Daisy Blue blooms in Vancouver
It’s always fun to check in with former Edmontonian musicians to see how well they’ve done since leaving Edmonton. Usually it’s pretty good. For Daisy Blue – the former Daisy of the early-2000s local folk group Painting Daisies – it took a move on her own to Vancouver in 2008 to find both her musical […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Born Ruffians, living large
The Born Ruffians have had some curious peaks in their career – including an appearance on the British teen drama Skins as a fictional band named Hummingbird, and having their single Little Garcon appear in an American Express commercial. It all adds up on the buzz meter. The Ontario band plays Friday at the Starlite […]
CONCERTS: Rihanna, Trews, City and Colour
The 2016 concert calendar is filling up fast – and we haven’t even got the new calendar for Christmas yet. Announced this week are shows by a female pop singer who likes to be bad to be good, a Nova Scotian rock band gone unplugged and a man named for a city and colour who’s […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: Love everything about Three Days Grace
This Friday features three very solid gigs, all featuring headliners whose names would be recognized not just here in Edmonton, but all across this vast and talented nation. Perhaps the best or at least the longest known is Three Days Grace. This alt-rock band out of Ontario was huge in the early 2000s, with major […]
Local Canadian folk award winner busts genres
The evidence is piling up – that Rebecca Lappa is at the top of the class of great new artists from Edmonton. Now what to call her? The 18-year-old singer-songwriter was the only local winner at the Canadian Folk Music Awards held in Edmonton on Nov. 8. She was named Young Performer of the Year. […]
X Ambassadors already a one hit wonder
This isn’t about the band. The X Ambassadors are undoubtedly great guys, talented, hard working, professional musicians who’ve paid their dues and deserve all the success they’ve earned. It’s about their SONG. That terrible, terrible song. You know it like no song ever known and hated before, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock: Renegades […]
CONCERTS: Bieber, Heart, Jett, Paisley parade
Concert announcements are piling up fast! If you missed the Remembrance Day announcement because Americans don’t know from Remembrance Day, Justin Bieber is coming to Edmonton – June 14, 2016 at Rexall Place. Tickets are $60 to $150 and go on sale Friday, Nov. 20. The pre-sale starts Nov. 19. Bieber revealed the details of […]
MUSIC PREVIEW: A tale of two fests
Two festivals are competing for your attention this weekend on the live music scene – except they’re probably not even aware of each other, and one’s not even a festival. On the one hand you have the mostly underground – no, fully underground – Endless Bummer Music Fest, going on at various venues throughout the […]
Paul Rodgers gives back to the blues
Speaking of cultural appropriation, privileged white rock musicians have been making a killing by ripping off poor black musicians long before anyone uttered the words “cultural appropriation.” Examples are numerous: From Elvis to the Beatles to Justin Timberlake to Madonna, they all “borrowed.” They had big hits and became rich and famous. Meanwhile, innovators like […]
Marianas Trench, Sheepdogs come to Edmonton
It’s no coincidence that Marianas Trench sounds a little like Nickelback. The shiny pop-rock band from Vancouver was initially signed by 604 Records – owned by Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger, who knows a hit when he hears it. And so it’s no surprise we now have one of the biggest pop-rock crossover successes of the […]
