Blue Rodeo and Friends

Last Sunday night, H and I headed north to Ferndale for the Blue Rodeo show. What better way to start the week than a couple of lovely pints and some dinner at the Woodward Avenue Brewery, followed by getting reacquainted with Jim and Greg and the boys.

Now, I have to admit, Blue Rodeo has never been my favourite band, but they put on a good live show (at least they did when I saw them 15 years ago) and their new cd, Small Miracles, has been getting some good reviews. And, as an added bonus, Oh Susanna, Luke Doucet, and Ron Sexsmith were going to be warming up. At least, that's what I assumed.

It turns out that something very different was happening at the Blue Rodeo and Friends shows. Instead of having an opening act, Blue Rodeo came out and launched right into their set, playing mostly material from the new cd (check out "C'Mon," "It Makes Me Wonder," and "This Town" here). After a few songs, they brought out Oh Susanna (Susie Ungerleider) who played a few of her songs. Some more Blue Rodeo and then out came Luke Doucet for a few of his songs. You get the picture.

Watching the show, I could see that all of the musicians were genuinely having fun with each other on stage and I could hear it in the music they made that night. There was an energy in that collaboration that was special to see and reminded me again of why I love live music so much, especially when the musicians aren't playing the same twenty songs for an entire tour (or career).

The highlight of the evening for me was Luke Doucet's "Broken One" with Blue Rodeo acting as an amazing backing band. As Doucet finished his three songs, I heard a couple of guys behind me say, "Well, there's someone else for us to check out." I couldn't help but smile.

That night I was impressed with Blue Rodeo as musicians, but I think I was more impressed with their generosity in helping to showcase a couple of younger artists like Oh Susanna and Luke Doucet for a new group of listeners. The music sounded great and people were taking notice. Turns out it was a great way to start my week.