One More Song The Radio Won't Like

concert review: Kathleen Edwards @ The Casbah(Hamilton, Ontario), February 23, 2005

I did end up driving down to Hamilton yesterday to check out Kathleen Edwards' show at The Casbah. It was really dumb luck I even found the venue(I ended up picking up a free copy of View Magazine from a newspaper box and getting the location of the venue from there). When I got to the venue, I was surprised by how small it was. It was quaint and maybe a nice place to go with friends for a drink but there was a sea of tables and chairs set up right in front of the stage which ruined my chances of getting up close. Regardless, I stood just at the edge of where the tables ended and still had a decent view. It seemed like an older crowd as well; alot of 40 and 50 year olds in the crowd. Who'd have thought this was the demographic of Ms. Edwards' fans? Either that or they were all there for a night of drinking. Apparently I had missed the opener but Ms. Edwards and her bandmates came on promptly around a quarter to 10, which pretty much guaranteed that I get out of the place at a decent time.

As Kathleen had expressed, she and her band decided on playing in Hamilton as a warm-up rehearsal show(before they went out on tour). Kathleen and her band will be heading over to Europe for a series of dates and there aren't any Canadian dates so far on the horizon. I was glad then to have caught Kathleen in this live and intimate setting. Kathleen was pretty loose and casual, for example, even deciding to stop a song partway through to restart the song from the beginning because she had screwed it up. After all she said, "this is a fuckin' rehearsal gig". The band included Jim Bryson on keyboards, guitar and xylophone, Kathleen's husband, "The Crippler" as she called him, Mr. Colin Cripps, plus her bandmates on bass guitar and drums. One highlight of the evening was the tune that Jim and Kathleen performed together with Kathleen on vocals and guitar and Jim on keyboards and background vocals. It was really a lovely song which only got better at that one point in the song when the instruments faded out and Jim's background vocals blended together so nicely with Kathleen's. The should-have-been-a-hit country-rock of "Six O'Clock News" was excellent and drove a bunch of girls to get up and dance. "One More Song The Radio Won't Like" featured Kathleen's wonderfully soulful vocals. There was some great guitar playing from Colin including some nice slide guitar arrangements on some of the newer songs off the new album. Jim showed himself to be a multi-talented musician, contributing some great guitar and keyboard arrangements as well as some nice xylophone playing and great background vocals. I'm going to have to check out some of his own solo material some time. Ms. Edwards was tough as nails and really stood strong exuding a confidence that I was really impressed with. With her guitar slung over her shoulder, she stood sideways to the audience, tilted her head to the microphone, and sung fiercely as anyone I've ever seen. Man, she rocks. And she's damn sexy also. It's criminal how unnoticed she goes in her own country and I suggest everyone go check her music out. [lighting was less than optimal, but here's some (dark) photos]

eye gives Kathleen Edward's new disc "Back To Me"(released on March 1st) a solid 4 stars.

And a reminder, Kathleen will be performing on Late Show with David Letterman on March 1st.

I picked up the new issue of Exclaim! today.(The website has not been updated yet.) Actually, the following information was from the recent issue of eye. The new issue does advertise that A Girl Called Eddy will perform an in-store at Soundscapes in Toronto at 4pm on March 6th(which is the afternoon before the show). I'm already going to the show at the Horseshoe that evening but I'm considering going to the in-store as well. And considering the smallness of the store and the gentleness of her music, this performance could be really intimate.

Yes, I managed to snag a ticket to The Arcade Fire show at Danforth Musical Hall on April 27th. I ended up buying my ticket over the phone through Ticketmaster around 10 am this morning. Did anyone try going to Ticketmaster.ca this morning around 10 am only to find that the site was showing that tickets had not yet gone on sale? I tried for 2-3 minutes before giving up on ordering online and then I furiously dialed Ticketmaster's phone number. I'm happy I got a ticket because the show's now sold out although I just heard on Edge 102.1 this evening that a second show has been added for April 28th. Ticketmaster.ca shows that tickets for that show are on sale right NOW, so hurry before that show's sold out as well. And as BlogTO has pointed out, these shows are for charity. So there, I hope the complainers about the $20 ticket price are happy now. Fucking cheapskates. But even if these shows weren't for charity, I'd still happily pay $20 bucks to see The Arcade Fire perform at Danforth Music Hall.

Esthero is featured on the cover of eye, with accompanying cover story. She'll be playing with controller.controller at The Phoenix as part of the eye Canadian Music Week Showcase on March 2, 2005.