“…and when we’re lost, we are lost together” – no truer words were spoken during the last song of a fulfilling and satiating set at the Blue Rodeo concert last Thursday night at Molson Ampitheatre in Toronto. The band and their audience were as one on August 27th, one of the last summer nights of this cool and rainy 2009, yet the warmth of the blue hue swept through the evening at their 10th annual event. It has become a tradition to play here, as Jim Cuddy, founding co-member and lead singer/guitarist of the local group, so rightfully put it at the beginning of the evening. He, along with co-founder and partner in crime, Greg Keelor (lead singer/guitar), original member Basil Donovan (bass), Bob Egan (steel guitar) and Glenn Milchem (drums) played as if it were 1987 all over again and this was still the Ontario Place Forum, the original site where the Ampitheatre now stands.
We were there back then, my friends and I, as we were again this summer, along with the band’s ever present fan base packing the venue. The crowd was listening and singing along to the most beautiful, melodic and poignant tunes to ever come out of the streets of Toronto. Classics like “What Am I Doing Here”(we know, boys, we know!), “5 Days in May”, “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet”, “Til I Am Myself Again” and “Lost Together” provoke such imagery it’s like watching a video of one’s personal memories. The song writing of the ethereal “Diamond Mine” along with “Rose Coloured Glasses”, “Trust Yourself”, Heart Like Mine” and “Try” is so fleshy, any melancholy never saddens you. Although during”Bad Timing,” I still shed a couple of tears.
The new tunes are fresh with that vintage BR feel – like “Gossip” and “Don’t Let the Darkness in Your Head” that resonate with a clarity of message, the lullaby lilt of “One Night in Heaven” and the surfer sound of “Never Look Back.”
Fourteen albums (yes, vinyl), twenty plus years and countless hits later, Blue Rodeo continues to rock and talk to whomever wants to listen.
Set List
What am I Doing Here
Rain Down on Me
Blue House
5 Days in May
C’mon
Don’t Let the Darkness In Your Head
Candice
Rose Coloured Glasses
Gossip
Photograph
Never Look Back
Fools Like You
Trust Yourself
One Night Left In Heaven
This Town
Heart Like Mine
One More Night
Head Over Heels
Diamond Mine
Lost Together
Encore:
Hasn’t Hit Me Yet
Try
Til I Am Myself Again
Encore 2:
Bad Timing
We would like to thank Kathy O’Donnell at Live Nation for allowing us to cover this show.
