MUSIC PREVIEW: The Hearts by any other name
Changing your band name in mid-stream success is a decision that should not be taken lightly. There are perils. Playing Friday night at the Arden Theatre in St. Albert is a band getting popular around these parts, formerly known as Jeff Stuart and the Hearts – and now called only The Hearts. Which is very […]
REVIEW: The wonderful Wizard of Oz
There is no way of escaping the infernal ear worm music of The Wizard of Oz. The 1939 MGM Technicolor extravaganza featured words and music from Harold Arlen and “Yip” Harburg and the songs have woven themselves into the fabric of our lives. If things are difficult we Follow the Yellow Brick Road to the […]
REVIEW: Matt Andersen thrills Edmonton
Great singers sure are in love with their slow songs – and Matt Andersen’s got it bad. Ballads ruled the evening at the New Brunswick bluesman’s show at the Jubilee Auditorium Sunday night. More than 2,000 fans were thrilled as he unleashed his mighty pipes in folky acoustic blues, rockin’ blues, funky uptown blues, and […]
REVIEW: Drinking has a country music problem
Making a drinking game out of one of these pop country fun concerts would be redundant – but commercial country music is nothing if not redundant. So down the hatch! Especially when Brad Paisley had an actual functioning bar at Rexall Place on Friday night. Lucky fans sat right there on stage drinking beer, watching […]
Rockin’ Rachel our most rock ‘n’ roll Premier
What does the Premier of Alberta do on her time off? She rocks. Rachel Notley is officially the most musical Premier this province has ever had. The evidence is overwhelming. Since being elected in May 2015, she has attended and given rave reviews for Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats in the Winspear Centre, Mumford […]
Colleen Rae proud to be country
For 20 years Colleen Rae has bucked the trends and stuck to her guns even when the cards were stacked against her on the highway of life. Put that in a country song. Now a mother of two, the born-and-bred-in-Edmonton singer is determined to kick a dent in the mainstream country music industry. Wholesome and […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Classic Classified
Classified has almost been around long enough to qualify as “old school.” Classic rock. The Nova Scotia rapper (real name Luke Boyd) released his first full-length album, Time’s Up Kid, back in 1995, when he was all of 18 years old. He did all his own production and released it on his own label, too. […]
Collective Soul coming to Spruce Grove
Gosh, remember Collective Soul? They were – are – a soulful rock band from way down South that popped in the 1990s with the song that made everybody say “hey.” One of the best of the many songs called Shine. Very popular in Edmonton. And now they’re coming back to town – or close enough […]
25 YEARS AT THE SUN: Close enough for rock ‘n’ roll
I have seen The Tragically Hip 14 times, Blue Rodeo 13 times, Nickelback seven times and heard Four Strong Winds at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival 18 years in a row. I have reviewed approximately 400 concerts in the arena soon to be formerly known as Rexall Place. Ask me to remember 10 and I […]
REVIEW: Yukon Blonde pops the rock, rocks the pop
Yukon Blonde is the closest hope we have for the new Knack – and this is good news. The world could use more of these bouncy, major-key kinds of bands. Where did they go? They’re lurking and bubbling up from the indie scene, that’s where. Like Yukon Blonde. For a small but enthusiastic crowd at […]
