Rural Alberta Advantage Release Pahtay

July 31st, 2009

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This one time, I went to go see one of the special Christmas one-album-per-night shows that Joel Plaskett was putting on at the Horseshoe Tavern (Down by the Khyber Night, if you were wondering). Just like last night, the place was packed to capacity, and everyone was crushed together and practically boiling to death. Unlike last night, at the Plaskett show the Horseshoe staff decided to turn the one fan over the dance floor on, briefly. This simple act caused it to become a drunk man: it wobbled like it was tipsy, spewed dust around, and threatened to fall on the heads of the crowd. Seriously, it was like a rotating guillotine and I feared for my life. I have never seen them turn that fan on since.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say here is the Horsehoe has no cooling fans, and that last night I was almost suffering heat exhaustion, standing sideways because the crowd was jammed together so tightly, and The Rural Alberta Advantage’s set was STILL the most awesome concert I’ve seen this month. Well, sort of seen, mostly what I got was shoulders and glimpses of drummer Paul Banwatt’s (also of Woodhands fame) frenzied drumming faces, which made him look like he was being ripped apart. But even THAT was awesome.

The RAA took the stage to the sound of one super-excited dude near the stage trying to start a RAA chant (which failed since he was sorta slurring his words together and no one could repeat him), but from the get-go singer Nils Edenloff and his band had the whole room on their side. You could tell this was a homecoming show, as well as an official CD release. The RAA had nothing left to prove, and instead just enjoyed playing through the tracks from their album Hometowns.

Despite not having any chatter prepared to woo the crowd, or so he claimed, Edenloff quickly connected with the audience through his brief pre-song explanations of what we were going to hear, like how “Frank, AB” is “about a ghost town, so it’s a dance song” and “Edmonton” is inspired by his own hometown. “Don’t Haunt this Place”, and especially “The Dethbridge in Lethbridge” really got the crowd moving and singing along, while songs like “In the Summertime” created a nice balance to the evening, and showed off the band’s softer side, like a prairie sunset.

The band had the crowd so hyped up that there virtually was no pause between the main set and the encore, during which Nils soloed an acoustic and somewhat down-beat version of “Eye of the Tiger”. Verdict: pretty cool. When the encore finally ended, and the crowd rushed out to the fresh air of Queen Street, the band had still not left the stage, hanging behind to talk to fans and admirers. Super classy dudes with a super rocking set: do not miss out on seeing these guys the next time they come to your rural/urban hometown!

Interesting Side Note: It turns out that taking your one Albertan friend to a Rural Alberta Advantage show has its benefits. Among these are the hassle-free translations of what exactly goes on in a RAA song: heartbreak and prairie dust, as well as big reveals on insider-references only other Albertans would know, like an explanation of the “purple city” mentioned in “Edmonton” (I’m not gonna spoil it for you, go find your own friend from Alberta!)

Tags: cd release, rural alberta advantage