Sloan Live in Edmonton July 19th 2018

Last Thursday my Cuz and I made our way down town to the Legislature Grounds Capital Plaza where they are holding the Taste Of Edmonton food festival which runs for 10 days where there is all kinds of food to sample from restaurants and food trucks, they also always have music guests every night. We were there for the music and beers not food. And on this night it was Canadian rockers Sloan playing. This would be my fifth time seeing Sloan in concert, but it had been quite sometime since I last saw them, so I was looking forward to this show, and it was free, so that's always a bonus too.

We got there in time to catch a few songs by the opening band Whale and the Wolf. What I saw of them I thought they were alright, maybe should have checked out more of them, oh well!

Whale and the Wolf at Taste Of Edmonton.

So before Sloan came on we got ourselves a few beers and got up close to the stage. Hard to believe that Sloan has been around for 26 years and are currently on the road promoting their latest release titled 12, which is an album I really like.

Of course just as the band hit the stage the rain starts falling and never let up through out the whole hour plus show. And it rained hard, soaked right through by the time the show ended, but all that were there, and there was a decent crowd considering how hard it was raining, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Sloan is made up of Chris Murphy, Andrew Scott, Jay Ferguson and Patrick Pentland. What is really cool about this band is how they all trade off on instruments and singing through the whole show. There music or at least a lot of it reminds me a bit of The Beatles and just great pop music with the right touch of rock n' roll. And with twelve albums out there is a lot of music to pick from. I've never been real good with the titles of their songs, but some of the one's I did know were, a couple of new ones "Spin Our Wheels", "44 Teenagers" and "Gone For Good" which got great responses from the crowd. Of course the old ones always get an even better response like "Money City Maniacs", "The Good In Everyone" and "Who Taught You To Live Like That". I thought the whole show was kick ass. Maybe it was just me, but they almost sounded sloppy but in a good way, just a good rock n' roll show, maybe it was just the sloppiness of the rain, but it just seemed like the guys were having fun and not uptight or anything. I loved it, I thought it was a very fun show and has renewed my interest in the band again. Good times!!!

Sloan at the Taste of Edmonton.

The Cult Live in Edmonton July 13th 2018

Last Friday my buddy RCD and I went to the The Cult show here at Union Hall, a rare club show for a band like The Cult. This was a free show if you were lucky enough to get in on the tickets, in which I was. The show was put on by Aurora which is a medical marijuana producer and distributor, soon be a legal product for recreational use here in Canada come October 17th. Aurora has been doing a concert series called the Aurora Illumination Series where bands play club shows which are free for the fans all across the country. The show here in Edmonton, which is the second show that Aurora has put on here was The Cult. I honestly didn't even realize this British rock band was even still together never mind touring. While I have never really been a fan of this band, this would be my fifth time seeing them in concert. Having seen them with GnR, opening for the likes of Metallica twice, Lenny Kravitz, yet never really cared for them. Oh ya, also saw lead singer Ian Astbury front The Doors 20th Century thing they did. I do have more respect for them now then I did back in the day, and thought seeing them play a club show would be pretty damn cool.

A day after I scored the tickets much to my surprise they announced Mike McDonald as the opener. Mike is a local musician who also fronts the band Jr. Gone Wild, but this would be a solo show. Seemed like a really weird gig for Mike. I wasn't so sure how he would go over with a Cult crowd, I was actually quite nervous for him. But he did awesome, the crowd were into him, and there seemed to be quite a few people in the crowd that knew his music, after all he has been playing since the 80's so it's not like he is unknown. I myself am a huge fan of both his solo and JGW music. This would be my fifth time seeing Mike McDonald play a solo show.

Mike's 45 minute set was excellent with great song choices for this kind of crowd, mixing in solo and JGW tunes. The venue was quite full for him too, which makes sense as those that had free tickets had to be there by 8:30. I think Mike was even surprised by the great response he got from the crowd.

Some of the songs Mike did were, "The Longest Song In The Universe" from his first solo album Is This Thing On?, as well as a couple from his Live At The Blue Chair Café album. Which included "Fifty Dollar Whore" and "Slept All Afternoon". Mike also played a few new Jr. Gone Wild tunes that have yet to be released, "Five Million Songs In One", "Barricades (The Hockey Riot Song)" which is song actually written by Steve Loree the other guitar player in JGW, "Fools Errand" also was played. Just so many great songs. It was awesome to see Mike play to a near full venue and pull it off. Great job Mike.

Mike McDonald at Union Hall.

Next up was the main act that everyone was waiting for The Cult. The Cult have gone through many a member in the band, this version of the band included as always Ian Astbury on vocals and Billy Duffy on lead guitar, rounding out the band was Damon Fox on keyboards, Grant Fitzpatrick on bass and drummer John Tempesta who has also played in Testament and Rob Zombie's band.

By the time The Cult came on the place was super packed. The band opened with "Wild Flower" which sounded incredible, a great opening song, then into "Rain". Then there were a few songs that I'm not all that familiar with, like I say have never really followed the band that close despite seeing them quite a few times. I still don't think Ian has the strongest voice but hey that's just my opinion. I did think that they closed the show out great playing "Sweet Soul Sister", "Fire Woman", "Love Removal Machine" and for the encore "She Sells Sanctuary". I had to laugh as Ian still loves to bang around the tambourine a lot, I remember that from all the other times I have seen him. At least this time he seemed sober and didn't have the attitude that I have seen him have before. Like the time I saw him get booed off the stage after four songs when they opened for Metallica back in 1993. All and all this was a fun show to be at. Good times!!!

The Cult at Union Hall.

Free t-shirt I got for signing up for the Aurora newsletter. Just wish the t-shirt mentioned The Cult on it.

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Melissa Etheridge Live in Edmonton July 12th 2018

Last Thursday I went to the Melissa Etheridge concert here in Edmonton at the Winspear Centre. I had no intention of going to this show but my buddy Buzzard picked us up tickets, so I guess I was going now. At a 100 dollars a ticket, there are a lot of other shows I would rather have gone to, but hey what the hell, a show is a show. This would be my third time seeing Melissa in concert and first time since 1992, so I was due to see her again.

We missed the opening act which was a local artist by the name of Amy Van Keeken.

By the time Melissa Etheridge and her full band came on I was surprised to see that the Winspear was maybe half full if that, and it only holds maybe 1600 people or so. But then with such expensive tickets maybe I shouldn't have been shocked. Melissa and her stellar band opened the evening with the song "No Souvenirs" from her second album Brave and Crazy then into "Similar Features" from her debut album, five of the first six songs were from her first couple of albums, which was cool by me as after her third album I pretty much lost interest in her. The other songs in the opening songs were "Let Me Go", "You Used To Love To Dance" and "Chrome Plated Heart".

Over all the show was quite rocking, with Melissa taking some time to mention that she and her wife had spent two days in the city walking around the river valley and checking out the Street Performers Festival saying how beautiful Edmonton was, but did mention all the construction around the city and the venue which is in downtown Edmonton.

Some of the other songs I recognized were "Yes I Am", "You Can Sleep While I Drive", "Bring Me Some Water" and "I'm The Only One". A pretty damn good setlist, lots of songs that I knew. Those that were in attendance seemed to really enjoy the show. All and all a pretty good show, but I think I could go another 25 years before I need to see her again. Good times!!!

Melissa Etheridge at the Winspear Centre.

T-shirt front.

T-shirt back.

Altameda Live in Edmonton July 1st 2018

Last Sunday my buddy Buzzard and I checked out local rockers Altameda play at the Legislature Grounds as part of the Canada Day celebrations. This was my sixth time seeing Altameda play live and again they were incredible. Like I have said many times before this is a must see band if you are a fan of rock n' roll in the style of The Boss, Tom Petty, Ryan Adams and such. I have wrote about these guys more then a few times in the past two years.

They were the first band of the day on the Alberta Discovered stage and had a really good turnout for their performance which was great to see, well deserved. Their hour long set was rocking from start to finish and the crowd that was there were digging them from what I could tell. The band just recently sold out of their first LP Dirty Rain on vinyl, but of course it is still available through their Bandcamp page. The band currently have a new album ready to release and are hoping for a late summer, early fall release, as they are shopping it around to labels.

Watch for Altameda in your area as they are doing the summer festival circuit with upcoming dates on July 14th in Vancouver at the Red Truck Stop Brewery Concert Series in Vancouver Saturday July 14th, and two dates in Calgary Sunday July 15th at the Calgary Stampede and then again on Saturday July 28th and Sunday July 29th at the Calgary Folk Music Festival.

Altameda in Edmonton Canada Day.