A One-Two Punch: Country-Rock Mix Helps Blue Rodeo Score KO

Ottawa Sun, (01.29.00)
Ian Nathanson

There's nothing wrong with a good dose of "mellow gold" from the likes of Blue Rodeo.

Too much of it, though, and there's a risk of attention spans being diverted elsewhere.

Fortunately, the Canuck Country-rockers tiled that seesaw with a few more good doses of edgier alt-country which balanced last night's sold out concert at the Corel Centre's WordPerfect Theatre.

It all boiled down to watching the stage dynamics between Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor. Cuddy's the one who prances about whenever he pops open such lightweight ditties as It Could Happen To You or Somebody Waits (off the group's most recent effort The Days In Between), while Keelor often keeps his more thought-provoking slow jams In Your Eyes and Last Laugh entrance the nearly 4,700 onlookers.

But wait…the puck goes to Keelor, who tosses in a couple of upbeat rockers like The Days In Between and Rose-Coloured Glasses. Then here come Cuddy, delivering a one-two-three punch with Now and Forever, Bad Timing, and Five Days In May.

Buzzer.

Cuddy, ease up on the saccharine. Just for that, Keelor gets to warble a few bars of Try.

And just to prove there really was a hockey theme happening, Cuddy earned a few cheers for his anti-Leaf's sentiments while the band took to wearing Senator's jerseys during their round of encores.

Holding their own were the solid second line of bassist Bazil Donovan, drummer Glenn Milchem, keys-man-accordianist James Gray and the new kid on the block, former Wilco side-kick Bob Egan, whose deft handling of pedal steel, mandolin and slide guitar solo fully justified his spot in the lineup.

But it was Cuddy and Keelor who stole the show with the loving Simon and Garfunkel-like Is It You, which best exemplified that, despite differing tastes, they're the closest thing to Lennon and McCartney Canadian fans can appreciate.

Meanwhile, the crowd expressed a new appreciation for Australia's The Whitlam's, who opened the evening.

The flair of melody oozing out of pianist frontman Tim Freedman opened a few ears, whether it was the melancholy No Aphrodisiac or jazzy and comical You Sound Like Louis Burdett.

They're huge Down Under and will be having Blue Rodeo open for them later on.

<picture of Cuddy: Caption: Jim Cuddy, with a little help from Greg Keelor, had Blue Rodeo on top of their game during a sold-out Corel Centre concert last night>