I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: December 12, 2024] Kathleen Edwards

Back in 2019 I assumed that the concert in NYC was the only chance I’d get to see Kathleen Edwards.  And now this is my fourth show.

Each time has had a different lineup, so even though the setlists are similar, the shows are very different.

The first time it was a five piece with two guitars (and a keyboard), bass and drums.  The second time it was drums, bass, pedal steel guitar and violin/keyboard.  So no lead guitar (all leads were on the pedal steel).  For this third show there was no bass or drums.  So, we had the same two “new” members from the show just a month earlier: Aaron Goldstein on pedal steel and Kinley Dowling who played keys and violin.  And we were once again joined by Colin Cripps (her ex-husband).  He played with her back in the old days and also when I saw her in NYC, but not a month earlier.

Tonight’s show was a trio with Gord Tough on guitar and Thom Hammerton on keys.   It was also my first time at Roy’s Hall and the sound was fantastic (even Kathleen acknowledged how good it was).

There was no bass guitar but the low end was really deep from the keys, which was great.  And even though I’ve been really loving drummers lately, this show didn’t need one.

Kathleen has released some covers lately (it seems like a covers album is coming out but she mentioned a new release in the new year instead).  So she played John Prine’s Hello in There (a song she said made her cry when she heard it in her coffee shop) and Tom Petty’s Crawling Back to You.

Otherwise, she played most of the same songs, but the ordering was different.  Indeed, Simple Math which opened the last two shows I saw wasn’t included.

I was thrilled that she played Chameleon/Comedian a song from Voyageur, my favorite album of hers, as I hadn’t seen her play it before.  Indeed, this show had the most songs I hadn’t seen her play since the first time.

Like last time, Matt Sucich came out and played and sang a few songs.  The first two were duets with Kathleen.  After she told a story about Matt and his clean dogs, they played Who Rescued Who and then followed it with a new song, Little Red Ranger, which is when she said she had a new album in the works–so exciting!

The other guys came back out and they played as a four piece.  After two classics, she played a Christmas song.  She said she hates playing Christmas songs but she had written this one for a compilation a few years ago.  She said she’s never played it before (but she seems to have played it at least once in Ottawa in 2022).  I’m not sure how I knew the song so well, but I knew the chorus really well (and the verses are very funny).

She thanked everyone and thanked the band and everyone stood up and she encouraged everyone to keep standing while she played the final song of the set In State.

Everyone remained standing for the encore break and when she came back out she played Hockey Skates (is that okay with you?).  And then someone quietly asked for A Soft Place to Land, which she said they’d play next.  (The setlist had Change the Sheets next, but Soft Place proved to be an amazing choice).

When the set was over by the time I got down to the merch area, Kathleen was just coming down.  It was cool being about two feet from her but I didn’t have anything for her to sign and didn’t have anything to say so I just left.  But it was cool that she was willing to come down and meet people.

I do wish she’d vary her setlist a bit–she has so many great songs that I’d love to hear (like I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory).  But her shows are so good–her band is excellent and her voice is perfect–that I would happily see her sing anything.