by Michelle Greysen

Created on: February 05, 2010

At the January 2010 Lethbridge, Canada stop on their “The Things We Left Behind” tour, Blue Rodeo left nothing behind and delivered their all.
This historic Canadian iconic group with decades of history and dozens of albums and now with the latest release bring to their fans a musical-lifetime of hit after hit and a fine tuning of their greatest two assets - those of lyrical genius and their perfected garage band qualities. For everyone in the house, the entire band delivered an unforgettable evening of entertainment while bringing to the stage a seemingly down home feeling of a casual experience as if jamming in your parent’s basement.

For originals Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor to successfully still light up the stage night after night on tour and make it unique and enjoyable to all in the house, is an accomplishment in itself. But to do it with their personal touch, their camaraderie and sharing of musical minds and still look like they are having a blast entertaining their fans is magical to watch.

These two musician and friends are aging beautifully along with all their fans but to their credit they bring a youthful timeless energy with their performance which in turn brings them a venue full of fans new and old from every generation. Parents brought their children and grandparents brought their kids and grandkids. Multi generations have grown up, fallen in and out of love, struggled, lived and laughed to Blue Rodeo music and this multi-identity to all ages and walks of life is what brings an enthusiastic energy to a family-full audience.

The gum chewing talented Greg Keelor is eccentric-like in a wonderful way as he delivers his deep meaning lyrics with his musical guitar genius. For Jim Cuddy age and experience on the stage comes across as a look of having the best job in the world. Both bring an energy of doing exactly what they want to be doing and being exactly where they are supposed to be right there on the stage. That in-the-moment comfort level is what makes their talents and delivery never seem like a performance but rather an extension of who they are and what they do – brilliant entertainers who genuinely seemed thrilled that people want to show up night after night and enjoy their music.

Having seen them many many times over the years in a variety of venues and crowds I must say their performance last night was one of my all time favorites. The solid Blue Rodeo group with the addition of an all female talented amazing strings

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