Such a great song. Another new song he did was called "Out On A Win" about a fighter that wants to win one last time, again, another great song. Really looking forward to the new album.

 And of course Corb had to play "Rye Whiskey/Time To Switch To Whiskey" which had the whole crowd singing along to. What a great two hour set and such a fun night, great crowd, good vibes, awesome music, beautiful evening, great friends and a night out with my Dad. Good fucking times in Moose Jaw!!!!

 Also a big shout out to Buzzard for talking us into going to this show and booking the hotel room and a big shout out to Cuz for the drive to and from Edmonton to Moose Jaw! And also to the organizers of the Homestand 23 Festival organizers and volunteers, great job!

Corb Lund & The Hurtin' Albertans.

Mike Plume Band Live in Edmonton September 7th 2023

 

                                        

Always a treat when one of your very favourite singer/songwriters/musician/friend and all around great guy comes to town to play the Starlite Room, and even more fun when it is with his original back up band. And with Mike Plume now residing in Ontario, seeing him perform here in Edmonton won't be as often. This would be my 25th time seeing Mike in concert. I went to this show with Cuz and Buzzard. I loved the name for this tour too "Five Show, Five Nights, Fucking Rights Tour!"

 Although the show was billed as Mike Plume's original band, the original bass player Derek Mazurek wasn't able to make this tour because of a family obligation, so filling in was Ben Wilson whom has been a long time member of Mike's band. Then there was drummer Ernie Basiliadis and in Mike's words "the man with the worst seat in 30 years of show business", on guitar was the animated and amazing Dave Klym, and this time around Mike had slide steel guitar player Ryan Barwin touring with him.

 For a Thursday night show and with no postering around town to advertise, he still had a pretty good turnout for the show, my guess is a couple hundred die hard fans. This show was the third night of his five show tour and the band was sounding tight and Mike was in good singing form. A awesome two hour set of amazing songs.

Mike Plume Band.

 Opening the show was Edmonton band Age Of The Willing. Have to say I didn't catch all their set as I wasn't all that impressed. So I was outside visiting and having a few smokes.

Age Of The Willing.

 After the show Cuz, Buzzard and I went to the bar River City Revival House in the basement of the Starlite Room for a few more beers and ended up staying until closing time. Good times!!!

Mike Plume Band Live in Edmonton June 14th 2019

On Saturday June 14th my buddy Buzzard, Cuz and I went to the Mike Plume Band show at the Starlite Room. This would be my 17th time seeing Plume in concert, but this show was different from every other time I had seen him. This time around Mike had his old band of Ernie Basiliadis on drums, Dave Klym on guitar and Derek Mazurek on bass and of course Mike Plume on vocals and guitar. This was the original lineup from 1997 and the band that recorded the album Song And Dance Man. I never got to see this formation of the band, so I was really looking forward to seeing and hearing this. This was a small three date tour that started in Calgary, then Edmonton and ending with a music festival in St. Paul, Alberta.

There was no opening act for this show, it was just a night of Mike Plume Band music. The opening song of the three hour set was "Bird's Eye View" from his 2001 album Fools For The Radio. What a great way to open the show. I wasn't sure what to expect, I thought they might just do the Song And Dance Man album, but nope, they pulled out songs from Mike's whole catalog of music. Even stuff from his latest release Born By The Radio, an album that only drummer Ernie had played on. For a band that had no rehearsals before this three date tour they sounded tight. Total professionals all these guys. Mike even broke into the Hip song "Fireworks" during one of the songs, that was a cool surprise. The whole band all had smiles plastered on their faces looking like they were having a great time playing together for the first time in 19 years. You would never know with how good they sounded. Just have a look at the setlist to see other songs performed, there were even a few songs played that weren't on the setlist, like the tribute song to drummer Ernie who has been in the band right from the very beginning "Me and Ern", such a great song. Mike usually doesn't use a setlist, but for this show because the band had no rehearsals he had to use one. Even with a setlist he still added a few songs that weren't on the list.

At one point during the show Mike brought his wife Jenny O on stage to perform the song "Roving Gambler" together, which sounded amazing. Roving Gambler is a traditional folk song made most famous by Simon & Garfunkel. Mike also did the Tom Waits song "Picture In A Frame" which also sounded amazing.

I have seen Mike play a lot of times, but holy shit this show was the best and up there with one of the best concerts I have ever been to. I hope Mike can get the guys together again for some more shows or maybe even a new album, that would be incredibly awesome. Good times!!!

Mike Plume Band setlist.

Mike Plume Band at the Starlite Room.