Leeroy Stagger Live in Edmonton June 15th 2019

The next show I saw was the Highlandia Fest which was held in the Highlands neighbourhood at Henry Martell Park. This was basically a block party for the hood. Apparently this festival has been happening for years. but this was the first I had heard of it. They had live music playing all day and night until 11pm. My buddy Buzzard and I only wanted to see the last two bands Altameda and Leeroy Stagger. Talk about two great bands to close out the festival. we weren't sure what to expect when we got there. I didn't think they would be serving beer and I was right on that, but after scoping the place out we noticed that people were just sitting around on the grass drinking cans of beer or bottles of wine that they had brought themselves. Lucky for us we got there early enough that we booked it to the closest liquor store and picked some beers up. what a cool relaxed festival, everyone was well behaved just enjoying the tunes and having a few beers. I wish there were more events like this in the city. No cops harassing people, just people with their kids enjoying beautiful night out.

So after fetching ourselves some beers we made ourselves comfy on the grass just before Edmonton band Altameda started. This would be my 11th time seeing Altameda in concert. Probably my favorite Edmonton band these days. Like every other time I have seen them in concert they were great. Maybe a little tamer then usual at this show, but still really good. They closed out their hour long set with a fun cover of Paul McCartney's song "Coming Up". Overall a good set.

Altameda.

Headlining the evening was Leeroy Stagger with the Rebeltone Sound. This would be my 15th time seeing Leeroy in concert. This show was the last date of his Me And The Mountain Tour, which is also the name of his latest album that was just released in mid May. This is the first of two albums he is releasing this year. And a great album it is. The show on this night was Leeroy with his band doing an all acoustic set.

Most of Leeroy's set was made up from songs from the Me And The Mountain album, such songs as the title song, "Caught In The Middle", "Beauty In This World", "Open Up Your Heart" and "Fire & Fury", the new songs sounded great. Leeroy also played a couple of older songs from his Love Versus album "I Want It All" and "Joe Strummer and Joey Ramone" as well as "Poison The Well" from his 2015 album Dream It All Away. Leeroy also pulled out an old Joe Strummer song called "Johnny Appleseed" mentioning that it was probably his favorite song. As I had mentioned earlier Leeroy has another album coming out this fall, he played a song from it called "Leonard Cohen Is Dead". His our long set was excellent and went by far too fast. All and all a fun little festival with two great bands to close it out. Good times!!!

Leeroy Stagger and the Rebeltone Sound.

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.

Judas Priest Live in Edmonton June 11th 2019

Last week I went to the Judas Priest and Uriah Heep double bill at Rogers Place in Edmonton. I wasn't sure if I was going to go to this show or not but after being able to score a ticket for twenty dollars through the Ticketmaster summer concert deal how could I say no. Especially a double bill like this. Between the two bands there is almost a hundred years of British rock n' roll to be celebrated. And not only that, the new Judas Priest album Firepower is a kick ass album.

Starting the night was Uriah Heep, this would be my second time seeing them in concert, having seen them play a club just last summer, and that was a great show. I was looking forward to seeing them play a big stage. When Uriah Heep hit the stage the place wasn't very full but it sure did fill up quick once they started cranking out the tunes. The band led by guitarist Mick Box the founding member of the band sounded great. Rounding out the band was Phil Lanzon on keys, Bernie Shaw on vocals, who does an amazing job, Russell Gilbrook on drums and Davey Rimmer on bass. For their hour long set they covered a lot of ground playing songs from their very first album ...Very 'Eavy ...Very 'Umble. Right up to their latest 2018 release Living The Dream. I thought they were awesome, and thoroughly enjoyed their set.

Uriah Heep setlist.

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Uriah Heep at Rogers Place.

Next up was headliner Judas Priest. This would be my third time seeing Priest in concert. The last time being in 1990 on their Painkiller Tour. By this time the place and filled up, with a crowd of about 6,000. Opening the show with a song from Firepower called "Necromancer", and following that up with an oldie "Heading Out To The Highway", and holy shit we were off and running. Rob Halford's voice sounded amazing. As did the band which included original bass player Ian Hill and Richie Faulkner on guitar who has been with the band since 2011, Scott Travis on drums since 1989 and the newest member Andy Sneap on guitar. Next song up was "Sentinel" from the Defenders Of The Faith album. If you have a look at the setlist it was a set of mostly deeper cuts, as there were a lot of songs I would love to have heard, but it was cool to hear some of these songs that I really wasn't expecting. And the four new songs they did fit excellent with the old stuff.

For the encore the three songs they did were "Hell Bent For Leather", "Breaking The Law" and closing out the night with "Living After Midnight". Holy fucking shit, what a great encore. a fun night of old school heavy metal. Good times!!!

Judas Priest setlist.

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Judas Priest at Rogers Place.

Anvil Live in Edmonton June 1st 2019

This Anvil show was almost three weeks ago now but am finally getting around to writing about it. Anvil was playing Rendezvous Pub on tour for their 2018 album Pounding the Pavement. This would be my third time seeing Anvil in concert.

Forty-two years in and Anvil still put on an entertaining show. It was exactly what I expected, old school heavy metal, with the band playing lots of their old stuff like "March Of The Crabs", "666", "Mothra" and "Metal On Metal", "Winged Assassins" and throwing some newer stuff as well from the Pounding Pavement album "Bitch In The Box" and "Doing What I Want".

The three piece band led by Lips on guitar and vocals with Robb Reiner on drums and yet again a new bass player. All three times I have seen Anvil they have had a different bass player. The guys were in fine form with Lips telling some great stories about hanging with Ozzy and Lemmy. and telling some cheesy jokes that got a few groans from the audience. I just love how Lips looks like he is having a blast playing live. Robb sounded great on the drums. All and all this was a fun show and am very happy that Karie talked me into going, even though I probably should have stayed home after a day of drinking, but what the hell you only live once, right! Good times!!!

Anvil at Rendezvous Pub.