Buck 65
Date: July 1, 2008 You Gotta Give People a Reason for Them to Come Back Radio station Live 88.5 once again put on a Canada Day concert featuring one of my most-seen acts. With tickets on sale to the public, there were surely more actual fans present for Buck 65 than at least year's appearance by The Dears. This year's version bumped the concert a day to actually take place on the holiday, which put it up against more entertainment competition but did allow for a headlining set that wrapped up just before the fireworks. Although the concert began early in the afternoon, I only arrived in time to see Buck 65 and The Cliks. I knew little about the latter group but the Toronto foursome came out with a straight-ahead, energetic sound. Apart from one snag that saw bassist Jen Benton briefly lose all sound, the group had little pause in their rocking set. Benton jumped around and showed a lot of movement, while singer/guitarist Lucas Sliveira was the intense focal point. The performance included a notably transformed cover of Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" and their own singles, "Complicated" and "Oh Yeah." After that solid showing, a surprise return appearance from Mr. Leahy and Randy of Trailer Park Boys, acting in character, earned some laughs, before Buck 65 took the stage. Buck took his traditional solo stance, setting up his table sideways, allowing for a good audience view and a quick transition from vocals to scratching. From my position directly in front of the stage, his vocals were a bit muddled but otherwise it was another strong set. Having seen Buck so often (this was my fourteenth time), this set was more familiar than surprising, but it lived up to his past performances. The song selection stayed with the newer albums, with "Way Back When" and "The Rebel" coming from his latest, and "Kennedy Killed the Hat" and "Blood of a Young Wolf" from its predecessor. The latter was a welcome inclusion, as was "Craftsmanship," which was a non-obvious selection and one of the better songs of the night. "All There is to Say About Love" continues to pique my interest for the upcoming Bike for Three album, while "Stella" and "Roses and Bluejays" were highlights of the quieter numbers. Buck played it straight for a late set performance of "Wicked and Weird," marking the first time in ages that I had seen him play that song without somehow playing off of "The Coo-Coo Bird." In addition to Buck's consistently high effort, the tweaks that he makes to familiar songs like that are another reason that it's a treat to see him so often. This playfulness was also evident when he switched the backing music to the uptempo "Dang." With the fireworks looming, Buck wrapped up on schedule, having delivered another quality set. The switch from a purely corporate event to one with ticket sales certainly helped bring in more actual fans to this year's incarnation of the Live 88.5 Canada Day event. Hopefully, they hold to that format, particularly if Buck comes through on his comment that "we should do this again next year." <--Prev (Leonard Cohen) | Next (The Tragically Hip/TV on the Radio)-->Return to Concert ListReturn to Main Page |