Canadian Music at the Grey Cup 2010 Festivities

The City of Edmonton built a stage for Canadian bands to play on for the 2010 Grey Cup Festival.  There was Canadian music all over the city all weekend outdoors and at all of the parties. 

The first band we saw at the Huddledome was Helix.  Brian Vollmer said they just about didn’t make the show as their plane was late, the door wouldn’t open, their vehicle didn’t arrive on time, and they got lost and the GPS didn’t work!  They were happy they made it to be able to take part of the festivities!  They played a lot of new songs; but still played favorites like ‘Make Me Do Anything You Want’, and ‘Rock You’!  They also played ‘Heavy Metal Love’ which was the wedding song played for Ricky in the Trailer Park Boys Movie.  They were filming for their new Helix-based reality TV series. 

http://planethelix.com/ 

The second band we saw was Bif Naked.  She is one of the best female talents of Canada.  She has an amazing voice and has such star quality.  She sang some of our favorites like ‘Space Man’, ‘Moment of Weakness’, and ‘Lucky’.  Before she started ‘Tango Shoes’ she said that her tango shoes are now in the Bata Shoe Museum in downtown Toronto!  Bif finished the set with ‘I Love Myself Today’.  She was excited to be part of the celebration!

http://www.bifnaked.com/

The third band we saw was Ian Thornley with Big Wreck.  This was part of a reunion tour!  They played some solo Thornley songs ‘Come Again’ and ‘Make Believe’, and played Big Wreck songs ‘That Song’ and ‘The Oaf’.  Ian laughed when some girls asked him to ‘take it off’, it was too cold; but he said he loved the Rock Winter!  They finished the set with an ‘Oh Canada’ guitar solo.

http://thornleymusic.com/

We went to see Dave Navarro & DJ Skribble at the Underground Huddle.  Dave played guitar while the DJ played songs, it was similar to when we saw Tommy Lee DJ and play drums.  It was rock mixed in with some dance.  Dave played guitar along to Rush, Black Sabbath, Queen, etc. but surprisingly; no Red Hot Chili Peppers or Jane’s Addiction.  He has a very cool stage presence; he has mind-blowing talent with his guitar playing.

The fourth band we saw was Fozzy with Chris Jericho.  We actually only got to see a couple of songs as we had to stand in line to go zip lining.  We could hear people screaming Fozzy!  Fozzy! as we were zip lining across the Huddledome and we saw Fozzy with Chris Jericho on the stage 90 feet below!  

http://fozzyrock.com/

The fifth band we saw was Trooper.  They are a staple of Canadian music; they have been playing music for 35 years.  They are very entertaining on stage and Ra McGuire is hysterically funny.  They did a great many songs that every Canadian knows like ‘Raise a Little Hell’, ‘We’re Here For a Good Time, (Not a Long Time)’, and ‘Hand Grenade’.

http://www.trooper.com/

The final band we saw was Big Sugar.  They have been ‘on a break’ for 6 years, so everyone was excited to see this Canadian blues-rock band perform again.  Gordie Johnson came out with a double neck guitar with a Canadian flag on the back and started with ‘Red Rover - Brothers and Sisters, Are You Ready?’ and they played all of their hits including ‘Diggin a Hole’, and ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy’.

http://www.bigsugar.com/index.php

Other Canadian bands that played around the city and for the parties were Matt Good, Theory of a Deadman, Streetheart, Tom Cochrane, Wide Mouth Mason and The Trews.  We had to pick and choose who we wanted to see as it was all packed in one weekend for the Grey Cup 2010!