BLUE RODEO WARMS A COLD WINTER’S NIGHT
Blue Rodeo might just be the perfect act for a particularly blue January.
While most of their countryrock songs are replete with aching lyrics and vocals, their hearty and loose arrangements usually offer a sense of hope. The Canadian stalwarts feel your pain, but they won’t let you wallow in it. Not with summer — or five days in July — on the horizon.
Besides, how can you stay sad at the sight of Jim Cuddy’s smile? Or Greg Keelor’s scruffy Santa demeanour?
The two frontmen and the rest of their Rodeo mates boosted the spirits of 2,000 fans on Wednesday night, during the first of the band’s two shows at the Jubilee Auditorium. (Some seats are still available to Thursday’s concert via Ticketmaster.ca)
The seven-piece outfit started off their two-hour set with one of their oldest songs — Trust Yourself, featuring Cuddy’s warm pipes, twinkly guitar jangles and Bazil Donovan’s wait-for-it groovy bass notes.
Keelor’s sombre Side of the Road was next, a meandering drive through fields of wheat, fuelled by Bob Egan’s pedal steel twangs and Cuddy duelling with guitarist Colin Cripps.
As usual, the two Blue frontmen traded songs for most of the night — occasionally teaming up to harmonize on tunes such as Love and Understanding and a sparse version of What Am I Doing Here. (If three guys strumming on acoustic guitars can be considered sparse.)
The band also treated fans with a smattering of new, not-yet-released numbers — including Rabbit’s Foot, an uptempo ditty sung by Keelor; and Superstar, a bright, light tune with Cuddy waxing on about the music industry and a supposedly fictional character making “a record high on prescription pills.”
Another highlight: a blistering extended version of Five Days in May — from 1993’s Five Days In July — with Cripps and keyboard player Mike Boguski adding extra heat to the bittersweet wail of Cuddy’s trusty harmonica.
Singer/guitarist Terra Lightfoot and her three-piece band crushed their 35-minute opening slot with a heavy dose of rich vocals, rootsy organs, bluesy licks, and a cute story about her very first Blue Rodeo concert.
She was eight years old and ran off from her grandparents so she could stand in front of the stage at a festival in North Bay, Ont.
“I remember watching Jim and Greg, awestruck,” Lightfoot gushed.
“It’s a huge full-circle thing to be on stage tonight.”
Steppenwolf-style organs and driving drums circled Lightfoot as she performed songs about love and loneliness from her second album, Every Time My Mind Runs Wild. You can tell she has an earthquake for a voice, but she opted to reign it in — preferring nuance over decibels.
“Oh, how the wind blows long and cold and low / And every night I shiver here alone,” she smiled as she sang Lily’s Fair, an otherwise upbeat number with whirling organs.
See, life’s not all that bad, is it?