A long awaited date finally arrived and The Glorious Sons rocked Edmonton on their “Unfinished Business” tour recently
This show was scheduled and rescheduled and finally the night arrived when Kingston Ontario’s Glorious Sons came out to rock Edmonton like only they know how to, straight forward with no flash or pomp. When front man Brett Emmons started with the opening lines of “Mama” the tone was set for the night as 4000 fans joined in singing every word with him. At one point he just stopped singing and the crowd took over as one voice. They continued to sing along with every song.
The tour was called “Unfinished Business for good reason. They were slated to be on the road in 2020 and this Edmonton date had been postponed many times, the latest being January of 2022. Its as if the ‘big pause’ rejuvenated them with a fresh energy, although they have always been quite the bundle of excitement on stage. Brett was running around in his usual manner, barefoot and carefree. he offered very little banter between songs opting to let the music do the talking for him. He did stop in the middle of one song to point out a guy acting like a dick near the front of the stage, “Chill the f— out dude. You’re pissing a lot of people off.” Which promptly sent security to escort the guy out of the venue.
Speaking of venues; the choice to host The Glorious Sons in Hall E at Expo Centre in Edmonton was disappointing. The tin walled room had terrible acoustics, the sound fell flat against the metal frame, but kudos go to the sound engineer who made it sound as best as he could given the circumstances. That didn’t stop the blue collar band from kicking into high gear from the start and they didn’t let up until the final song two hours later.
The set list included a great rendition of Fat Boy Slim’s “Praise You,” an awesome jam with the Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter” which featured Brett’s brother Jay on vocals midway through the song. “Come Down” featuring Brett on acoustic guitar, is a great song about Kingston. “One Church Town” featured Brett again on acoustic guitar only this time he was solo on stage. As the song neared it’s apex, the rest of the band joined in adding a rocking punch to rile the crowd up again which made way for one of my favourite GS songs, “S.O.S. (Sawed Off Shotgun) which had the voices ringing around the tin box louder than before.
We thought we would be facing a two or three song encore but making up for lost time, they stayed and rocked for another 6 songs including “Pink Motel” “I Want Ya” “Hold Steady” and ending with “Amigo.” This is my third or fourth time seeing the Glorious Sons and they just get better every time I see them. Brothers Brett and Jay Emmons have that sibling chemistry that transfers well in alive performance. Keyboardist, Josh Hewson is another enigmatic charter on stage and really gets into the show while playing. The two Chris’, Huot on bass and Koster on guitar also play with a frenetic passion. It’s no wonder they are one of the best and hardest working rock bands out of Canada in recent years. You may be lucky to catch them in Vancouver over the next few nights as they wrap this tour up at the Commodore Ballroom with their last show on Canada Day.
2021 Juno rock album of the year winner JJ Wilde, from Kitchener Ontario kicked off the night. She rocked out but was subject to terrible acoustics and, for some reason half the house lights were left on for most of her set. However she made the best of this situation and still rocked the set feature a few tracks from her latest EP “Wilde.” She ended the night with “The Rush” her biggest hit so far. “Rush” at one point held the number one spot on modern rock, active rock and the mainstream rock charts in 2020, one of a handful of songs to accomplish that feat, and for good reason too. She sure can rock out and took care of whipping the crowd into a frenzy for The Glorious Sons. Catch if you can as her star is quickly rising.
For more info visit: JJ Wilde and The Glorious Sons
