Okay full disclosure here. The Trews are (one of) my favourite band. And as such, you might think I’m absolutely biased, and you might be almost right.. but not quite 🙂 This is the BEST I’ve ever seen the guys!
From the opener ‘Vintage Love’, to the encore and all points in between, The Trews kept the pace up with a show that was more like a marathon of music than a Sunday night concert. At least 9 of the 13 new songs from their Civilianaires album made it on the set list and each song was strong, well played, and met with positive reaction – much of the crowd knew the songs well enough to sing the chorus back to the band, much to the delight of singer Colin MacDonald, who was visibly ‘tickled’ pink. More than a few times his ear monitors came out all the better for him to hear us with.
Brother John-Angus MacDonald has grown and developed as lead guitar and had a few new tricks to show off, while bassist Jack Syperek was visibly relaxed on stage smiling and doing the odd fist bump between songs with fans to the side of the stage. The band has a new drummer, Chris Gormley (Big Sugar) and he’s incredible. Gormley brings a positive vibe and SO much physical energy to the band and the backbeat and has quickly fit in to the band and with fans. Jeff Heisholt rounds out the mix on keyboards which lend and extra layer to the tunes. Each band member has his part down pat and aren’t afraid to improvise a bit – John-Angus leaving the stage to play a guitar solo into the crowd, around the back of the audience and back onto stage. Many of the standard (and some new) songs had a snippet of other artist’s songs in the middle, including a sampling of Beastie Boys ‘Sabatage’ which was chilling actually! (in a good way Check out a vid clip of this from the Vancouver show HERE
Colin MacDonald was lit! He bounced around on the spot, danced, cajoled and teased the energy and accolades out of us – and used up just as much or more energy than us. Starting in a leather jacket, he was soon down to a shirt, and finally just a tank top as the sweat poured off him. The band took a respite (thankfully!) about half way, with an acoustic interlude that saw all five band members gathered ’round a single mic. With five singers all playing some sort of hand instrument – one could hardly call it acoustic!
Our rest over, they were back into it, and then the encore. ‘Highway of Heroes’ was the first song after the break and I think the last song (or second to last) was ‘Let The Great World Spin’ which starts out with an unusual drum beat – with a white spot on Gormley, it was very cool to be able to watch how that beat is actually played. When the show ended, it was obvious the band (especially Colin MacDonald) were so thrilled with the evening they were reluctant to leave the stage.
With a show 90+ minutes long, a good mix of recognizable hits, brand new songs, and old crowd pleasers, the night was well worth the travel many people made to get there. And for a Sunday night – I think we the crowd did pretty decently too!
Special shout out to openers The Carbons (who John-Angus MacDonald has helped produce an album for). Decent band, good performance… and to Kammerce Promotions/Drew McLean who managed to snag The Trews and bring them to Kamloops for us to enjoy!
If you don’t have a ticket for one of their shows – Go! Some cities are sold out, but there are tickets still available in other stops including Nanaimo and Vancouver (Kelowna is sold out). All tour dates on the band’s Website HERE.
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