2019 is turning out to be another amazing year at The Rogue! We have had stellar concerts every week - some weeks with more than one amazing show. Attendance has been wildly unpredictable however, with 11 sold out shows, and 17 with less than 100 paid, for a total audience of almost 7,500, and an average attendance of just under 150. The capacity of the hall is 227 with a bar, and 350 without. So we are clearly operating at well below capacity for the majority of our concerts.
Things have been getting even more worrying lately. The Martin Simpson show last week marked the first time since we introduced our Parcel O'Rogues ticket bundles that not one single Parcel holder came to the show. Yet this was a fabulous concert put on by an artist clearly at the very peak of his creativity with a new CD since his last show here.
This week we are bringing in two superb bands from England and Scotland. Both bands are celebrated over there as amongst the very best roots bands in the U.K. with multiple awards and accolades. And excellent new CDs. We hope that you'll come out and see them, and we remind you that we not only offer a 50% discount to those 25 and under, but we also have a 100% money-back guarantee if you leave at half time believing the show hasn't lived up to our billing.
If you have a Parcel O'Rogues these shows are a real bargain! If you don't have one yet, why not pick one up at the show? Just $179 - with current membership - for 10 shows of your choice.
1. The Young'uns, Thursday October 24th, 8pm, Mel Lehan Hall at St. James (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Last seen at the 2016 Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Teesside's triumphant trio The Young’uns are back as part of a Western Canadian and U.S. tour. Holders of the 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards coveted "Best Group" title, they have proved themselves a unique proposition - writing and performing a cappella or subtly accompanied songs that tell it how it is alongside traditional songs from their native North-East and further afield: songs of conscience, songs of warmth and wit, songs to provoke, songs to inspire.
This award-winning English folk music group will perform a mix of songs from their latest album The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff, and past discography. The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff chronicles the true story of the young man who shared the same hometown as The Young’uns three members.
“His life touched on some of the great defining moments of working-class history in Britain, particularly through the 1930s,” explains The Young’un’s Sean Cooney, via Skype from his home in Stockton-on-Tees. It tells of the Jarrow March protesting hunger and unemployment in the 1930s (similar to the On To Ottawa Trek in Canada) and Longstaff volunteering to fight against Franco's fascists in the Spanish Civil War in 1937. Many folk from all over the British Isles sailed to Spain to fight fascism. Many more took part in mass demonstrations against Oswald Moseley's Black Shirts in England.
For tickets and more information, please click here.
Big thanks to Phil Gray for sponsoring this concert!
2. Paul McKenna Band, Sunday October 27th, 8pm, Mel Lehan Hall at St. James (3214 West 10th Avenue)
“The best folk band to have come out of Scotland in the last twenty years” - The New York Times
Since being awarded the title of “Best Up and Coming Artist of 2009″ at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards, The Paul McKenna Band has gone from strength to strength touring extensively throughout Canada, the USA and Europe. In 2012 Paul was named “Scots Singer of the Year” and the band was nominated for “Folk Band of the Year” at the same awards ceremony.
The exciting sound of The Paul McKenna Band is created through outstanding vocals, driving guitar and bouzouki, intense fiddle playing, a warm pairing of flute and whistles and dynamic bodhrán and percussion. With a contemporary approach to songs, although not straying too far from their roots, their arrangements are both fresh and innovative.
“The best band of their generation” - The Living Tradition magazine
Scotland’s Paul McKenna has long been ranked among Scotland's finest younger singers and songwriters, armed with a powerful yet intensely emotive voice and passionate social conscience, often expressed through his songs, a combination that’s brought frequent comparisons to the great Dick Gaughan.
He and his band – comprising Robbie Greig (fiddle), Conal McDonagh (pipes/whistles), Conor Markey(banjo/bouzouki/guitars) and Ewan Baird (percussion) – draw on both Scottish and Irish roots, in a dynamic, full-bodied array of original and traditional material, along with songs by like-minded authors including Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger, Alistair Hulett, and Jim Reid. Following 2016’s tenth anniversary release Paths That Wind, they have just released their fifth album - Breathe.
For tickets and more information, please click here.
3. Radio Waves
On this week's edition of The Saturday Edge On Folk(Saturday 8am to noon on CiTR fm 101.9 and www.citr.ca) I'll be featuring more new music collected at the Celtic Colours Festival in Cape Breton last week, and the brand new CD from Stephen Fearing, founding Rogue, and the star of our next concert here on Friday November 1st. Plus lots more! I hope you can tune me in and turn me on.
By the way, I've posted some photos from our incredible, whirlwind trip to Celtic Colours on my FlickR page
The other week I'd pre-recorded a show for CiTR to run while I was away, but due to a technical glitch it didn't run. Happily, the podcast of this show is now available online - along with another 930 back editions of the show dating back almost 20 years!
I've just added a new playlist to Radio Rogue as well, with music by most of the performers coming to The Rogue in the next few weeks, and a few new releases and old faves thrown in for good measure. |
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