Club 27 concerts salute four mythical rock legends who died much too early
Though its members include music legends, it’s not a club any singer wants to be a part of.
The “27 Club” was first coined in the early ’70s, after the sudden, shocking deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison, all within a year of each other. All at the age of 27.
It was discussed again after the 1994 suicide of Kurt Cobain. At 27.
Media attention stirred again in 2011 following the death of Amy Winehouse, who just three years earlier said she had a fear of joining the club.
But it’s not the deaths surrounding the 27 Club that Niagara theatre producer/actor Rob Burke wants to dwell on. It’s the music.
The next show for his Niagara-on-the-Lake company Something-Something Productions, Club 27, will be a celebration of Morrison, Joplin, Hendrix and Cobain. No storyline, no message, just two dozen or so songs from some of rock’s most mythical figures.
“The concert does not focus on anything negative about their deaths,” says Burke, who also performs as Morrison in the show. “It’s a rock concert … we are purely sticking to the music.
“There is no darkness to this at all. Song to song to song, the people that are part of this are putting their hearts and passion into it.”
The show also stars Sydney LeDoux as Joplin, Phil Bosley as Hendrix and Jesse Lamothe as Cobain. The band features guitarist Bosley, drummer TJ Rogers, bassist Jacob Toms-Boudreau and keyboardist Lee Stewart.
Burke, who founded Something-Something Productions with his wife, Dina Mavridis, says he wanted the show to capture the spirit of the singers more than their look or exact sound.
“It’s like going to any kind of concert. At the Warehouse in downtown St. Catharines, that kind of thing.”