It was a beautiful night to head out to Red Bird (or is it Red Bird Live?) for the first of three sold out nights for Great Lake Swimmers.
I missed out on seeing them last year as they showed up in Ottawa on Vero’s birthday and we also had tickets to CityFolk Festival. Luckily they are still touring around so I snatched up tickets really fast for this one and then they added a few extra dates to make a full weekend of fun at Red Bird.
I had fond memories of recording Great Lake Swimmers the last time I saw them.
The great thing about catching a show at Red Bird is the intimacy of the room. I think they sell around 80-100 tickets. Look at the spot I had to catch the band all night!
The concert was great. It was like a greatest hits show with some choice selections from each album. The band are in top form and there was some good banter in between songs.
I have to say that I feel bad for artists who hit the road on their own and don’t have much help other than themselves. Case in point: in between sets Tony Dekker managed the merchandise booth and was fraught with technical difficulties with the tap payment system that he was using. It wasn’t connecting and therefore, no one could pay. We have moved into a cashless world so it’s not often that anyone has any money on hand. I felt really bad for him as I’m standing in line thinking “He should have the opportunity to relax a bit for the second set but no, here he is stressing out because of some stupid technological problem!”. It gave me an insight into the world of the common musicians roaming across the country trying to make a few bucks and entertaining us along the way.
If you have the opportunity to catch Great Lake Swimmers, do so! You will not be disappointed.