Hemi-Vision

Can you believe that Hemi-Vision from Big Sugar is 30 years old? Time flies when you are rocking hard! With the classic song- Digging a Hole, Gordie Johnson and the boys changed the musical landscape with this song and album. This album was a perfect blend of Heavy Rocking blues and reggae tinged with that oh so good smoky sound. It was nominated for a Juno in 1997.

Wide Mouth Mason

Within the first two songs of Wide Mouth Mason’s set, I knew this was the perfect opening act for this show. They are also a heavy Rocking Blues band hailing from Saskatoon. This trio plays their music heavy, but has a very smooth sound that is filled with infectious grooves.

The lead singer and guitar player, Shaun Verreault can really hold an audience’s attention with his cool style of playing. He doesn’t try too hard but gives us enough to have a truly enjoyable performance.

They also have a couple of tricks up their sleeve. In the middle of the show, they brought out a Vox Steele guitar. What made this special was that Shaun placed three different kinds of slides on his finger to add a new dimension of sound to this instrument. The sounds that he was able to pull out sounded like a hot rod revving up for a race.

What made this double bill so great was knowing thirty years ago Wide Mouth Mason and Big Sugar began a friendship that has lasted until now. Also, Gordie helped produce their album back in 1995 and that led them to get a larger audience in the east end of Canada.

By the way, it seemed the audience felt the same way I did. Wide Mouth Mason was in awe of the reaction Toronto gave them on this night!

Wide Mouth Mason Live:

Big Sugar

With the theme song of Get Smart playing as the lights went down, three smartly dressed men walked onto the stage to a sold out show at the Danforth Music Hall.  They began “Digging the Hole” right from the start and proceeded to play their classic album, Hemi-Vision from start to finish.

It was the second song that added a different pace to the show, as all three player adorned Harmonicas and played them during the song, “Gone for Good”. It is a song that really has the harp as the front sound to this song.

During the concert you could not help but notice large amps painted in the colours of Jamaica. This would be a nod to their late bass player, Garry Lowe, who really added that reggae splash to a heavy blues guitar sound that is now synonymous with Big Sugar.

There was not a lot of talking between songs. I would like to think it is because the band wanted to squeeze in as many songs as possible. Once they played the entire album, there was not a lot of time to squeeze in all his other great songs.

Have no fear, the song choices they made after Hemi-Vision felt like a roller coaster ride from three of his most popular albums.

My personal highlight was when they presented, “Better get used to it”, and then slipped in ZZ Top’s “Cheap Sunglasses” as a dessert song, because that sound was so sweet!

From the album, Brothers and Sisters, are you ready, he filled the air with, “Nicotina” and then got the crowd shimmying with the rousing clapping song, “So not over”.

I was very happy when the last song before the encore was “O Canada”. It felt very personal in this moment as our Country is competing in the Olympics and growing an identity away from what is happening in the States right now. Let’s not get political at a Big Sugar Concert.

They finished BIG with Wide Mouth Mason joining them on stage only to be followed up by Friendlyness from the band “The Human Rights”. How do you finish a concert after such a stellar performance with 7 excellent musician giving their all on stage?

Let just say that he rode like hell as he was closing up a night of delicious licks and memorable riffs.

This is Big Sugar: