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Concert reviews Music

Stacked lineup pays tribute to Stompin’ Tom Connors

TRIBUTE TO STOMPIN’ TOM CONNORS at the Horseshoe, Thursday, December 10. Rating: NNNN


It’s easy to forget how much fun Stompin’ Tom Connors is. The third annual Tribute To Stompin’ Tom, organized by Dave Bidini of the Rheostatics as a fundraiser for Street Soccer Canada, was epic and not nearly as chaotic as it should have been, considering the number of musicians involved and lack of rehearsal. Part of what they had going for them was the fact that Connors spirit is still in the place – he once played the ‘Shoe 25 consecutive nights. Having an augmented Rheostatics as your backup band (with Paul Linklater on guitar, Kevin Hearn on accordion and Mary Margaret O’Hara on backup vocals) doesn’t hurt either. 

There’s something going on within and beyond Connors’s (who died in 2013) most-popular, simple and hokey boom chica country tunes, something quintessentially Connors and Canadian. The serious stuff, like his song about Vancouver’s Second Narrows Bridge collapsing and Fire In The Mine (sung by Wax Mannequin), nestled in nicely with tongue twisters (To It And At It), silly songs, and classics, like Ketchup Song (sung by Ron Leary), Tillsonburg (sung by Terra Lightfoot) and Bud The Spud (sung by Doug Paisley). 

The night reminded us why we love Connors and why we could love him even more if we dug deeper into his catalogue. Horseshoe first-timer Shawn William Clarke sang an obscure ballad called Isle Of Magdalen, while Paul Kolinski (of Heavy On The Willie) dragged a slow, dramatic build out of 1989’s I Am The Wind, demonstrating a whole other side of Canadian icon. 

Some older fans trickled out as the night wore on, and the tribute ended strong with an improvised Selina Martin and Mary Margaret O’Hara duet mid-Big Joe Mufferaw. And everyone came up at the end for my three-year-old nephew’s favourite, The Hockey Song, which, it turns out, has tricky lyrics – Bidini had to drag a friend onto stage to help out.

music@nowtoronto.com | @sarahegreene

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