Edmonton's golden era of concerts...
Great blog from Graham Hicks on the concert scene in Edm from 1975-1985... ah, I remember those days. Well, to be truthful, I don't remember a considerable portion of that era, but that's beside the point.
I think Dire Straits were at the end of that span, and he did miss Alice Cooper.
But beyond the concerts at the coliseum, there were all those fabulous gigs at the 'Cabarets' as we called them. Some good, some not so much. And surprising who you'd see... like REM at Dinwoodies before they hit it big.
I think Dire Straits were at the end of that span, and he did miss Alice Cooper.
But beyond the concerts at the coliseum, there were all those fabulous gigs at the 'Cabarets' as we called them. Some good, some not so much. And surprising who you'd see... like REM at Dinwoodies before they hit it big.
A golden era in Edmonton Rock: 1975 to 1985
graham.hicks - September 15th, 2010
(If you’d like to add your memories of rocking out in Edmonton 25 to 35 years ago, or if we’ve forgotten big bands of the time, please leave a comment!)
The top concerts in the Coliseum (today’s Rexall Place) cost $20.
Nobody stayed home and watched TV.
They went out, in one of Edmonton’s golden rock eras, 1975 to 1985.
Those party-hardy folks are now 45 to 55 years old, and they were out in force last Tuesday to re-live the glory days with one of that era’s great surviving bands, Aerosmith.
So naturally, there was much talk of the good ol’ days.
“The Coliseum opened in 1974,” says my friend Pete Koziol. “The first act there was Stevie Wonder. Suddenly going to concerts was fantastic. The sound was so good, compared to the Kinsmen Fieldhouse or the old Gardens at Northlands which were the only places for big bands before The Coliseum.
“The Coliseum made a new generation of fans. We’d ride our bikes, and later drive, to the Coliseum to get in line at midnight for tickets that’d go on sale at 9 a.m. There was no Ticketmaster, no credit cards. The night before, we’d collect the cash from our buddies for the show. With the new arena, the really big bands started coming: The Who, Beach Boys, Styx, Queen, The Eagles on their Hotel California tour, ABBA’s first stop on their North American tour, Kiss, Fleetwood Mac on the Rumors tour, Supertramp.
The access to big bands, Pete figures, made everybody become big rock fans, in turn spawning the local cabaret scene.
Colin Bland, in those 10 years, had three different bands, The Shock, Spunk and the best known, Informer. “There were so many good bands, partly because there were plenty of places to play. Most of the suburban hotels had two rooms. A good band would play the bar Monday to Wednesday, the cabaret Thursday to Saturday.
There were a LOT of really good bands – The Fifth Avenue All-Stars, Slash and the Bleeding Hearts, One Horse Blue, Jenson Interceptor, The Models (with sexy Angie on the cover of the first album), White Wolf, Patch, towards the end Darkroom, a bunch of others that we’ve momentarily forgotten.
And the places to play: The Back Bumper at the Beverly Crest, The Londonderry, The Rex in Capilano, Night Fever at Kingsway, Esmeralda’s in the Edmonton Inn, Dancin’ Shoes at the Mayfield, Scandals in the Howard Johnson, Crackerjacks, The Riv Rock Room at the Riviera Hotel, the Renford on fifth, the Continental Inn West, Dinwoodie’s at the U of A …
“Nobody stayed home,” says Colin. “Everybody went out. There’d be line-ups outside on Tuesday nights! Everybody followed their favourite bands. The energy level of the band and the energy level of the audience fed off each other. It was unpretentious, unbridled energy, a great release for the working guy and girls, and gratifying for the bands.”
Then there was the time Colin, as lead guitarist for Informer, jumped up with one of the first wireless guitars in Edmonton to do his favourite trick of bouncing off the wall. Only instead of bouncing off at the Continental Inn South, he went through … crashing into the bathroom!
It was all so much fun. “We bought eight-tracks for our first cars, with big speakers in the trunk. At the bush parties, you’d open the trunk and the music would just pour out,” says Pete. “The girls all had Linda Evans (Dallas TV show) big hair. We all had mullets. And everybody wore really tight, scrotum-squishing designer jeans.”
Pete’s favourite show of the era: “Queen. It was the last stop of their North American tour. Freddy Mercury didn’t stop giving his all for three straight hours.”
Why did it all gently taper off by the mid to late ’80s? Colin figures the booking agents and the hotels (the “Ukrainian Mafia” that owned the utilitarian hotels ringing the city) squeezed too much. “The good bands just didn’t get paid enough to make it worth while. It wasn’t like we didn’t earn our keep – the hotels made a fortune off of liquor sales. After 10 years, musicians gave up. It just wasn’t worth it to keep going, when you could make far more stocking shelves in Safeway.”
At the same time, the recession of the mid-’80s had settled in; society became more serious about drinking and driving.
Pete and Colin want an argument settled. Who opened for BTO on its 1976 Rolling Down the Highway tour? Pete swears it was Boz Scaggs who returned to headline a few years later. Colin says Bob Seeger.
Who remembers? A lunch is riding on it!
graham.hicks - September 15th, 2010
(If you’d like to add your memories of rocking out in Edmonton 25 to 35 years ago, or if we’ve forgotten big bands of the time, please leave a comment!)
The top concerts in the Coliseum (today’s Rexall Place) cost $20.
Nobody stayed home and watched TV.
They went out, in one of Edmonton’s golden rock eras, 1975 to 1985.
Those party-hardy folks are now 45 to 55 years old, and they were out in force last Tuesday to re-live the glory days with one of that era’s great surviving bands, Aerosmith.
So naturally, there was much talk of the good ol’ days.
“The Coliseum opened in 1974,” says my friend Pete Koziol. “The first act there was Stevie Wonder. Suddenly going to concerts was fantastic. The sound was so good, compared to the Kinsmen Fieldhouse or the old Gardens at Northlands which were the only places for big bands before The Coliseum.
“The Coliseum made a new generation of fans. We’d ride our bikes, and later drive, to the Coliseum to get in line at midnight for tickets that’d go on sale at 9 a.m. There was no Ticketmaster, no credit cards. The night before, we’d collect the cash from our buddies for the show. With the new arena, the really big bands started coming: The Who, Beach Boys, Styx, Queen, The Eagles on their Hotel California tour, ABBA’s first stop on their North American tour, Kiss, Fleetwood Mac on the Rumors tour, Supertramp.
The access to big bands, Pete figures, made everybody become big rock fans, in turn spawning the local cabaret scene.
Colin Bland, in those 10 years, had three different bands, The Shock, Spunk and the best known, Informer. “There were so many good bands, partly because there were plenty of places to play. Most of the suburban hotels had two rooms. A good band would play the bar Monday to Wednesday, the cabaret Thursday to Saturday.
There were a LOT of really good bands – The Fifth Avenue All-Stars, Slash and the Bleeding Hearts, One Horse Blue, Jenson Interceptor, The Models (with sexy Angie on the cover of the first album), White Wolf, Patch, towards the end Darkroom, a bunch of others that we’ve momentarily forgotten.
And the places to play: The Back Bumper at the Beverly Crest, The Londonderry, The Rex in Capilano, Night Fever at Kingsway, Esmeralda’s in the Edmonton Inn, Dancin’ Shoes at the Mayfield, Scandals in the Howard Johnson, Crackerjacks, The Riv Rock Room at the Riviera Hotel, the Renford on fifth, the Continental Inn West, Dinwoodie’s at the U of A …
“Nobody stayed home,” says Colin. “Everybody went out. There’d be line-ups outside on Tuesday nights! Everybody followed their favourite bands. The energy level of the band and the energy level of the audience fed off each other. It was unpretentious, unbridled energy, a great release for the working guy and girls, and gratifying for the bands.”
Then there was the time Colin, as lead guitarist for Informer, jumped up with one of the first wireless guitars in Edmonton to do his favourite trick of bouncing off the wall. Only instead of bouncing off at the Continental Inn South, he went through … crashing into the bathroom!
It was all so much fun. “We bought eight-tracks for our first cars, with big speakers in the trunk. At the bush parties, you’d open the trunk and the music would just pour out,” says Pete. “The girls all had Linda Evans (Dallas TV show) big hair. We all had mullets. And everybody wore really tight, scrotum-squishing designer jeans.”
Pete’s favourite show of the era: “Queen. It was the last stop of their North American tour. Freddy Mercury didn’t stop giving his all for three straight hours.”
Why did it all gently taper off by the mid to late ’80s? Colin figures the booking agents and the hotels (the “Ukrainian Mafia” that owned the utilitarian hotels ringing the city) squeezed too much. “The good bands just didn’t get paid enough to make it worth while. It wasn’t like we didn’t earn our keep – the hotels made a fortune off of liquor sales. After 10 years, musicians gave up. It just wasn’t worth it to keep going, when you could make far more stocking shelves in Safeway.”
At the same time, the recession of the mid-’80s had settled in; society became more serious about drinking and driving.
Pete and Colin want an argument settled. Who opened for BTO on its 1976 Rolling Down the Highway tour? Pete swears it was Boz Scaggs who returned to headline a few years later. Colin says Bob Seeger.
Who remembers? A lunch is riding on it!
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