London's premier live music club, the London Music Hall, was rocking to the sounds of the mid 1990's on Monday night with alternative rockers Collective Soul. The Georgia based band brought it's, "See What You Started by Continuing Tour", to town.
The night kicked off with Edmonton, Alberta's, Royal Tusk, with their alternative rock getting the crowd fired up. They are along for the ride with Collective Soul promoting their debut album release, "Deal Breaker", which hits the shelves on May 6th. If you get a chance to catch these guys, as they continue to wind across Canada, make sure you don't miss out. They have that classic alternative rock sound that a lot of us miss from the 90's. More info on Royal Tusk at, www.royaltusk.com.
The packed house energy went through the roof when Ed and the boys of Collective Soul made their way onto the stage. With edgy guitar riffs, they opened the show with, "Smashing Young Man", and the hits just continued to pile up. With old classics like, "December", and, "River Runs through It" , and new favorites like, "Contagious", and, "Hurricane", the band had everyone rocking steady.
Throw in a Led Zeppelin cover tune, and this Monday night party took off to even higher levels. The band sounded great, and it felt like I had been warped back to the mid 90's all over again. Judging by the crowd, I wasn't the only one who was reliving my youth.
The show started to wrap up but not before we heard the song that put Collective Soul in everyone's CD player 20 years go. "Shine", had the crowd singing along so loud you could hear it over the incredible sound of London Music Hall. They closed out the show with, "Run", and after a 19 song set and nearly two hours it was time for us folks who used to party all night to pack it in and go home and prepare for what was sure to be a groggy Tuesday morning at work.
If you're lucky enough to have tickets to see Royal Tusk and Collective Soul rock at the Phoniex Concert Theatre this Thursday night for Canadian Music Week, you are in for a treat and a great trip down memory lane. For more information and some upcoming dates with the Goo Goo Dolls later this summer check out, www.collectivesoul.com.
Bill Woodcock / @BillWoodcock