Hedley gets warm welcome

KITCHENER — Whatever Hedley’s lead singer did, or didn’t do, his fans here love him passionately.

Jacob Hoggard has been accused (though not charged) of rape by two women who described separate incidents.

The band has been dropped by its booking agency, removed from radio playlists across the country and has withdrawn from the Juno Awards later this month.

But on Saturday night, a nearcapacity crowd at the Kitchener Aud gave those sanctions a great big middle finger.

“I don’t care what they say,” said thrilled audience member Katie Alderdice of Cambridge. “I will forever be a Hedley fan.” She spoke for most other audience members, who were in the palm of Hoggard’s hand from the start of the show.

“Kitchener, scream!” he commanded from the stage. They screamed.

“Sing it!” he urged during a performance of the song “Perfect.”

“I know that I’m not perfect, but I keep trying,” came the response from thousands of voices.

Many fans, including mothers with their teenage daughters, gave the sense that the power of #MeToo had passed its bestbefore date.

“You’re guilty until proven innocent now,” said Chanon May of Guelph.

“The music’s still the same.” Cathy Mahler of Waterloo had come with her daughter Emillie, 14, Cathy’s friend Joanne

McCabe from Kitchener, and McCabe’s 13-year-old daughter, Allison. The teenagers have been friends since they were two years old.

They had all bought their tickets before the allegations came to light.

Then they had to decide whether to go to the concert.

“It sparked some great conversations,” said Cathy.

“We decided as parents we were going to talk to our daughters about it.”

And although sexual assaults are to be taken seriously, “they are just allegations,” Joanne said.

“It would be a whole different story if he was charged.” Cathy agreed.

“For us, it’s all about enjoying the music.”

Hoggard’s act on stage was toned down from earlier performances in which he was known for taking an audience member’s cellphone and calling someone, right there on stage.

On Saturday, there were no cellphone stunts, although he jumped down from the stage and waded into the audience for a few minutes.

Later, he invited one audience member to come up on stage and sing “Kiss You Inside Out” with him.

“Madison!” he said to her. “How are you feeling so far?”

“Happy!” she answered, jumping up and down.

Then they sang the song together, including the lines: “Just close your eyes and shut your mouth, and let me kiss you inside out.”

The two-hour show drew no protesters, as there have been in other cities.

As the performance drew to a close, Hoggard told the fans that their loyalty “just melts our hearts a little bit.”

“Thank you for believing in us and standing by us and being there for us all these years,” he said.

“Sometimes life sucks, and that’s why we’ve got you!”

His comments were the only sign all night that the band’s reputation is in trouble.

It has pledged to stop performing, indefinitely, after the Canada-wide “Cageless” tour wraps up on March 23 in Kelowna, B.C.