October 14th

 October 14th, 2017 saw me at the Winspear Centre here in Edmonton seeing Whitehorse with opener Terra Lightfoot. A great Canadian double bill.

Whitehorse Live in Edmonton July 21st 2023

 My buddy Buzzard and I went to three shows during this years Taste Of Edmonton Festival held at Sir Winston Churchill Park in downtown Edmonton. This festival is a ten day event that features all kinds of different restaurants and food trucks and a wide variety of music every day. This years line up was pretty solid, and all the entertainment is free.

The first band we went and saw was the Hamilton based band Whitehorse. This would be my sixth time seeing the band in concert. There was a pretty good turnout for the show, which was good to see. To me this wasn't one of the better shows I have seen them perform. Not that the band was bad or anything, it was more the song selection that they played. I prefer their older material myself. This time around they played quite a few songs from their latest release "I'm Not Crying, You're Crying" which has a real country sound to it. I found the songs to be kind of flat sounding. When they did do some of the rocking songs from previous albums, the band sounded great. All and all for a free show, it's hard to complain, even though, I just it did! Good times!!!

Whitehorse.

Interstellar Rodeo in Edmonton July 28th 2019

A couple of Sunday's ago Janis, Erin and I attended the last day of the annual Interstellar Rodeo Festival here in Edmonton at the Hawrelak Park Amphitheatre. This was the second year in a row where I only attended the last day of the festival. I'm just finding that the line ups haven't been as good as previous years and the ticket prices keep going up. I love this festival as it's very laid back, interesting and eclectic bands and a great crowd. So I pick what I think will be the best day, and this year's Sunday looked like a good line up and the weather was decent.

The first band of the day was a band I had never heard of before called Southern Avenue from Memphis, Tennessee. They are a five piece blues/soul band led by Tierinii Jackson on vocals. The lady had lots of energy and a great voice for this kind of music. I enjoyed their set and it was a great way to start the day.

Southern Avenue.

Next up was Saul Williams a musician/actor from New York. His performance was a mix of rap, hip hop, spoken word, poetry, with all of this seeming to have something to do with politics. I was not a fan of this whatsoever. I watched and listened to as much as could stand, it was time to go out for a smoke and beer.

Saul Williams.

Lucius was up next, they are an indie pop band formed in New York led by two ladies on vocals by the names of Jesse Wolf and Holly Laessig. These two women have backed up everyone from Jackson Browne, John Prine, Sheryl Crow, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and most recently Roger Waters, having toured with Waters over the past three years on the Us + Them Tour. With Jesse and Holly wearing matching orange outfits and sharing a microphone the harmonizing from these two were incredible. I wish I knew their material better even so, it was a great hour long set.

Lucius.

The next band up was one of the bands that really interested me in the Sunday line up. A band based out of Austin, Texas and has been around for fifty years. I'm talking about Asleep at the Wheel. What a treat it was to see this group perform live. Led by Ray Benson on guitar and vocals, with Katie Shore on fiddle, Cindy Cashdollar on steel guitar, David Sanger on drums plus a few more musicians that I am not sure of their names. Asleep at the Wheel's music is a western country swing style of music mixed with Americana. They were amazing and so much fun. At times it reminded me of Dr. Hook. Some of the songs I recognized were "Hot Rod Lincoln", "Milk Cow Blues", "Route 66" and ending their hour long set with "Happy Trails". This was such a fun set, Ray and his band looked to be having a blast up there as were all those watching and listening. I heard a lot of people talking about how much they enjoyed Asleep at the Wheel. Certainly the highlight for me out of all the bands I saw.

Asleep at the Wheel.

Next was Whitehorse a band based out of Hamilton, the two main members are the husband and wife couple Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. This would be my fourth time seeing the band live. When I first saw them in concert was at Interstellar in 2012, back then it was just the two of them, now they have a full band, which sounds great. Whitehorse is always a fun band to see in concert and this time was no different. How to describe their music, hmmm, a mix of blues, swamp rock with some pop mixed in. Enjoyed their set again.

Whitehorse.

Closing out this years Interstellar Rodeo was Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats. While I only have one of his albums and that being his debut album with the Night Sweats, an album I thought was just ok, until I saw him on the Austin City Limits TV program, and wow, was he ever good on that. So I was looking forward to seeing and hearing him in a live environment. And Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats did not let me down. There style of music which is a mix of soul and blues with some Americana mixed in was amazing, you could probably add some funk to the list of style of music. Nathaniel sounded great and him and his band played with a lot of energy in which the crowd fed off, as did the band. I didn't know all the music, but they played a good selection of tunes from the album I do have. The biggest song of his set of course was his hit "S.O.B.". A very entertaining show. All and all another fun night out at Interstellar Rodeo. Good times!!!

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats.

Whitehorse Live in Edmonton Oct.14th 2017

A couple of Saturday's ago now my buddy Buzzard, my Cuz and I went to the Whitehorse concert at the Winspear Centre. I was lucky enough to have won two pairs of tickets to this show. The first pair I won through a website called Tunespeak and the second pair I won through the Six Shooter Records site, the label that Whitehorse is signed to.

The pair I won through Six Shooter Records was this.

We have also teamed up with our friends at Big Rock to bring you our special VIP Wheat & Greets. Guests who purchase this offer will be treated to to an intimate acoustic performance by Whitehorse, a signed CD and digital copy of Panther in the Dollhouse, and an exclusive VIP shirt.

So my buddy Buzzard and I were at the Winspear Centre at 5:15pm as per instructions. By 5:30 there were 13 of us ready for the meet and greet. We were taken to the second floor lobby of the Winspear, where we would get our acoustic set, free swag and a beer. Well the beer was a no go because of liquor license or something, that sucked as were both looking forward to having a beer or two. The two ladies that were looking after us handed out the t-shirts to us while we waited for Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland whom make up the band Whitehorse to make their appearance. They made their entrance with acoustic guitars in hand, made some small talk and then played us a song, the song being "Broken" from their first album. The two of them sounded amazing, no microphones or amps, just Luke and Melissa singing and playing. But that was it, one song. I thought this was going to be an acoustic set as per what the VIP Experience was supposed to be. To me a set is at least three songs, but to no avail this time. I would love to have heard them do a few more songs in such an intimate setting. Luke and Melissa did take the time to chat with everyone for about 15-20 minutes telling stories about their kids, road stories and such. Very personable couple and good with everyone, taking pictures and signing the CD's we all got, the new album "Panther In The Dollhouse". I brought along a gig poster and vinyl copy of their first album to get autographed, which they were both kind enough to sign. Luke made the remark "of course the guy in the C'mon shirt has vinyl" when I brought out the vinyl to be signed. After they had signed everything and took photos with all of us they left to get ready for that nights show. We were then all given a Big Rock/Whitehorse pint glass. Just too bad we didn't actually get to use it. All and all a cool contest to win, but if I had paid the hundred dollars they were asking on the site for the VIP Experience, I would have felt ripped off. But I didn't so I can't really complain. So now that the meet and greet was done, we had a few hours to kill before show time, so it was off to meet Cuz at the bar and have a few drinks before the concert.

Picture of Luke Doucet and Melissa McLelland playing the acoustic song.

Buzzard and I with Luke and Melissa.

Free swag.

T-shirt.

Autographed vinyl and gig poster.

Opening the show was Terra Lightfoot. I knew very little about Terra other than she was from Hamilton, Ontario. I was expecting a lady to come out with an acoustic guitar and play some folk songs. Maybe it's the last name that made me think that way, but that wasn't the case at all. Terra came out on stage with an electric guitar and full band in tow. She is on tour promoting her album "New Mistakes" that came out the day before the show. She rocked the show, I was very impressed, she has a great voice and can play a pretty damn mean guitar. She reminded me of a local artist by the name of Kimberley MacGregor. Terra Lightfoot is an artist I will be looking into more.

Terra Lightfoot at the Winspear Centre.

Next up was Whitehorse which is the husband and wife team Melissa McLelland and Luke Doucet, but this time around they are touring with a full band for the first time. They are on tour promoting their fourth full length release Panther In The Dollhouse. This would be my third time seeing them in concert.

This time around Whitehorse had a little poppier sound to them, much like their latest album. Where as before Luke and Melissa had a real folksie Americana sound to them, but with the full band they have a more full sound, still a folk sound on their older music, but the new stuff
has a lot of bounce and seem to have expanded their sound. I really liked the new songs they did live, songs from Dollhouse like "Pink Kimono", "Kicking Down Your Door", "Trophy Wife" and "I Can't Take You With Me". They also did a Little Walter song "My Babe" from their blues cover EP The Northern South Vol. 1 that came out last year. And of course there were some songs from their first two albums.

It was fun to watch and listen to Melissa and Luke perform together. They feed off each other in energy. Melissa has an awesome voice and when they sing together the harmony is sweet sounding and seems so effortless, so much talent between the two of them. Melissa switched between bass and guitar through out the show. Luke's voice was sounding real good and guitar playing was top notch. Whitehorse closed out the show with a great rendition of Neil Young's "Ohio". Overall I thought this was a great show and would go see them again anytime. Good times!!!

Whitehorse at the Winspear Centre.