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 Steven Page, left, and Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies played to a sold-out crowd last night at the Jubilee Auditorium. (PAULA KEHOE-HUTCHINGS, Sun) |
CALGARY -- The tour that brought the Barenaked Ladies to the Jubilee Auditorium last night is their Barenaked for the Holidays tour.
And the Barenaked Ladies are definitely suited to the holidays.
Most bands would look stupid gathered around the fire place, egg nog in hand, wearing dorky sweaters with reindeer -- probably knit by their mothers. The Ladies, however, would look right at home.
And they sounded right at home last night, playing a mix of old BNL tunes, original holiday compositions and a few classic Christmas carols to a full house.
The Jube's stage had been mocked up to look like some hypertrophied living room with a fire place you could fit Tyler Stewart's drum kit into and windows reaching to the ceiling. Cozy.
Beginning with seasonal favourite I Saw Three Ships, the Ladies ran through a bunch of acoustic tunes, with keyboardist Kevin Hearn proving himself the most musically versatile, switching from keyboards to guitar, mandolin and accordion.
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Of course, this being a BNL show, there was no shortage of wacky theatrics: A roadie dressed up like Santa, front man Steven Page playing with a pair of underwear dangling from the neck of his guitar, even an impromptu rap from Ed Robertson and Page about being beaten by the Olympic Women's hockey team in a pick-up game the day before.
By the way, somebody really needs to ask BNL to stop rapping. Really.
Any other time of the year and I wouldn't be all that excited about a BNL show. But they've always been a gimmicky band and the bells, carols and jingles are the best gimmick of all.
Kurt Swinghammer, who's been doing the singer/songwriter thing for more than 20 years, opened the show with a fun set of stripped down but full-sounding songs.
Accompanied by BNL bassist Jim Creeggan, it was sort of a glimpse into what BNL might sound like if they were still on the indie circuit.