August 30 2016 – The Canadian National Exhibition, aka The CNE, aka The Ex is in full swing right now. The unofficial end of summer celebration is marked by a fair which has been a magnet for everyone living in Toronto as well as countless visitors since 137 years ago when it all started. A tribute to a better time (can you imagine how amazing it is that such a huge chunk of real estate right in the center of the city is basically only used 2 weeks a year for a fair?). Music always has played a huge rule at The Ex and of course this year is no exception.
The Midway stage located just outside the Enercare Centre is a convenient pit stop for a cold beverage and some great music (preferably of the Rock n Roll variety). Monday August 22nd 2016 was the night Strange Magic – an ELO tribute bad took the stage.
Their site describes them as:
Strange Magic is North America’s own tribute to Electric Light Orchestra!
STRANGE MAGIC is the authentic re-creation of legendary ’70s rock band ELO (Electric Light Orchestra), a multi-media show featuring not only music but background imagery, costumes and film. A 9-piece group of multi-instrumentalists perform all of the sounds used in a real ELO show, with live cellos, and intricate vocal arrangements. STRANGE MAGIC unleashes a span of ELO hits, including Living Thing, Evil Woman, Strange Magic, Don’t Bring Me Down, Ma Ma Belle, Shine A Little Love and all the rest! Get ready to time-travel back to the classic rock era of the ’70s! It doesn’t get any closer than this!
The description alone is interesting for classic rock fans but the real icing on the cake is that the lead singer is none other than the legendary Phil Naro. We have covered Naro and his various shows more than any other artist on this website and for one simple reason. He is one of the best rock vocalists of all time right up there with Plant, Mercury, Anderson, Lynne, and Hodgson. In fact Naro has reproduced the sounds of the above through the various bands he is a part of including Classic Albums Live, Ozone Baby, and of course Strange Magic. We applaud the CNE’s decision to include Naro (who actually played 4 different shows with different bands throughout this year’s CNE). All we can say is we want more Naro at CNE 2017!
Strange Magic put on an incredible show and the talent on stage was phenomenal including Rich Hamelin who also plays in Dreamer a Supertramp tribute show we really loved in the past (read review here).
Here they are in action live from the Midway Stage at the CNE 2016
Needless to say a great time was had by all, and we look forward to more awesome music at The Ex!
