There aren’t many bands that can consistently play a city and sell out dates. Yet Blue Rodeo continues to draw an audience of passionate fans regardless of how often they come to Alberta. An annual staple of the Cowboy’s Nightclub Tent at the Calgary Stampede, the band returns to both Jubilee Auditoriums in Alberta next week. They will be in Calgary January 18th & 19th and then head to Edmonton January 20th & 21st.

"Calgary has always been one of our best towns in terms of consistent support. It is a great thing to have. Calgary is a great town. I've been with the band for 24 years so I have been going there at least a couple of times a year all these years. It has been wonderful to see the town evolve and still continue to be embraced by the audience there," drummer Glenn Milchem told GayCalgary a few days before kicking off their Canadian tour. "Both Jubilee's actually are great and a real pleasure to play. Cowboys [Nightclub] is always fun. It is just a big drunken sea of madness. It is always fun because the audience is so into it and having a great time. That is always a pleasure. One of my earliest memories of playing Calgary was the first time we played Stampede at the Convention Centre. It was a sea of white people in white cowboy hats. It is such a diverse town now, some people wear black cowboy hats! One of the things I have really enjoyed is seeing how much the city has changed and evolved in the last quarter century and how it has opened up and diversified. It has become an ever more interesting place to go. I love the Palliser [Hotel], we get to stay there. It makes you feel like a rock star."

Singer-songwriters Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor have known each other since high school, and in 1985 Blue Rodeo performed their first show together. Few bands are able to have the staying power of three decades, something Milchem credits to Cuddy and Keelor.

"It’s largely because we are fortunate enough to have two great singer-songwriters. It is great to have one strong one but if you've got two you are golden. It is a rare thing to have two people like that can work together, sing great together. Their friendship goes back more than forty years. It is a very deep thing there that is the root of the band. It is an enjoyable thing and fascinating thing for people to look at. They have written a lot of great songs that have become part of the national identity. We see young people coming to our shows whose parents listened to the band and they grew up listening to the songs and love them because they are timeless. They aren't dependent on writing for some current musical trend they are just good songs that transcend the time in which they were written. They are well sung played and arranged. I think that is what's managed to sustain us. We still love doing it. I am grateful that in this band no one has been stupid enough to say I'm done. When you are in a band that is successful it is an extraordinary gift. Lightning rarely strikes twice so it is something you should hold on to. Luckily we have been smart enough to do that. All those things contribute to our endurance."

The list of Blue Rodeo songs is endless. Songs like Try, Lost Together & Rose Coloured Glasses have been a staple in sets for years. In a world where artists play for 75 to 90 minutes and are done, Blue Rodeo is renowned for their longer concerts and playing many of their hits. The songs are timeless which makes it easy to continue to play them after having done so thousands of times.

"I don't get tired of playing a good song. I just don't. I like playing and if it is a good song, playing a song that you don't love can be a bit of a chore. But playing a good song is always a pleasure. We aren't a strict note-for-note band. Some bands play it exactly like the record and there is nothing wrong with that but with us there is kind of a looseless to it. I don't even know how to play Lost Together like the record I just play it how I feel it that night. The songs are allowed to breathe and evolve and that helps keep it fresh. We have so much material to draw on. We have Terra Lightfoot opening on this tour so the challenge for us will be to keep it short enough. We can easily play for two hours every night just to get in all of the songs that we want to play. We want to do some new material; some songs we haven't played in a while some of which are on the longer side. When we were rehearsing I was like How are we going squeeze all this stuff in? We have been doing it for a long time. 90 minutes just doesn't seem that long or enough. We just enjoy playing. Given the opportunity we do at least a couple of hours every night. For singers that can be tiring. It is a little hard on the voice so they have to watch that. We just love playing and have such a deep well to draw from, why not?"

The band has faced challenges head on, including Greg Keelor having issues with his hearing over the past few years that have forced the band to change how they perform. Although frustrating for the effects it has on Keelor the band looks at the positives.

"I am set up as far away from him as possible which is difficult at times. Sometimes I notice a time lag between he and I because he is hearing me from 40 feet away. Sometimes you are hearing the band more from the reflection off the back well then the musicians next to him. All of the speakers and amplifies are in isolation boxes off stage. There is very little sound generated from the stage which can be a little challenging. At the same time, it has made us a more dynamic band. We have a broader dynamic range now; we are much quieter then we used to be. It has also helped our live mix a lot because our sound man isn't battling loud amps blasting at him from the stage. I hear people raving about the quality of the sound. The hearing has been a drag but it's made us a better band. Having Colin (Cripps) on guitar in the band has made us a better band because he is a tremendous player and now we have this third harmony singer. It is difficult at times especially some stages are just loud no matter what you do and then Greg literally physically suffers especially the next day. It can be tough for him. Ultimately it has made us a better band with a broader musical range."

The band made headlines in September with the release of the video for Stealin All My Dreams about the Harper Government. Blue Rodeo has had political songs before, but it clearly struck a chord on both sides of the Conservative fence.

" We have written political songs before. The song Fools Like You from Lost Together was about honoring native land treaties. That is an issue that the band has touched on for decades. There have been other political songs. We aren't an overly political band but we are not averse to being political. From our standpoint the country was in a political crisis. Growing up in the 1960's and 1970's we had a certain view of what Canada is. If you thought of it as a nation of peacekeepers or a feeling that Canada was a place that took pride in and looked after its natural resources, then you were going to be alarmed by the state of the things. Greg didn't write the song with the election in mind he just wrote it because he felt it. Towards the election Jim thought it might be a good idea to do a video because we wanted to have a say and thought it was important. We think things are dire and a change is definitely needed. I don't think we changed anybody’s mind but sometimes it just feels good to say what you really feel. It felt really good to make the statement. We got a lot of support and a lot of derision. In the end the public seemed to agree with us so that was a relief."

Blue Rodeo is known as one of Canada’s best live bands. Recently other Canadian’s like Tom Cochrane and Rush have announced that they are scaling back on touring and performing. Blue Rodeo isn’t likely to pack up their guitars any time soon.

"I am hoping we can squeeze another 10 years out of this thing. It came up last year we were in the van and talking about Rush's 40th tour and Jim was like Oh we can make 40. I was like Oh yeah? You think we can get another 10 years out of Greg? and he said Yeah no problem! We will see. I would certainly like to keep going as long as we can. I am 10 years younger than most of the members of the band so for me they will more than likely be ready to pack it in before I will be. I just hope we can keep it going as long as we can."

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Contributor Jason Clevett |

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