Artist: Barenaked Ladies
Venue: Bessborough Gardens
Genre: If you have to ask, then you probably shouldn’t be reading this!
Presented by the Cameco Cares Concert Series, (with 100% of ticket proceeds benefiting Saskatoon Hospital Foundations), the Barenaked Ladies performed in Saskatoon on Wednesday July 30th, 2014 to an at-capacity Bessborough Gardens.
What person hasn’t wanted to see the Barenaked Ladies perform If I Had a Million Dollars live so they could sing along? And sing along we did, to the old favourites we grew up on as well as a couple of their new catchy and easy-to-sing-along with tunes and several cover songs to finish off the evening. Cover songs? Yep, you read right, BNL are also a surprisingly fantastic cover band… But we will get to that.
Barenaked Ladies in Saskatoon (Photo by Daryl Uhrin)
Some of their new music stays true to their style and sound that we have all know and love, and they coached us through singing one of the more catchy verses:
“Gonna Walk
Dont’ Quit
Til I Get
To The Bottom Of Your Heart”
They asked the audience to look around, and note that if they saw someone that wasn’t singing, that person was a racist. From what I saw, every single person in the crowd was singing along, HOORAY!
One of my favourite songs of theirs has always been Lovers In a Dangerous Time. Don’t get me wrong though, I didn’t always know that that was the working title. When I was younger, I never paid much attention to the lyrics of the songs I was singing along to and my young mind had always envisioned a giant pterodactyl flying around and I sang, “Birds of a Dangerous Time”.
While the instruments were being switched around Ed Roberston, Jim Creeggan and Tyler Stewart took the front and centre of the stage and within a few seconds in I realized, wait-a-minute, these guys are singing about SANDWICHES! Hooray for a Sandwich song!
This was followed by the band’s newest member, Saskatchewan’s own Kevin Hearn, standing off to one side, playing his guitar, and singing while his three backup singers standing in the middle of the stage were accentuating the Ooooooh’s and Laaaaaa’s and even giving us some finger snapping and step-step-kick dance moves.
They leapt into a song off their children’s album (most notable lyrics that I picked up on: “Never go swimming in a mohair sweater”), featuring a banjo, guitar, stand up bass and the lead triangle solo midway through. Up to this point, the song received the largest cheer of the evening.
The Barenaked Ladies performing to a sold-out Saskatoon crowd (Photo by Melissa Henderson)
It’s funny, but after attending a concert I tend to have just one song that sticks in my head for days, however today I have woken up with a medley of Lovers in a Dangerous Time, Brian Wilson and the Big Bang Theory theme song, which is making for an interesting mashup in the ole brain-ski.
Before we knew it, If I Had a Million Dollars was playing, (could this be the end already? It’s only been an hour and a half!), and it was the definite crowd favourite of the evening. They even squeezed in a bit during the song about saving the Saskatchewan HealthCare System millions of dollars by consulting Google to learn how to do your own appendectomies! Let’s hope nobody at last night’s show jumps on the BNL Conduct Your Own Surgery Bandwagon. HAHA!
Now what could they possibly end the evening with? They had already played all of my favourite songs! Why not a finale mashup? Start off with some free-style rapping, transitioning into Katy Perry’s Roar, then Avici, Macklemore, Royals by Lorde, (incredible beat-boxing during this part and a fine tuning of the lyrics to include the words 20 lbs of Chicken Wings), and end the show with Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball. Is it bad that the highlight of a Barenaked Ladies concert for me was not any old or new BNL songs, but in fact it was this mashup of covers? WOW oh WOW, at first we were wondering what on earth was happening, but as soon as we let go and lost ourselves on what was onstage and in our ears, it became the magical treat that it was intended to be.
The perfect place for an outdoor concert, The Delta Bessborough Gardens (Photo by Paul Chavady)
Following their standing ovation goodbyes, they retook the stage for an encore and concluded the evening with what we have labeled, “The BNL Classic Rock Weekend”, as they then proceeded to cover songs by The Who, (Who Are You) and Led Zeppelin (Whole Lotta Love).
Overall a great experience, loved the atmosphere of the Bess Gardens, the finale mash-up and a couple of their old songs were definite highlights of the evening for me.
It is my belief that the thought of a giant pterodactyl swooping around during dangerous times is the best way to remember any song.
-Melissa
Lovin’ Life, One Day at a Time
Melissa Henderson
Much like a scent can evoke an emotional response or memory, upon hearing any song off Michael Jackson's Dangerous album, I am instantly transported 23 years in the past and I find myself driving through the Black Forest with my family off on an adventure!
Throughout life's journey I have been developing into this current version of myself, and have noticed that above all my taste in music has best reflected who I feel I am.
Listen in on my life soundtrack and you will find a range of genres from Punk to Metal to Christian to Disney, easily summing up who I am as Loud, Happy and Animated!
"My greatest gift to you
is a dance floor
free from insecurity"
-Alexisonfire
