Growing up as a Canadian teenager in the nineties, the radio waves were inundated with the sounds of great Canadian musicians.
Two of my favourite songs of the era were Superman’s Dead by Our Lady Peace and One More Astronaut by I Mother Earth. These tracks became embedded in by brain. I cranked the radio every time they came, and I carried the albums containing them with me in my portable CD case anywhere I went.
As the years rolled on, I grew to love the bands even more. I explored their catalogs and deciphered their lyrics.
I became a fan.
Tonight these Canadian staples brought their joint tour through Abbotsford, performing at the wonderful Abbotsford Centre.
The show started with I Mother Earth, reformed with original vocalist Edwin, taking the stage under the cover of a near pitch black venue. The moment the first chord strummed the stage ignited into a furious, colorful light show.
Edwin was collected and his crisp, passionate vocals rang through the arena. He took a hold of the mic stand, and swung it around through the set like it was his dance partner. The emotion in every note splayed across his face.
Each member of the band was constantly in motion, reacting to their own contagious beats they gyrated and bounced in time.
The group was well received by the crowd, hooting and hollering were abundant, and a heard a couple Edwin-we-love-you’s screamed from the chaos.
The band were in fine form. They all played so symbiotically together, feeding off one another, it was entrancing
I Mother Earth Setlist Not Quite Sonic Used to Be Alright Pisser Raspberry Earth, Sky & C. Another Sunday Levitate One More Astronaut Rain Will Fall
Glad to see the boys back together, hopefully they can put some more material out in the near future.
After a brief interlude it was time for lead singer Raine Maida and the rest of Our Lady Peace to takeover.
Again the lights were turned down, the band filtered to the forefront under the veil of darkness.
A series of purple and green lights illuminated the stage. The instrumentals started off slowly. Raine stood front and center with his famed megaphone clutched next to his head.
The band dove the first song, and things were off to a great start.
I could hear those around me singing along from the first lyric. It filled my heart with joy to hear that.
Maida is the central force in their live show. His vocals were delightful. He has such a clean tone to his voice, he eases into each not which really makes his performance feel quite delicate and personal.
This sets visuals seemed to juxtapose the I Mother Earth one, as the lighting was more dramatic and theatrical. One moment things would be dark and the next everything would be lit with opposing dual tone lights, which were hyper saturated. Making it no only a auditory pleasure, but also a visual euphoria.
Each song seemed to swell the intensity of the crowds response. Every song was a sing along.
Our Lady Peace Setlist One Man Army Superman’s Dead Annie Fire in the Hen House Innocent Is Anybody Home? Thief Rabbits Hope Heavyweight In Repair / Grace, too Somewhere Out There Clumsy
Encore: 4am Starseed
By the end of the night I had satiated my hunger for musical intake.
Both bands brought stunning stage setups and completed solid, contagious sets.
