Blue Rodeo: Still a Great Act After All These Years

The Ottawa Citizen, (01.30.00)
Lynn Saxberg
Concert Review:
Blue Rodeo
Corel Centre
Friday

No CD, not even the recent live one, fully captures the vibe of a Blue Rodeo concert. You had to be there on Friday to believe how much enjoyment six guys approaching middle age could get out of playing music together, despite the sterile orderliness of the Corel Centre.

After the wild energy of Live the other night, it took a couple of songs to get into the right head space for Blue Rodeo, the veteran Toronto band fronted by lithe, ageless charmer Jim Cuddy, who, at 44, still looks 18, and weighty Greg Keelor, whose grey hair and substantial girth make him seem older than his 40-odd years, his appearance unnervingly reminiscent of the late Grateful Dead guru, Jerry Garcia.

The band leaped into the show with the current single, Cuddy's Somebody Waits, as the opener, though somehow made the buoyant melody sound a little too stiff and precise.

Things started to loosen up with The Secret, another track off the excellent new disc, The Days In Between, and built steadily through the fan favorites, Hasn't Hit Me Yet, It Could Happen To You, and In Your Eyes, which featured a Bazil Donovan bass solo that sounded like whale music.

By song No. 6 of the evening, Begging You To Let Me In, a new Cuddy song that has the tuneful makings of a band classic, it was evident that Blue Rodeo is still a great live act, and they're still writing one terrific song after another. A totally rocking Trust Yourself, an early hit, drove the point home to the sold-out audience or 4,500.

The band's dynamic revolved around the singing and songwriting talents of Cuddy and Keelor, who alternated lead vocal duties and guitar solos. Cuddy, he of the pleasant, well-modulated vocals, is the writer of sunny, appealing pop songs and oh-so-romantic ballads, while twang-voiced Keelorf contributes songs with an edge.

Generally, it's hard to imagine two such different musical personalities getting along so well (for so long - more than a dozen years). But at one point, during a spine-tingling duo, their harmonies gelled into one unique voice and you could sense their musical chemistry. Put the band behind them, and Blue Rodeo comes across like Neil Young, split into two individuals, fronting The Band.

Other highlights of the two-hour show included a six-minute version of Five Days In May, made spooky by Keelor's hollow-body guitar solo; a full force Better Off As We Are, in which keyboardist James Gray sizzled; and a surprisingly effective new Keelor song called Rage, which started out on a mournful low note, but grew into a defiant rocker.

Friday's concert, part of an extensive cross-Canada tour, was the first time Ottawa fans have seen Blue Rodeo with Wilco sideman Bob Egan in the spot where Kim Deschamps used to be.

While I certainly never noticed any deficiency in Deschamps' performances over the years, it seems Egan has added a bit of spark, both from his playing and his sense of style. In a retro western shirt (that alone made him stick out from the non-style of the others), the American musician played pedal steel, guitar and mandolin, sang some backup vocals and even made a joke.

When Cuddy encouraged him to say "Hello Ottawa en francais," he leaned into the microphone and slowly said "Yup."

"We'll have to work on that," Cuddy laughed.

Bassist Donovan was his usual strong, silent self (strong of playing, silent of voice), but keyboardist Gray was on fire - he literally pounced on his instrument with both hands, producing some of the most innovative boogie-drenched country-rock jazz sounds since Richard Hell played with Janice Joplin's Full Tilt Boogie Band - and had a fantastic time doing it.

Drummer Glenn Milchem was up there, too; you could tell by the thunder emanating from the kit, but from my vantage point in the stands, he was entirely hidden by one of the pillars on stage.

The Corel Centre's WordPerfect Theatre, by the way, was a bit of a disappointment for the show. Though it may have held some significance for the hockey-loving band members (all but Donovan came out for an encore in personalized Senators jerseys), it was hard to overcome the cavernous feeling, with the stage at the blue line and the third level empty, even though the vacant sections were hidden by black curtains. No complaints about the sound, but the sightlines weren't great, especially for those with a side view from the stands.

And don't even think about trying to dance. The clump of women who attempted it near the beginning of the concert was efficiently shoed away by security guards. For the most part, that wasn't a problem: the audience was of the coach-potato demographic. They barely managed to haul their bums out of their seats for a standing ovation, no matter how deserved.

Australia's Whitlams was a refreshing choice as opening act. The two-keyboardist band sounded polished and professional and impressed with the quirky diversity of frontman Tim Freedman's songwriting, which ranged from earnest melodic pop to catchy, jazz-flavored rock. Then when the accordion came out for the folky There's a Band on Every Corner But I'm Not in One, they suddenly sounded a lot like Vancouver's Spirit of the West.