MUSIC PREVIEW: Geoff Berner stays on message
Rachel Notley is on the record for being a “huge” fan of Geoff Berner. “I love his sense of humour, his angles on issues, he’s very cutting, he’s very witty,” the Premier of Alberta told GigCity in 2016. And Geoff Berner – the klezmer-loving accordion-squeezing political folksinger from B.C. – is on the record for […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: The Heat is on!
There was a seminal moment in the annals of rock ‘n’ roll, in some garage somewhere, where rockabilly musicians decided to play punk rock – or maybe it was the other way around. There may have been a fist fight. Hey, what if I used this upright bass to play Black Flag songs? How dare […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Frequency off the dial
Can a DJ be a rock star when all they apparently do is push the “play” button, and then dance around waving their arms and looking fabulous, while thousands of equally fabulous fans dance their brains out for nine straight hours? It is the age-old argument. Headlining Boodang’s annual Frequency rave at the Shaw Conference […]
K.Flay rocks hip hop and headbangers in Edmonton
The music of K.Flay can make you dance – but her lyrics can break your heart. Her music is almost enough to make you forget that the Union Hall is one of Edmonton’s least favourite concert spots – where she performed a sold-out show on Tuesday night. The pit is fun enough, but if you’re […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: K.Flay cuts deep
Kristine Flaherty isn’t the only artist to reference self-harming in a song. From Alessia Cara’s Scars to Your Beautiful to Linkin Park’s Breaking the Habit, to Johnny Cash singing about hurting himself with Nine Inch Nails, it’s a thing. Blood in the Cut is just the latest self-harming hit to strike a nerve. Playing the […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Big Boi kicks off concert season
Does this count as a blast from the past? Coming to town this weekend is one of the members of a group that made such a joyous splash in 2003 with a song called Hey Ya – the happiest, go-ahead-and-say “funnest” song of the year. From OutKast, the rapper Big Boi performs the Union Hall […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Time to give
This weekend features a pair of fundraisers fitting the Christmas season – both for good but very different causes. On Friday night, it’s “X-MUZ Part 1” at Brixx in the Starlite Room – a fundraiser supporting the Aviary group, which is nearing the very last stages to get their Norwood-area venue up and running. The […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Rural Alberta Advantage shows deep roots
The Rural Alberta Advantage is in town for a couple of sold out shows at Union Hall, including tonight. The band name was coined by frontman Nils Edenloff’s brother discussing heading back to the family farm in Donalda, where Nils also spent part of his childhood. A number of the band’s songs relate to Alberta […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Dallas Smith not wasting time
Musicians who make the leap from mainstream rock to mainstream country have only served to illustrate how similar these two genres of music can be in the right (or wrong) hands. That “leap” feels more like a hop across a dried-up creek-bed these days. Dallas Smith has been a country guy since 2011, a steady […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Say Yes to Yes
Eight members of the progressive rock band Yes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame earlier this year, in what some would argue was the apogee of their historic musical career. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the British prog-rock band – yes, 50th – and they’re already planning an […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Lionel Richie king of soft soul
If you think it should be Lionel Richie opening for Mariah Carey at Rogers Place on Friday night instead the other way around, all you have to do is go to the scoreboard. Before Mariah was ever born, Richie had paid his dues as a member of the 1960s soul band The Commodores, known for […]
REVIEW: Bunnymen get Edmonton hopping
With only two original members from their beginnings in late 1970s Liverpool, Echo and the Bunnymen lit up Union Hall in Edmonton on Saturday night – despite the dim lighting. Founding frontman Ian McCulloch was in fine form, with brooding vocals reminiscent of Nick Cave, or maybe Jim Morrison of the Doors, which they’ve been […]
