WEEKEND MUSIC PREVIEW: Backstreet is back and it is all right
All the dance moves. All the hits. The 1990’s boy band to end all boy bands, the Backstreet Boys, still has all the mojo you could imagine, and they’re entering the second leg of their world tour, now intent on recapturing the hearts of their North American fans. They play Rogers Place (8pm, $110 and up, BUY) Thursday night.
With runaway hits in the 90’s like As Long As You Love Me, Larger Than Life, and Shape Of My Heart, as well as innumerable others, the band ended up selling over one hundred million albums worldwide over their career. Yes. That’s right. 100,000,000. Albums.
The “boys” have stayed in tour shape the last couple of years by doing a residency at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood; there’s a lot of talk that they may well head back after this tour wraps.
Thursday 25
The Motorleague. This Moncton punk-hard rock act has been performing for over a decade; most recently, they created their own video game, in which users can play members of the band as they battle a bass-playing villain. The Unfortunates open. Station On Jasper, 8pm, $10. BUY
Willie Watson. This New York singer-songwriter was a founding member of the Old Crow Medicine Show, departing that project in 2011. He’s released a couple of solo albums since then, and appeared on other albums and even in the 2018 film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs; he also performed on the soundtrack. Bella White also performs. Starlite Room, 8pm, $20. BUY
Friday – Sunday
The weekend is dominated by the eighth offering of Interstellar Rodeo, a veritable who’s who of the indie scene. Friday’s lineup is especially spectacular, featuring one of the centerpieces of the Toronto indie scene, Weaves, and then Brooklyn artist Sharon Van Etten, riding high atop her newest release, January’s Remind Me Tomorrow. Though her 2014 release Tramp was the one that gained her a lot of notoriety across the continent, this album is also receiving nearly unanimous acclaim from the various review sites.
Saturday’s schedule kicks off with the near-legendary Rheostatics from Ontario, whose 1992 released Whale Music was named the fifth best Canadian album of all-time in a survey in the mid-1990’s. It still holds up to this day. Another well-loved indie musician, Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas), will traverse the audience through his four-album catalog, including his latest, grammy-nominated No Shape. Shutting down the festival for the evening is a performer that needs no further introduction or discussion – Sheila E. Yes, that Sheila E.
Sunday’s offerings are a little more laid back, and features veteran visitors to the city, with Brooklyn’s Lucius (their 2013 release Wildewoman got many nods as one of the best albums of the year); a local favorite, the husband-and-wife duo of Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland, more commonly referred to by their project name, Whitehorse; and the festival closes with Nathaniel Ratliff & the Night Sweats.
More details, ticket information, and schedules can be found at the festival’s website.
Monday 29
Def Leppard. The spirits that traverse Rogers Place are in for quite a shock this weekend, going from Backstreet Boys on Thursday, to this glam metal act on Monday. Nearing the tail end of a cross-Canada tour that features their greatest hits, the band has kept the set list pretty constant, kicking things off with the aptly-named Rocket, and concluding with an encore that features two of their other chart-rocking hits, Rock Of Ages and Photograph. Their latest album, an eponymous release in 2015, still hit the top ten, proving the band’s epic staying power. Tesla opens. Rogers Place, 7pm, $69 and up. BUY
Mdou Moctar. If that’s not quite your cup of tea, your other option is a really great one too. This Saharan psych-rock guitarist will captivate you with his frenzied fretting, and scintillate your senses with his sensational songwriting. Definitely worth checking out, one of modern day’s standout musicians. The Rec Room South Edmonton, 8pm, $15. BUY
