Northside Sessions at the Live Nation Lounge
On Wednesday night we headed to Snooker St. in Liberty Village for the Ones To Watch showcase presented by Live Nation and caught sets by The Reklaws and Sons of Daughters.
After Sons of Daughters played a great set, The Reklaws took the stage to play for the intimate crowd of fans and industry folks. After seeing Jenna and Stuart play bigger stages like the CCMA Awards, the Friends Don't Let Friends Tour Alone tour with Dean Brody and Dallas Smith, and their own Winter's A Beach Tour, it was a neat throwback to see them in a small room like we did just a few years ago.
In their half an hour or so on the Live Nation Lounge stage the brother-sister duo played a six-song set before being called out for an encore that was a perfect cap on the evening of Canadian country music.
Related: Ones To Watch, Sons of Daughters Live in TorontoThe growth of The Reklaws has been fun to watch over the last seven years since they won the Emerging Artist Showcase at Boots & Hearts in 2013 and we first interviewed them in 2014. In the years that have followed that win we've watched them pick up CCMA wins for Rising Star (2018) and Album of the Year (2019) as well as JUNO nominations for Country Album of the Year (2019) and now a 2020 nomination for Group of the Year. The recognition of their hard work and success is lovely to see, and this 2020 JUNO nom is also big for Canadian country music, marking the first time in more than 20 years that a country act has been nominated in the all-genres category.
They've also had their first #1 single in that time with Feels Like That, which they played to open their set on Wednesday night. They followed it up with a fan favourite, Wish You Were Beer, telling stories about the writing of the song as they sang it. And by the time they moved into Old Country Soul with their third song we were in a rhythm of fans singing along and even carrying parts of every song.
It's become pretty clear to anyone paying attention, The Reklaws are stars.
We do want to note that The Reklaws were not originally scheduled to perform on Wednesday night at the Northside Sessions. Unfortunately, their pal and labelmate, Jade Eagleson was unable to make the trip to Toronto from Calgary due to an illness, so Jenna and Stuart stepped in. We're sending healing vibes to Jade and look forward to seeing him with Chad Brownlee on the Forever's Gotta Start Somewhere Tour.
Related: Jade Eagleson 2020 Preview, Interview & 5 Quick QuestionsBefore the end of the set with Long Live The Night and then an encore performance of Hometown Kids, The Reklaws played two new songs for the small Toronto crowd. Beer Can and Where I'm From were fun additions to the show. And the invested crowd was a great testing ground for the tracks. Getting audience participation wasn't a problem, getting into a groove with the songs seemed easy, and we won't be surprised to hear them both again later in 2020.
The Reklaws' tour calendar for 2020 has yet to be filled in publicly, so we're not sure exactly where we'll catch them. They will be headlining Lucan Baconfest in July - but as of right now, that's the only show listed on their website. Keep an eye on their social media channels and thereklaws.com to stay up to date when more shows are added.
The Reklaws, Live Nation Ones To Watch Setlist
