Airbourne

It makes perfect for my first post on my first-ever blog about the Regina music scene to be about ... Saskatoon.

But the City of Bridges hosted Airbourne on Thursday night, a sold-out show at the Odeon I'd waited for months to see after listen to and loving the CD Runnin' Wild. I felt weird about the music at first -- it sounds like an ACDC tribute band. But even though the band sounds suspiciously similar to their fellow Aussies, I decided that if I liked it, then I need not debate about whether the similarities should take away from my enjoyment.

Anyway, the show was really, really good. Well worth the drive and well worth the price of the ticket, and the night's stay at the Senator Hotel in downtown Saskatoon. (See, I'm already fishing for advertisers.)

The band plowed through most of Runnin' Wild the crowd, a pleasant mix of young and old, male and female. It was also the loudest concert I'd seen in years -- Ace Frehley at Barrymore's in Ottawa and Motorhead at the Chaudiere Club in Aylmer, Que. Joel O'Keefe sings with a confident growl. It sounds great when he sings, but when he chatted with the crowd between songs and swills from a bottle of Jack Daniels, it was tricky to figure out what he was mumbling about.

The evening began with sets from Parlour Mob (a modern take on Led Zeppelin, but too meandering for me) and Sound and Fury, a Toronto-band with an old-school rock sound and a really neat energy.

Check back here on Sunday - I'll have a neat little story about a surprise gig.

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A.M.