Winspear Centre Edmonton Canada

Weekend Music Preview: Busy, it is not

This weekend features mostly local performers, with the biggest name  appearing at the Winspear on Sunday: Grammy and Oscar winning Jennifer Warnes. Other notables include Edmonton’s Wool on Wolves, with two performances – Friday and Saturday – at the Pawn Shop, and a CD release party for All Else Fails on Saturday.

Friday

Consonance: local jazz/pop/rock band The Consonance play the Haven Social Club Friday night; Tiff Hall and Kusch open. Haven Social Club – 8:00pm, $10.

Wool on Wolves (pictured): One of the city’s most popular bands, folk-rock artists Wool On Wolves, play the Pawn Shop Friday night, with their friends The Wheat Pool, another extraordinary local band. Pawn Shop – 9:00 pm, $15.

Saturday

Wool on Wolves: Wool on Wolves are also playing an early show on Saturday night, although their opening act for this evening is Scenic Route to Alaska, who solidified their place in the local music scene with rock-solid performances at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival, and SOS Festival. Pawn Shop – 6pm, $15.

All Else Fails: Four bands play the Haven Social Club Saturday night, centered around the CD release party for Edmonton’s socially conscious punk/metal/rock act All Else Fails . Opening acts include Syn{a}pse, Hollows Anatomy, and Enduring the Fall. Haven Social Club – 8:00pm, $10.

Sunday

Peace In the Park: United We Jam: Hosted by the Centre for Spiritual Living, this event at Hawrelak Park’s Amphitheatre marks the ten-year anniversary of September 11, with “goodwill, peace and understanding”, and a trio of musical performances from Martin Kerr, Brian McLeod, and Jenie Thai, an incredible pianist who also performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Hawrelak Park – 1:00pm, $25.

Mike Soviet: Michael Shepherd Hardy – born in Kitimat BC –has been recording under his stage name Mike Soviet since 2004. With plenty of influences, from Gary Numan to Dvaid Bowie to The Doors to Metallica, he produces a fusion of alternative and electronic music that is most intriguing, and entertaining. FTGU opens. Expressionz Café – 2:00pm, food bank donations accepted.

Ray Lamontagne plays Edmonton's Winspear Centre

Nobody goes to a Ray LaMontagne gig for the lightshow. Say what you want about the current crop of pop darlings, but it’s good to know that in the age of 50′ video screens and five-piece bands that require more computer samples than an Apple conference, LaMontagne is still carrying the torch for singer-songwriters.

LaMontagne plays the acoustically awe-inspiring Winspear Centre tonight. Tickets are sold out. A former shoe salesman who didn’t cotton to playing music until adulthood, LaMontagne and his band the Pariah Dogs have quickly become indie rock darlings on the strength of four strong CDs, complimented by an almost-shy public person and much work for charity.

He once said he finds compliments of his work and comparisons to other artists like Joni Mitchell and Neil Young nice, but unrealistic. “When people say that, it’s coming from a good place, so I just try to take it like that. It’s  just a compliment. Obviously, I don’t believe it. I can’t hold a candle to those artists, and I never will be able to, so I don’t think about that.”

And that’s about as much as Ray LaMontagne likes to talk about his music. He did once also say  that to even sit in a room with other people when everyone is experiencing so much emotional gravitas from the music seems almost painful to him, like a particularly awkward moment.

That might be why he often performs with audience lights down throughout, not to disconnect or  avoid his audience, but to preserve the unique sensation an individual experiences when they connect to a great song. For those unable to attend tonight, or just gearing up, we offer a taste of his sound below from everyone’s favourite video site.

Canada, physical, economic, and social

Canada

Canada, the state of the federation, 1985

Canada

Canada