REVIEW: Big league fun at Edmonton rock fest
If there is one thing classic rock fans know how to do – apart from drinking beer – it’s how to enjoy themselves. It’s hard to imagine people at the folk fest having any more fun than the joyful fans down at Heritage Amphitheatre on Friday Night for the 2013 edition of the Edmonton Rock […]
KISS for Kids – next generation to rock and roll all nite
Surprisingly, there weren’t a lot of children at the recent KISS concert in Edmonton – unlike the Love Gun tour in the same building 36 years ago, or the recent Rush concert, which was a regular father-and-son affair. But there was still ample evidence of youth being corrupted by hardcore members of the KISS Army […]
REVIEW: Rihanna a rock star at Rexall Place
Rihanna would need the assistance of Iron Maiden to rock her way out of a wet paper bag – but she sure carried the attitude of a swaggering lifer to the hedonic world of rock ‘n’ roll excess at Rexall Place on Wednesday night. Led Zeppelin, Queen, Maiden, and yes, even you guys in Spinal […]
REVIEW: Krall’s sultry show all grace, no pretense
There’s a realness about Diana Krall that can’t be measured. Sure, she’s a multi-platinum-selling, Grammy and Juno award-winning artist who happens to be publicly married to another multi-platinum-selling, Grammy award-winning, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame artist. Despite all that and more, there are no emanations of celebrity from her onstage. Maybe it’s the Canadian […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Derivative Muse bombards the senses
There are plenty of adjectives one can use for Muse’s show at Rexall Place on Super Bowl Sunday: Bombastic, pretentious, overwhelming, dazzling, even stupefying – but in a good way. It was a fierce bombardment of the senses, a visual extravaganza that overloaded your auditory and visual faculties to the point of no return. The […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Amy Grant show a musical Pentecostal service
A full moon hovering over Shaw Conference Centre during Amy Grant’s performance at Break Forth 2013 brought no portents of imminent danger – and for a non Christian attending a Christian music concert, it was a new experience. This wasn’t your usual rock concert. After years of going to heavy metal shows, I was allowed […]
MAIMANN DOWN UNDER: Cross Turbonegro off bucket list
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – I waddled into the Hi-Fi club feeling the ground sway relentlessly back and forth, reeling from a three-day boat trip through the Great Barrier Reef. The hangover and ensuing plane ride that day probably didn’t help. But it was fitting that when I arrived to see Norwegian rock ’n’ roll cult heroes […]
DAY 2 REVIEW: Paul McCartney does it again!
Edmonton hasn’t seen a spectacle like this since the Oilers were last in the Stanley Cup Finals. The crowd at Rexall Place for Paul McCartney’s second show on Thursday night was perhaps even more boisterous, with a wave going around the arena before the show even started, the noise approaching near deafening levels waiting for […]
Eight surprising things about Paul McCartney in Edmonton
Never let it be said that Paul McCartney didn’t have the element of surprise on his side for his historic first appearance in Edmonton. He played the crowd at Rexall Place like a violin on Wednesday night – kept his fans guessing from start to finish. Here’s a quick look at some of the surprising […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Journey treats fans to ’80s delights
The last time Journey played Edmonton, Wayne Gretzky was 21 years old and the Oilers were two years away from winning their first Stanley Cup. Thirty years later, both Gretzky and the Cup are long gone, but ‘80s rock is still going strong. Just ask the 11,000 people who came out for Tuesday’s night show […]
CONCERT REVIEW: Wiz Khalifa show goes to pot
If not for the security and police presence at the Wiz Khalifa concert Sunday night, you wouldn’t even know it was Movember. Nary a soul in the Shaw Conference Centre crowd of 4,900 could grow more than a zit on his or her upper lip. The facial hair was limited to the pencil ’stache on […]
REVIEW: Bob Dylan and Mark Knopfler turn Rexall into great night at the folk fest
One of the problems with seeing living legends in concert is that they never really live up to the title. They’re usually past their prime, don’t have the chops that they used to have, so they hire a kickass back-up band to cover for them. Or they rely on their artistic credentials to put on […]
