Blue Rodeo Pack It All Into One Show

Toronto Sun - Toronto, ON
By Keiran Grant

Sometimes you can spend a whole concert waiting for a band to hit its stride. (And no, in contrary to what some bands seem to think, that is not what an encore if for.)

This was hardly a problem for Blue Rodeo last night, as they played the first of a three-night stand at Massey Hall.

Indeed, building their set out of true-and-tried favorites and road songs from their latest album, The Days In Between, the group revved up and changed gears so many times, you might have sworn you were seeing five different shows in one.

Fortunately, to drag the car metaphor out just a little further, they must have a good mechanic.

Perhaps because the band never dwelled too long on a particular mood, or because their repertoire offers more than enough choices to make for a varied but cohesive set, the changes were fast and loose.

And where past shows have occasionally become bogged down in moody sameness, principal songwriters/frontmen Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor currently strike such an even balance between their voices, together and separate, they've somehow pulled their band together by growing apart.

Surprisingly, the show's mushiest moments came during solo-laden versions of old hits like Trust Yourself and Diamond Mine, though they did give Blue Rodeo a chance to show off the formidable talents of new steel guitarist Bob Egan, drafted in from the ranks of Wilco to replace the recently ousted Kim Deschamps.

Likewise, upbeat new tunes such as opener Somebody Waits and Beggin' You To Let Me In were propped up mainly by always on-point drummer Glenn Milchem. Considering that the band were even more relaxed than usual - the odd technical glitch seemed to amuse prickly perfectionist Keelor - versions of The Days In Between, Five Days In July, Hasn't Hit Me Yet, and an encore version of Rose Colored Glasses came through like pop classics.

But it was during a mid-set acoustic passage that Blue Rodeo truly shone, delivering no-fuss takes on Is It You, Sad Nights, and a smooth duet between Keelor and bassist Bazil Donovan on Mona Lisa that would have moved even the crustiest Elvis Costello fanatic.

For all Blue Rodeo's variation, they might have done just as well had they not plugged in at all. Few musicians could say as much.