Kathleen Edwards ended her month-long winter tour on a high note at The Royal Theatre in Victoria.
The February 28 stop in the capital city was the largest selling night of the 16-city tour.
Edwards’ headlining show was the first time she’s performed in Victoria in three years. In March 2023 she opened for Jason Isbell’s show at The Royal Theatre. Isbell produced Edwards’ latest album ‘Billionaire’ released last August.
Starting out the two hour set with ‘Say Goodbye, Tell Know One’ there seemed to be a slight problem with the band’s monitors, but the issue was quickly fixed. It was all smiles on stage the rest of the way.
At the first opportunity to talk to the audience, Edwards told the crowd it was a very special night for them because “we f***in’ survived.” She also announced that family and friends were in attendance as well as her high school music teacher.
I must admit I’ve never been very familiar with Kathleen Edwards music, but I’ve been aware of who she is. I’ve actually gotten her and Sarah Harmer mixed up a couple times.
As a media person, I got to experience this show both from the very front in the photo pit and from my seat up in the balcony section. Often I find I need to be near the stage to enjoy a concert. This was one of those rare ones where the music was able to stand on its own. There were moments I found myself not even looking down at the stage from my seat, but just staring off at the Royal Theatre’s architecture and just listening.
During another break between songs, Edwards told the audience a story about making her U.S. network television debut in 2003 on The Late Show with David Lettermen and then five weeks later was asked to perform the late night TV show again at the last minute.
“We’re in a van, and we’re slugging it out, and it’s February and we were on our way to a show in Philadelphia,” Edwards told the audience. “Passing by New York City, my phone rings, and it’s my manager. My manager goes, OK, you are going to go to Newark Airport and get a cab into New York City. You’re playing on the David Letterman show. And what happened was, not long after I had made my first appearance, Dave got shingles. And it then resulted in a period of time where there were a bunch of guest hosts, and a few reruns. And I guess the morning that we were driving by New York City, some of the executive directors or advertisers and producers of the program said, no, no, we want a fresh show. Dave can’t come in, figure it out, get a guest host. You’re doing a show. And so I guess my phone rang, and I was proximate enough to say yes.”
She then said she that afterward she still made it just in time for the gig in Philadelphia.
Edwards closed out her two song encore with cover of Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s ‘Powderfinger’. She dedicated it to her cousin Tom who was in the audience. He was the first person in her family to pick up a guitar and play a Neil Young song.
Opening the show was Toronto folk duo Altameda who haven’t been on the island since July 2022. The last time I saw Altameda was way back in 2017 when they were still a four-piece band. They performed a 35 minute acoustic set that included songs from their latest album ‘Crazy Blue’. At other concerts I have covered at The Royal Theatre there have been opening acts that have performed to a sparse crowd, but not this time. Most of the audience for that night were in their seats ready for some live music.
