Gigantour 2013 to mangle Edmonton metalheads in July
Area metal fans are advised to gird their loins and prepare for the unrelenting brutal sonic assault that is Gigantour. The 2013 edition of Megadeth’s touring thrash metal jamboree comes to Edmonton’s Rexall Place on Friday, July 26 – also featuring Black Label Society, Device, Hellyeah, Newstead (former Metallica member Jason Newstead’s solo project) and [...]
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WEEKEND MUSIC: Dostoyevsky ghosts haunt indie folk from Seattle
There’s an intriguing suite of live music choices this weekend - from album releases to music about chocolate to an after-party for a craft fair, the one can’t-miss show is an early gig Friday at the Pawn Shop featuring Seattle’s Ivan & Alyosha. The wondrous spirit of his indie folk quartet is matched if not [...]
Freak flags unfurled in new k.d. lang ballet
Well before k.d. lang delivered her memorable speech at the 2013 Juno Awards in which she encouraged Canadians to fly their “freak flags,” she’d already helped create a freak flag flying ballet based on her life and music. She’ll be in Edmonton to see it this weekend, along with members of her family including her [...]
Eagles return to Edmonton this fall
Is it really necessary to call an Eagles tour the “History of the Eagles” tour? All Eagles tours are histories of the Eagles tours. At least they’re being up front about what is sure to be yet another nostalgic trip back in time – coming to Edmonton’s Rexall Place on Monday, Sept. 9. Tickets go [...]
Corb Lund scores hat trick at Edmonton Music Awards
The mandolins and big butch bass bull fiddles have taken over music in Edmonton. They’ll come for our guns next. We can see by the 2013 winners of the Edmonton Music Awards that we seem to be trending into folk music – like everywhere else you can hear Mumford and Sons on six different radio [...]
Van Wilmott under no pressure to revive the past
An astounding thing is discovered in talking to Edmonton music guru Van Wilmott to mark his 20th year of producing musical theatre for the Mayfield Dinner Theatre – there isn’t a trace of his old band Grace Under Pressure on the Internet. No photos, no videos, no music, just a little entry in the Canadian [...]
WEEKEND MUSIC: Motley Crue’s latest farewell tour may be its last
You know why it’s such big news when bands or musicians finally retire? It’s because the vast majority never do. Instead they just keep on making music and touring until they’re no longer physically able to. Such is the case with the band for this weekend’s biggest gig, Motley Crue, who peaked somewhere in the [...]
Open Sky Music Festival postponed for this year
Another fledgling Edmonton festival is taking a hiatus – at least for one year. Producers of the Open Sky Music Festival have announced the postponement of this year’s event, originally scheduled for June 7-9 at Hawrelak Park’s Heritage Amphitheatre. Nathan Richards, who founded the festival in 2010 to showcase bands of the reggae, “surf rock” [...]
Alice in Chains comes to Edmonton in July
There is great rejoicing in Mudville today – for Alice in Chains is coming to town. One of the best bands to come of the Seattle scene of the ‘90s will perform at Rexall Place on Thursday, July 4. Tickets go on sale Friday. Back in the day, vocalists Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley created [...]
Overlooked classical composer only Edmonton Juno winner
If you don’t count k.d. lang’s induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Vivian Fung is the sole Edmonton winner at the 2013 Juno Awards. “I feel so honoured to be recognized and acknowledged by the Canadian recording industry,” she says. “It’s a wonderful feeling.” If you have no idea who Vivian Fung is, [...]
Moving to Edmonton will get you into the Velvet Underground
Growing up in Beaumont, Alberta, a Francophone farming community of 14,000 located three kilometres South of Edmonton, Brazilian Money’s Garrett Johnson remembers listening to Velvet Underground for the first time. “I thought it was total garbage,” he says. So how did the Beaumont musician end up appreciating the context and musicality of Lou Reed’s legendary [...]
WEEKEND MUSIC: Longterm family Junkies
The iconic Cowboy Junkies are in town this weekend for a pair of sold out shows at St. Albert’s Arden Theatre, on a weekend where there’s as much live music to see around Edmonton as there is in it. One of the original Canadian bands that crossed country with folk and rock music, the Cowboy [...]
