Blue Rodeo Replaces Spit With Polish

Blue Rodeo ain't what they used to be.

The popular Toronto band took the stage at the Bathurst High School Theatre on March 15, one of thousands of shows these icons of Canadian country-rock have played.

It was back in the summer of 1990 at the Winnipeg Folk Festival that I first caught a glimpse of the band that would become one of my most revered. Silhouetted by the glare of lightning crashes, Blue Rodeo changed the way I looked at music.

The band has certainly evolved since that time, recording five more studio albums. But it was in 1990 that they peaked with the release of Casino, following the critically acclaimed Diamond Mine (1989) and Outskirts (1987).

Today, something's missing. Whether it's the gaping hole left by the departure of multi-instrumentalist and flamboyant keyboardist Bobby Wiseman in 1991 or Greg Keelor's apparent aging, Blue Rodeo is a different band.

All in all, your ordinary fan of Blue Rodeo was in luck last week. The band stuck mostly to the hits, belting out "It Hasn't Hit Met Yet" and "Better Off As We Are," and serenading the audience with "Bad Timing" and "Lost Together".

The addition of ex-Wilco sideman Bob Egan on pedal steel and slide guitars, as well as mandolin, is brilliant. Egan replaced long-serving Kim Deschamps, who departed following the recording of Blue Rodeo's latest, The Days In Between.

The Bathurst show's highlights came when the musicians trekked off the beaten path with rarities like "God and Country" from Diamond Mine , and "Floating" from their debut album.

Unfortunately for the long time Blue Rodeo aficionado, today's shows are too well-rehearsed and the songs overplayed. With nine albums under their belts and a well-padded song list, how many times do we have to hear "Five Days In May"?