This article was originally published on beingtheremag.com, an independent music and film magazine that ran from 2004 to 2007. It is presented here as part of the Being There Magazine archive.

The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

January 27, 2005

By Adam Anklewicz | Being There Magazine, March 2005

Going cold into an opening act can be hard.  You never know if they’ll be terrible or amazing.  James McKenty and The Spades warmed up the audience in preparation for The Joel Plaskett Emergency. An energetic rock ‘n’ roll ruckus, The Spades have all the power to be a large arena band, but unfortunately their songs aren’t strong enough.  Still, nobody stopped moving or dancing to the music and their attitude quickly moved to the audience.

Joel Plaskett performed his second sold out night in Toronto during this tour, having played Lee’s Palace just a week earlier.  Plaskett changed up the setlist enough to make it interesting while still playing some of his biggest rockers for the crowd who didn’t attend the previous show.

Joel Plaskett was in great form and seems to show more confidence on stage than ever before. He was joined by the The Emergency, Dave Marsh (drums) and former Thrush Hermit Ian McGettigan (bass).  Starting off the night with some of his heavier songs like “Red Light, “Work Out Fine” and “Mystery & Crime,” Plaskett had the crowded audience dancing and swinging… politely, we are after all in Canada.

One of the highlights was a rare song called “Please Don’t Return,” which was only available on vinyl as the b-side of “Clueless Wonder.”  This was followed shortly by a solo performance of “a song by a classic Canadian band, Thrush Hermit”. The song was “Before You Leave,” one of Plaskett’s more beautiful songs.

My biggest complaint with the show was that the lighting was terrible. Backlights were stronger than the front lights which unfortunately blinded the audience. The vocals also got distorted from time to time, though there were fewer technical problems than the previous week’s show, which led to an overall better show.

With the upcoming release of Plaskett’s latest solo album, La De Da, he treated the audience to a short sample with the song, “Love This Town”.  It’s a great song about small town life, which included a nice jab at Kelowna, B.C.  I think the Ontario folk liked that.

Plaskett played a great show and the band was spot on. The set list leaned a little too much to the heavy songs for my liking, but at least I have a solo show to look forward to in the spring.