Kim Mitchell: Live in Thunder Bay-Aug. 10/2022

 

Kim Mitchell and his Stratocaster come summertime will show up to your hometown and lay down on the 6 string a masterclass on how to play guitar.

Thats what happened..

Kim in 2022  can still kick you in the ass live.   This is what I have been personally been waiting for since my last concert which was back in November 2019 before the world got knocked upside down. Nice to see a decent sized crowd show up for Akimbo as well to the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition.

The first time I caught Kim live was back in July ’86 when Mitchell was touring behind his triple platinum album ‘Shakin’ Like A Human Being’ which had the biggie summertime hit ‘Patio Lanterns’ which was on constant rotation on MuchMusic.

Fast forward to 36 years  and Kim still shows up in the summer and lifts off.

Opening his set with ‘That’s The Hold’ was killer. Kim went up and down that fret board like he’s the Boss ( as he lets the fingers on the fretboard do the talking).  From there it was onto ‘Rocklandwonderland’ followed by Kim and the band doing their ‘Rock N Roll Duty’ in which they created a buzz, buzz, buzz from the stage.

I have to add that the support that Kim has on stage is stellar. Keyboardist Kevin Adamson who provided some great playing on the keys  as Kim pointed out that Adamson played piano for Supertramp’s  Roger Hodgson for 8 years as well as Kevin has a degree in music. (McGill University)

Drummer David Langguth as well studied at Berkee and is one powerful drummer who was hitting his snare drum so hard it sounded like gunshots going off.

Peter Fredette who has been with Kim for 40 years laid down some fantastic bass lines as well as providing those backing vocals. (more on that later)

Kim has built up a killer catalog of Can-Rock tracks so there was no shortage of rock.

There were a few surprises in the set list like ‘In My Shoes’ from the ‘Shakin’ album as well as the funky driven ‘Lemon Wedge’ from 94’s ‘Itch’ release.

One huge surprise was how Kim reworked another one of his big hits ‘Easy To Tame’ with just him and the keyboards until the end of the song when the band joined him.

Course the diehards that have followed Mitchell from the Max Webster days were treated to ‘Paradise Skies’ with all those crazy tempo changes as the band really flexed there live music muscle.

Fredette though in the mix of all thing’s is Kim’s secret weapon. Peter took the lead vocal reigns on ‘Thats A Man’ as well as laying down that superb vocal in ‘All We Are’.

My brother Todd who went with me texted me a few days before the show with this comment…

‘Is that the same dude with the sweet ass backing vocals?’

Yes Sir it is…

Kim also talked from the stage about playing Tbay over the years and told a hilarious story about when he played ‘The Landmark’ back in the early 80s…

Kim quipped about playing a new tune ‘Best I Never Had’ from his current release (‘The Big Fantasize’) which he told the crowd that it probably has sold “Four copies in Thunder Bay!”

See thats the thing with Kim as he has a great sense of humour and doesn’t take shit that serious except of course his playing.

What would a Kim show be without the crowd participation tune which this night was “I Am A Wild Party (Rah Rah Ole)’

The band rocked out the final two songs which were of course ‘Go For Soda’ and ‘Lager & Ale’.

Thanks for showing up Akimbo!

What a great night of music for only $15!

Thanks to my pal Probie for the  Kim pictures and my sis in law Kristy for the photo of me and my Bro!