There are few Canadian bands that have enjoyed the longevity and success of The Barenaked Ladies and Great Big Sea. The future of Great Big Sea remains in doubt with the recent departure of Sean McCann, but Alan Doyle continues to make music. Put the charismatic Newfoundlander on the bill with one of Canada's most entertaining live acts and you were guaranteed a good time. Which is exactly what the Calgary audience at the Jubilee Auditorium November 1st got.
Doyle, touring behind his second solo album So Lets Go, blended solo songs like the stunning Laying Down to Perish and Testify from his first solo album Boy on Bridge with GBS hits like Sea of No Cares and Ordinary Day. Backed by his Beautiful Gypsies Doyle brought the energy level up for the evening, wrapping things up with having Ed Robertson join him on the finale 1 2 3 4. This was Doyle's second visit to Calgary this year, having headlined the Jack Singer in March, and he is always a pleasure to watch.
The same can be said of The Barenaked Ladies, who marked 27 years as a band on October 1st. 27 years. There were children in the audience whose parents are probably barely older then the band. How do you cram 27 years of music into a 2 hour show? It's impossible. So the band - Ed Robertson, Jim Creggan, Kevin Hearns, and Tyler Stewart - focused on fan favourites amidst cuts from their latest album Silverball.
I'm a little bit worse for wear, got a little bit more grey hair Robertson sang in the show opener Get Back Up. Sporting a full on grey beard and working the daddy look, Robertson and the band definitely embody the Canadian spirit. I'm not gonna be the next big thing but I'm getting fitted for a new brass ring. he continued. The days of Barenaked Ladies selling out arenas have passed, but they still deliver everything they have on stage.
What followed was a laundry list of instantly recognizable hits. Odds Are, The Old Apartment and Brian Wilson were early favourites that had the audience dancing. Doyle returned to the stage to join in on Bruce Cockburns Lovers in a Dangerous Time.
Barenaked Ladies are known for their humour and improvisation. They frequently rib on each other. Hearn and Robertson poked fun at the two times Tyler Stewart hated a song. The first was One Week - the bands only #1 International Hit and the second was the Big Bang Theory Theme which will likely be played more than any other song ever. If I think it's shit it will be a hit! Stewart declared.
Both of those songs came towards the end of the set along with Doyle's band returning for If I Had $1'000'000 and the standard medley of current songs - this time featuring songs like The Weekends I Can't Feel My Face and the inescapable Let It Go. The encore was an odd choice of Drawing off their kids’ album Snacktime and Tyler Stewart covering Zeppelin's Rock and Roll. The same way they finished their last time in Calgary. It's an interesting choice, but with so many songs in their own catalogue something of their own may have been a better choice.
There wasn't anything surprising in the evening. In all the concerts I've in the past 5 years, the set remains pretty standard with the inclusion of some new songs subbing out previous new album tracks. You know what you are getting with a Barenaked Ladies concert. Yet it still feels fresh and entertaining, and is probably a key to why 27 years later they are still touring the world. Barenaked Ladies are fun, family friendly and have provided a soundtrack to our lives. My date for the evening commented that all the songs came back to her along with the memories associated with them. The band is in their mid-40s, so hopefully we can look forward to many more years of one of our best live in concert. If you have never seen them in concert, you are missing out and should make a point of catching them next time.
