SLOAN: Live @ Crocks(April 4th 2018)

Here’s Sloan rolling into Thunder Bay on a Wednesday Night no less and I’m stoked!

Almost two years ago to the day when Sloan last played  Crocks myself and Tbone were simply “Blown Away” as the Sloaner’s that being Patrick Pentland/Chris Murphy/Jay Ferguson and Andrew Scott took over the stage and basically owned it for over two sets!

There back catalogue of the hits was  one after super hit after another and the fact that in there first set they played the full One Chord To Another album was a coup for Tbone and Moi as that was our first time catching these guy’s live!

So when local Promoter Frank Loffredo announced this show it was a no brainer to grab tickets quick! I recall the conversation I had with Tbone two years ago  as when Sloan was last here I flat-out said whatever night these guys would come back I would go no matter what!

Well Its a Wednesday night and we’re going! Not only that but Tbone’s brother Darr along with some other friends Brian and Cindy were along as well!

Hey not only do we need to support bands like Sloan  but you gotta hand it to Frank who sticks his neck out and brings these acts to town so we gotta support the Local Fella whose paying the bands to get em here!

Thunder Bay is the second night of the Sloan 2018 Tour and what is real cool is that they are pre selling their new release on April 6th 2018 entitled ’12’ two days early here at the Merch Table. 12 is available on both CD and Vinyl and myself and Tbone quickly grabbed up the vinyl version of 12 as we didn’t want to wait till the end of the show in case they sold out of it! Also included with the vinyl is a coupon to redeem the new album on  Digital(which I have already). Nice!

Speaking of Merch their prices for T-shirts/Vinyl/CD’s/Hats were all reasonably priced with all the CD’s going for $10 bucks!

So at around 9:30 pm the Sloan Fella’s hit the stage opening with the first two tracks of the kinda soon to be released 12 album and those tunes were Spin The Wheels followed by All The Voices which only takes a matter of seconds when the guys hit the stage that were in for a fine night with those wicked lead and harmony voices with the sounds of a hard like Power Pop Rock emulating from the retro vintage back line gear that these guys use.

If I’m right and I may not be the guys trotted out 10 of the 12 songs for the new album! Overall I’m thinking about almost close to 30 songs were played at the show! Not bad for a $25 ticket!

Give the band credit they could have blasted all the hits and perhaps sprinkled a few tracks from the album but I have to say that these new tunes carried over well as crowd was into it. How can you not be. Seriously when they change-up Instruments and Andrew takes over on Guitar/Vocals while Chris hops on Andrews Drums while Jay slides over to the Bass these guys musicianship does not dip. The talent these cat’s have just boggles my mind that they can continuously play at this high level.

Though not to be disappointed Sloan did pull out the classics as well. Patrick’s Losing California is a great straight ahead rock track with a fantastic solo as Andy,man what can you say about this guy and his basic Drum Kit? The guy is a human dynamo sitting on that stool!

The Other Man (featuring Backing Vocalist/Keyboards/Tambourine) Greg MacDonald is a valued asset of the band that doesn’t go unnoticed as Greg and Chris trade-off vocally at the end of the song! Feels Good Do It  had the crowd rocking while end of the night closer Good In Everyone just wanted you wanting more!

Sloan is a great Live/Studio act and what is a real cool quality is the fact that after the show they all came out and talked and signed a bunch of merchandise and were in no hurry to split considering they are playing something like Seven Nights in a Row!

I was lucky enough to get all Four Guys to sign my CD and to chat a bit. Chris told me and well you can call me a whistleblower(haha) but I asked how come the excellent Navy Blues album wasn’t available at the show. He told me that they are going to be coming back and playing that album front to back on their next go round. Judging by the fact that Money City Manics wasn’t played  I’m thinking were onto something here…

All Four ‘John Henry’s”

Patricks Stuff

Look real forward to when these guys come back! Thanks for a great show Patrick/Chris/Andrew and Jay!

Photo’s courtesy of Wingman & Need More Drinks Photography!(Darr & Tbone)