PREVIEW
What: Blue Rodeo with Ron Hawkins and the Do Good Assassins
When: Thursday, 8 p.m. (doors at 7)
Where: Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre
Tickets: $33.50, $63.50 and $83.50 by phone at 250-220-7777, in person at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre box office, and selectyourtickets.com
Blue Rodeo, the legendary Toronto group led by singers and guitarists Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor, has adopted a new approach with regard to its concerts. The changes are modest, according to Cuddy, but are there all the same. And they differ each night.
Call it an exercise in unpredictability.
“You don’t know what it’s going to be until you actually hear it in the air,” Cuddy said during a tour stop in Regina. “It’s not like we didn’t rehearse, because we played all the time. We know how to play the songs, but this is a different application. We couldn’t rehearse this because there is so much that is improvised.”
Blue Rodeo is leaving certain songs open-ended during the 23-show tour, to allow for the improvisation. But to respect the wishes of its longtime fans, Cuddy said, a handful of core songs in their catalogue — including Lost Together, Try and Hasn’t Hit Me Yet — will not go under the knife.
Blue Rodeo learned the hard way, when members tried altering the introduction to Diamond Mine. That did not go well, Cuddy said with a laugh. “You have to recognize and honour the iconic pieces of songs that you shouldn’t mess with.”
The remainder of Blue Rodeo’s catalogue, however, appears to be up for interpretation in concert.
“We don’t ever take long stretches of time off, so it’s never about not remembering how to play the songs,” Cuddy said. “It’s about trying to find the right flow of the night.”
The tour to support Blue Rodeo’s new album, 1000 Arms, got underway in Thunder Bay on Jan. 11. The first night of this new experiment went well, all things considered.
“It’s hardest to change old songs and give them a new application,” Cuddy said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, and I think we did it.”
By the time Cuddy, Keelor, bassist Bazil Donovan, drummer Glenn Milchem, keyboardist Mike Boguski and guitarist Colin Cripps arrive in Victoria for their Thursday gig at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, they will be in top form. Which is to be expected at this point.
Since the release of its 1987 debut, Outskirts, Blue Rodeo has played more than 2,000 shows. The band’s winter tour comes to a close on Feb. 26, which means they will have spent the better part of two snow-filled months in buses shuttling across Canada — not the move you would expect from a veteran band, when warmer months are clearly a better option.
Cuddy said he loves touring when it is raining and snowing, but he’s not sure his roadies share the same sentiment.
“It’s a lot of fun for us, but I don’t think it’s a lot of fun for our crew. I was sitting in my dressing room today with the door open, and one of the local crew guys who didn’t know I was there goes by pushing one of our carts and goes: ‘Touring in the winter? That is the stupidest thing!’ For him, pushing this steel case that is freezing cold, that’s not ideal. But for us, it’s very nice.”
The trek in support of 1000 Arms marks Blue Rodeo’s umpteenth national tour, so the process is well ironed-out at this point. It wasn’t always so easy. The decision to tour in January and February — which the band has done regularly, including five of its last six appearances in Victoria — was made during the band’s early days, when road work was booked around the home lives of many of its members. Cuddy, for example, said he can tour stress-free nowadays because his children are adults.
“We like touring at this time of year, and there are many old reasons for it. You could always get availability [at venues] in January and February. And that was also the time when our kids least missed us; as long as you were back for March break, your kids didn’t even know you were gone.”
The other upside of touring Canada when daylight is kicking at the darkness is the scenery. Cuddy said he will never tire of looking out through the tour bus windows as snow-capped mountains pass him by.
“It’s like flipping through postcards of Canada. We get this snapshot of winter in all these different places. We are this very slow-moving train going through these snapshots, one postcard one after another.”
Most nights on the band’s current tour feature a seven-song acoustic set during the middle portion, which could be a signal of things to come, Cuddy said. With his band 15 albums into its career, an all-acoustic album might be next on the list.
“I would like to do a full acoustic [tour] and a full acoustic record. That is what we’re heading towards. What we’re doing right now are the electric-opening, electric-closing shows with an acoustic set in the middle, and as exciting as an electric night is, the intimacy of a full acoustic night would be something really special.”
Among the band’s recent output is a seasonal recording (2014’s A Merrie Christmas to You) and a live album (2015’s Live At Massey Hall), so looking outside the box is becoming a regular occurrence.
“There always has to be a new component,” Cuddy said. “As long as there’s something new about it, then I think all those arrows are in our quiver. We can pull them out at any time. But there is a tacitly agreed-upon ethic that we still want to sound like ourselves, whatever we apply ourselves to.”
No one in the group is getting any younger (Cuddy is 61 and Keelor is 62) so time is of the essence when it comes to artistic statements from Blue Rodeo. They have accomplished a great deal during their career, with 12 Juno awards and spots in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and membership in the Order of Canada on their resumé.
But with the recent health struggles of two of Cuddy and Keelor’s longtime friends, John Mann of Spirit of the West and Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip, everyone in the group has cause for reflection.
Blue Rodeo has endured ailments of their own, including Keelor’s battle with diabetes and Donovan’s recent gallbladder surgery, which means time is becoming a precious resource. While they still have lots of it left, Cuddy said Blue Rodeo wants to make the most of what lies ahead.
“We understand what it’s like to be vulnerable as you get older. But we do a lot to try and balance that. We understand the risk, but playing music is worth it. It’s not like being in a band of 30-year-olds. We’re a band in our 60s, so we have to recognize it could come to a crashing halt at any time. But we hope it doesn’t.”