REVIEW: Barenaked Ladies have lost their direction
A band could never get away with calling itself Barenaked Ladies today. There can be only one! Even as the original’s former magic was sadly lacking during a maddening show at the Jubilee Auditorium Thursday night. It was maddening because the four remaining members – singer-guitarist Ed Robertson, keyboardist-guitarist Kevin Hearn, bassist Jim Creeggan, and […]
Tegan and Sara share queer agenda in Edmonton
Tegan and Sara are Alberta-bred – twin sisters and openly queer. They used to play at the old Edmonton institution known as the Sidetrack Café. The connection to Edmonton is fitting because the crowd who filled the Jubilee Auditorium on Tuesday night looked like a throwback to the good ol’ days at The Roost with […]
The Jesus and Mary Chain strangely Canadian
Maybe we were wiping away our tears after burying Gord Downie. Or maybe we’re still rolling our eyeballs over cowering in the shadow of Trump as NAFTA negotiations evaporate. Or maybe we’re just resigned to a fate of frozen sphincters on those ice floes that millennials threaten will make for a fitting farewell to those […]
REVIEW: Halloween Scream a place of belonging
The sidewalks along Jasper Avenue were alive on the night of Scream Edmonton – one of the biggest Halloween raves in Western Canada. The line-up for entry to the sold-out Shaw Conference Centre on Saturday night was long, and you could sense that everyone was preparing themselves for the night of their lives. The fans […]
Rogers Waters the real Pink Floyd
It was an adorable but edgy piece of political theatre. A group of schoolkids from the Boys & Girls Club of Edmonton joined Roger Waters on stage at Rogers Place on Tuesday night to perform in Pink Floyd’s biggest hit – the one that goes, “We don’t need no education! We don’t need no thought […]
REVIEW: Pop just the tip of de Burgh
Chris de Burgh doesn’t get all the credit he deserves. A lot of people tend to focus on his saccharine love songs of the ’80s, particularly Lady in Red – ignoring the fact he also has a proven track record of powerful songs about social issues, both present and past. But this wasn’t news to […]
REVIEW: alt-j weirdest band in the universe
If there is such a thing as being the exact opposite of “radio friendly,” the band alt-j would win the prize. Thank God! Radio is getting too friendly as it is. This trio of British nerds have decided to take the rock ‘n’ roll rule book, throw it out the window and reinvent the art […]
Arcade Fire meekly mesmerizes millennials
They came, they saw, they conked the much-despised Boomer generation on their collective noggins with the ferocity of a barbed-wired baseball bat on a hapless Walking Dead captive. OK, the jury’s still out on that third assessment, but it was all to the delight of the devout 10,000 or so hipsters at a pilgrimage showcasing […]
Imagine Dragons breathes fire at Rogers Place
“We will never be stopped!” Take heed of the inspirational rallying cry from the Las Vegas band Imagine Dragons in the wake of the horrific mass shooting in their hometown. The show must go on. They pretty much had to bring it up during their concert at Rogers Place on Tuesday night, especially seeing as […]
Miranda Lambert a shining light
At her concert at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton on Tuesday night, Miranda Lambert alluded to the Las Vegas mass shooting. Due to the recent tragic event that took place right here in our own city, these attacks were on everyone’s minds. She told the crowd, “There’s so many heavy hearts here tonight so I just […]
REVIEW: Working for The Weeknd
A lot of batteries were drained at the Weeknd concert in Edmonton on Monday night. That’s because there were so many slow songs. It was like rich cannabis syrup in there. Great singers like Abel Tesfaye are suckers for ballads – which always demand a tribute of light from fans. In the old days people […]
REVIEW: End of the road for Nickelback!
Edmonton seems to be the place for all these nostalgia bands to wind down their tours. From Peter Gabriel with Sting to Metallica, and recently Coldplay on shows No. 104 and 105 of their two-year world tour, promoters are choosing our gorgeous late summer-early fall nights to close out the concert season. Better late than […]
