METTLE TESTED AT HEAVY METAL COMPETITION
February is one of the most boring months of the year (sorry to everyone with February birthdays or anniversaries or whatnot, but it’s true).
Usually, January and February feature some of the coldest weather of the year, but at least January holds the cheery promise of a new year and new beginnings. February has nothing fun. And that includes Valentine’s Day. But more on that next week. We can at least be consoled by the fact that wonderful musical acts come through Saskatoon during all months of the year, even the most boring ones. Music is never boring.
ECILA
When: Friday Where: Amigos Cantina
What: The psychedelic rock group from right here in Saskatoon might not be the most wellknown of bands, but they’ve got talent to spare. Ecila has a great grooving sound and a lead vocalist with a smoothly powerful voice. The nice part about Ecila is the variety you can expect from them: from grittier and pounding anthems to smoother ballads to solid White Stripes covers, this group is definitely worth a listen. And if you haven’t heard of them until right now, you owe it to yourself to see (and hear) what they can do.
MICHELLE GREGOIRE WITH U OF S JAZZ ENSEMBLE
When: Friday
Where: The Bassment
What: Consider this the “Really Excellent Jazz Performer of the Week” section of the concert recommendations, but I couldn’t help myself. I hadn’t listened to much of Michelle Gregoire’s work before I saw she was coming to Saskatoon, but the jazz pianist and composer’s works are tons of fun to listen to. From my perspective it’s firmly rooted in the more modern age of jazz music, but it’s excellent and catchy, and the compositions give the piano a lot of really cool musical lines. Gregoire’s music is spectacularly melodic and beautifully flowing, and it should be a great show.
Shout out to the University of Saskatchewan Jazz Ensemble that’s going to be the main show with Gregoire as a guest artist. The U of S musical groups don’t get enough notice for how dang good they all are.
WACKEN METAL BATTLE SASKATCHEWAN
When: Saturday
Where: Black Cat Tavern
What: Wacken is not the name of a band (at least, not that I know of ). This is the battle to end all battles for metal bands around the world, with a nice cash prize and a place in a huge international festival in Wacken, Germany. Five of Saskatchewan’s top metal bands — Pythonic, Rebirth, Bones to Dust, Augurium and Diehearted — will get a half an hour each to prove their mettle (pun very much intended) to a panel of judges. There is also a national level Wacken battle in Calgary to determine who goes to the final level of competition, but let’s take a moment to appreciate that we have five excellent metal bands playing sets on Saturday. If you’re a metalhead, this is the place to be this weekend.