Barenaked Ladies

Gestern waren wir im komplett ausverkauften Konzert der Barenaked Ladies. Superstimmung im wunderschoenen renovierten Jubilee Auditorium mit 2500 Leuten. Gerade die richtige Groesse!!

Trotz des Namens handelt es sich bei dieser typisch kanadischen Gruppe um 5 gestandene Maenner mit einem sehr guten Sinn fuer Humor. Es gab eine Mischung aus ihren Hits und etwas Weihnachtsmusik in ihrem eigenen Stil. Sehr unterhaltsam, selbst wenn man wie ich eigentlich kein Riesenfan ist. Ich mag aber auf jedenfall die unverkennbare Stimme des Lead Singers.

Auf der Webseite und auch bei amazon kann man in ein paar der Lieder reinhoeren. auf jeden Fall mal versuchen! Mein Lieblingslied ist wie immer "If I had a Million Dollars", gestern gespielt mit Begleitung des Calgary Accordion Clubs Aber auch die Cover Version von Bruce Coburns Song "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" - da war ich gestern abend einfach hin und weg.

Kennt hier jemand die Jungs?

Und hier noch der Zeitungsartikel von heute morgen ueber das Konzert:

Ladies indulge inner child
Bandmates crack up the kiddies

Barenaked Ladies members Steven Page and Ed Robertson perform with the Mount Royal College Arietta Choir at the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary on Monday.

Published: Tuesday, December 20, 2005

The Barenaked Ladies performed a sold-out Christmas concert Monday at the Jubilee Auditorium.

Attendance: about 2,500

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Those lovable goofballs in the Barenaked Ladies have never lost touch with their inner child.

And by child, we don't mean their angry inner teen. No, we mean their inner kindergarten student.

With cutesy tunes about chimpanzees, Chickadee China the Chinese Chicken, and blowing a million bucks on Kraft Dinner among their hits, it's safe to say that the Ladies -- while in actuality very clever, politically thinking guys -- prefer to nurture a certain state of arrested development.

That's why few pop bands are better suited to the time-honoured tradition of the Christmas concert than the Ladies. After all, peace and goodwill to men aside, who gets excited about the season to be jolly like the kiddies?

BNL proved their affinity for the wide-eyed tykes from the start Monday night at the Jube when they invited a Mount Royal children's choir to open up their set with a couple of sweetly rendered holiday classics. Then, when the band made its entrance, they proceeded to play with the kids, clowning around and dancing as they led the children through versions of I Saw Three Ships and Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah.

It really was a heartwarming, funny scene as the Toronto group made the kids crack up.

The Ladies have grown accustomed to playing arenas such as the Saddledome in recent years, so returning to the Jube, the site of their early Calgary gigs, was a bit of a homecoming. It was a welcome return, too, as, in keeping with the holiday theme, they decorated the stage with wreaths, a glittering tree and a fireplace in the backdrop; the band members' stockings hung on the mantle. It just wouldn't have been the same at the 'Dome.

Then there were goodbye kiddies and hello hits -- Be My Yoko Ono, Pinch Me, Too Little Too Late, Brian Wilson, among the many -- all pumped out with a jaunty holiday spirit. All played with the tight-yet-easy flow of the veteran band the Ladies have become.

The silliness? It was front and centre throughout the evening; from the rap about Baby Jesus to the pink men's briefs that singer Steven Page hung from the neck of his guitar as he soloed. Yes, while the average rock god might hang a pair of lacy panties from his axe, Page opts for Fruit of the Looms. All in the name of a giggle. Heck, Santa Claus even joined in on the Barenaked games, the jolly one playing percussion as the Ladies worked their magic, incorporating I Have A Little Dreidel into their international hit, One Week.

Then there was the band's popular version of Bruce Cockburn's Lovers In A Dangerous Time, wherein co-frontman Ed Robertson announced: "We would love to welcome Bruce Cockburn here tonight," as a spotlight shined at the side of the stage. "Um, but we can't," Robertson shrugged mock-sheepishly. "He's not here."

Oh, who needs that sourpuss anyway?

The Ladies have dubbed this tour A Barenaked Christmas and, indeed, they reinvented the season in their own wacky image Monday at the Jube. It made for a refreshing warmup to the holidays.