August 13, 2013 – Platinum selling artists, Saskatoon’s The Sheepdogs rocked Safari Niagara on Friday night. The Sheepdogs are frontman Ewan Currie on guitar and lead vocals, Leot Hanson on guitar, Ryan Gullen on bass and Sam Corbett on drums. Live, they’re augmented by Ewan Currie’s brother Shamus on keyboards.
Canada’s answer to roots rockers The Black Keys, The Sheepdogs are currently touring in support of their hugely successful follow-up of 2010’s Learn & Burn album. Their fourth album, 2012’s chart topping The Sheepdogs is a fitting re-introduction considering their new found exposure following landing on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The band’s sound’s similarity to The Black Keys was further enhanced by the influence of Black Keys drummer Pat Carney acting as producer of The Sheepdogs. Songs like The Way It Is or Feeling Good could have instead been titled The Black Keys.
- Leot Hanson
The Sheepdogs are known to cover the original roots rock band, The Band and their song The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down. Sadly that song wasn’t played on Friday night but it still a fantastic show with the crowd singing along to all the hit songs. The show is a made up of a mix of short radio friendly rock hits, including their breakthrough hit I Don’t Know intermixed with longer 60’s styled psychedelic jams. Brother Shamus took center stage to play trombone for the song Ewan’s Blues.
Part 4 of Safari’s Niagara 5 summer shows this season which included Comfortably Numb and Colin James. The last show will be Great Big Sea on August 24th. For Great Big Sea fans, this show shouldn’t be missed. We love the relaxed feel of this venue and both 54-40’s Neil Osborne and Ewan Currie made a point of commenting on the beauty of the spot.
Review and photos by Steve Mallinson.
54-40
T-MAK World had the opportunity to experience another great night at Safari Niagara, a great venue to spend a beautiful Friday night listening to live music. Especially when the opening act is 54-40 who started the night off in spectacular way as the sunset lit up the sky before passing the baton to The Sheepdogs who finished off a perfect night in Niagara region.
54-40 is one of the most under-appreciated bands in Canadian Rock. Formed in the 1981, 54-40 has been entertaining crowds of loyal fans by playing their classics from the 80s and 90s as well as showing that the new lineup can play modern rock as well. The current lineup includes front man Neil Osborne, Brad Merritt on Bass, Matt Johnson on Drums and Dave Genn, formerly of Matthew Good Band, on Guitars and keyboards.
Having seen 54-40 a lot through the late 80s and early 90s, I can attest to the fact that 54-40 has aged like a fine wine. Neil has not lost any of his ability to belt out the vocals, nor lost his ability to engage the audience like few bands do today. It helps to have amazing catchy songs such as Baby Ran, I Go Blind, One Day in Your Life and Ocean Pearl for the crowd to sing along with Neil and the rest of the band. If you have not caught one of their live shows or have not seen them since the 80s, make sure you get out to one of their shows, preferably at an outdoor venue such as Safari Niagara. I am sure 54-40 gained more than a few fans opening the night for The Sheepdogs and let’s hope they make touring the Toronto area in summer a regular event.
54-40 Review by Michael Litt, Photos by Steve Mallinson
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