July is for me usually the busiest month of the year in terms of seeing live music. Ottawa has a number festivals, including the RBC Bluesfest, which features hundreds of acts (and where you have to try really hard to find a blues performer). So you can expect a lot of thoughts on the music I see over the next few weeks, starting today with some thoughts from the concert I attended Friday night that I mentioned here.

As someone who works in the music industry, I try to stay somewhat current, which is really an impossibility – there is so much good music coming out I can’t possibly listen to it all. Usually the only stuff I really listen to is material sent to me to consider for broadcast. So Friday I got to hear three acts I had heard about, but not really heard, if that makes sense to you.

Opening the concert were The Lionyls, a local soul band. I didn’t dislike them, but they didn’t grab me either. Maybe next time they will make more of an impression. Since they are a local group I assume there will be a next time. I do give them full marks for their performance – it is tough opening a show when most people really aren’t there to see you.

The Strumbellas are a band I knew by name and reputation, they are Juno Award winners after all, but had never taken time to listen to their music. I can’t say for sure if I had heard them on the radio, but I think not. If asked to describe them I would have said I thought they were kind if folk/rock, but I wouldn’t have guaranteed that.

I was right, so I guess what I read about the band I absorbed. Turs out there’s a touch of country there too – acoustic guitar and fiddle added to the electric guitar, bass, drums and piano. Some Celtic flavour too. The rap took me by surprise – but it was fun!

One thing that sank home to me while the Strumbellas played was how much concert technology has improved. The show was held in the recently refurbished “Arena at TD Place,” a venue that I attended many times for concerts back when it was the Ottawa Civic Centre. U2, Bob Dylan, Rush, Yes, Neil Young, Newsboys, Bryan Adams, The Guess Who, Alice Cooper and Genesis are just the first names that come to mind. There were dozens of others. And dozens of others over the years. Sometimes the sound was acceptable. Many times it was not. I remember a show by Santana that was remarkable not because the musicianship was exceptional (though I guess it was) but because the music came through so clearly. Hockey arenas weren’t designed to be concert halls, and it usually showed.

Since I couldn’t have named you any Strumbellas songs, the crystal clean sound was especially important. I had no trouble making out the words, which, as a lyrics guy, was much appreciated. Each instrument (and the vocals) came through cleanly in the mix. That used to be a rarity, but I just realized it has become the norm. My verdict on the Strumbellas? I really enjoyed them. They were obviously having fun and that fun was infectious

The show was headlined by Serena Ryder. I have heard her songs on the radio many times, though I would have been hard pressed to name a tune. Pleasant enough, but it just didn’t grab me.

And that is probably how I would describe the show this time. It was a good mix of old and new, a fair number of songs from her upcoming album. I always like to get to hear new stuff. She paced the show well, mixing up rockers and ballads.

Unfortunately there seemed to me to be a certain sameness to the material She reminded me a bit of the Sam Roberts Band. When I hear individual Sam Roberts songs on the radio I enjoy them. In concert they begin to all sound the same to me and I get bored with the performance. The crowd loved the show, but I felt it didn’t live up to its potential.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUOSRxybvoc