Photos by Jojo

Chest Fever is a band from California with a small obsession with The Band. I first saw them at Massey Hall in 2023, and they have been coming back annually to Toronto to recreate this iconic concert from 1976. What makes this a worthwhile show every time, is that they mix up the order and change the set list to keep this show fresh and engaging. The band also enlists local Toronto talent to come up on stage and share the spotlight to some of the best song of that concert.

I am going to take you on a trip through memory lane by describing the show with the set list. So, climb aboard and enjoy the view.

The Reverse Band

When lead guitarist Daniel Cerantes walked on stage, he lifted a Molson Canadian to the crowd to acknowledge his love for Canada and how much support this band gets from Canadians. In fact, they told us that they were going to do a cross Canada tour for the first time. This was the second show on this very long journey. He also asked us where we were from. He was naming off Ontario cities as if he has lived here all his life. He pulled out names like, Cambridge, Kitchener, Simcoe, Peterborough and many more just to impress us Canadians.

We found out that they were like the Reverse Band on stage. There are four Americans and one Canadian paying tribute to the Band who had 4 Canadians and one American.

Waltzing through the years

The band opening instrumental started off with the Hockey night in Canada theme. It was a great way to start the show before the first song was played.

As if they were giving us a warning, “Don’t do it”, was out to protect our hearts, because just after that waterfall we were forced to walk “Up on Cripple Creek”.  These two songs loosened up the crowd and got us moving. I guess the band wanted to see the kind of “Shape I’m in”.

With this big tour already rolling it way across Canada, they seemed excited about it, especially if “Ophelia” would join them all the way. With that said, Chest Fever hit their stride and was in full regalia. There wasn’t a chance that anybody was feeling “Stage fright” this evening. In fact, they were feeling so good, by the end of the song they snuck in a little Rush Instrumental. This band was out to please us on any level that they could.

The one Canadian, TJ from Niagara was stellar on drums. He played his part in each of the songs, but at the end of these songs he turned into quite blacksmith pounding the crap out of his drum kit.

This was the moment when our first Toronto guest walked out on stage.  It was one of our favourite guitar players, Fraser Melvin.  He only had one burning question that he needed to answer, and that was, “Who do you love”?

The Horseshoe audience got really excited when they invited Devin Cuddy to the stage. Everybody in the audience knew this was going to be, “Such a Night”. The night only got better when Gavin McLeod walked on stage only to take us “Further down the Road”. He delivered us straight into the Hands of Donavon Locke. Donavon’s electric voice seared as he shared his sizzling companion named “Caledonia”. The two of them were the perfect couple to keep this party high!

Chest Fever slowed things down to a lovely waltz as Alex George and Kel Bennet charmed us with a guitar and fiddle performance. It was like an aperitif just before things got messy again. In fact, as things heated up again, this mayhem needed to be cleaned up with a Rag, Mama Rag!

They finished the first set to Rick Danko and played “It makes no difference”.

Set 2

This musical journey took an unexpected left at Albuquerque and ended up in Atlantic City by the Boss. Don’t worry your pretty little head, they continued up north and made a rest stop by some “Acadian Driftwood”.

Just as we were feeling Canadian again, the band took another incredible detour and not only paid tribute to Canada, but that tribute included the Horseshoe Tavern as well. They decided to add a Canadian song to their set throughout this tour. In this case we were included amongst the constellation one star at a time as they played “Bobcaygeon”. If you didn’t understand the Horseshoe reference, there is a line that song that says, “That night in Toronto with its checkerboard floors. This is a reference to the Horseshoe Tavern.

Now that we were fully immersed in that small town, we were approached by a “Coyote” thanks to Leah Holtman. Her version of the classic Joni Mitchell song touched everyone in the room.

Then, came a moment in music history that you don’t get to witness every day. Don Stevenson walked onstage. If you don’t know who this is, he is one of the last of the original hippies in the world. He was in a band called Moby Grape and they were the opening band at the Monterey Pop Festival back in 1967. He was also a friend and played with Neil Young when he was in Buffalo Springfield back in those days. So, it was no surprise that Don decided to sing, “Four Strong Winds”, a song that Neil Young sang at many of his concerts over the years. It wasn’t until the next song that the crowd began to sound like a choir. When Don went into “Helpless” the audience was more than willing to sing the chorus of, Helpless, helpless, helpless.

As a side note, I did love Daniel’s story about meeting Alex Lifeson in Los Angeles, It was many years ago with a struggling Daniel selling off some of his favourite albums to take a road trip, He was trying to sell his “Fly By Night” album but couldn’t because the album was too worn out. (My copy is also very worn out). He just so happened to meet Alex Lifeson on the streets and like any fan boy he really didn’t know what to say. (I had the same problem when I met him as well). After their brief chat Daniel walked away completely forgetting that he was holding a Rush album and he could have gotten that signed.

The reason I brought that up was because three years ago Chest Fever knocked a big bucket list item off of their inventory. They got to play Massey Hall, a place where Rush played and recorded the great live album, “All the world’s a stage”.

Now back to our journey.  This was the moment I usually wait for; I love climbing on board that “Caravan” and Donovan Locke did not disappoint. His performance was so raw and full of his complete attention; his version traversed an entire musical universe. This was the gold moment for me. How many highlights can you take in just one show? You can watch this performance on our YouTube Channel- Chest Fever and Donavan Locke took us on a Caravan. – YouTube

Thank goodness, we all had “Georgia on our Mind” because that brought us down gently and let us stay open for the rest of the show. It was Jody’s vocals that charmed us back into submission. As a side note, it was kind of fun watching the incredible horn section taking a break during this song. In fact, one of them broke out a flask and passed it around to the other horn players. I guess this is how they wet their whistle during the show. It got even funnier to watch the drummer come back on stage and have to crawl through the equipment to get back to his drums. The stage was that packed that every inch counted.

Once he was behind the wheel again, we went on a drive in the dark and soon it became, “The night they drove old Dixie down”.

The band invited on the final guest of the night, Meridith Moon, and she played the part of Bob Dylan. Her unique voice was very different to Dylan’s, but it was that difference that made us feel, “Forever Young”. Once everybody was in that state of mind we were to “Follow me down”. So that is exactly what we did. We all knew this was the time, “I shall be released”.

Not only did this band know how to put on a great show, but they also knew how to carry, “The weight” of it.

When we finally came to the end of this journey, we all had a fever, and the only prescription was more “Chest Fever”!

I look forward to seeing the 51^st anniversary of the last Waltz. Until then keep on dancing.

Highlights from the Horseshoe Tavern-