Gig Review: Fred Eaglesmith & the Flying Squirrels

By Wayne Tritton

Fred Eaglesmith & the Flying Squirrels

Vic On The Park Hotel
Thursday 30/03/2005

Tonight's gig was opened by Bill Chambers, (father of Kasey, in case you were wondering), and it became immediately obvious why he is so respected both here and OS. Bill delivered a perfect opening act set; short and sharp, with a mix of old faves, some new tunes from the forthcoming album, POISON BLOOD, and a smattering of well chosen and exquisitely delivered covers from Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, and Steve Earle. Ably accompanied by dobro player Dan Walsh from the Flying Squirrels, this set was one of good humour, great stories and great playing. I for one will definitely be checking out Bill's own shows in the future (and it gave one pause to ponder the amount of talent one family could reasonably be expected to have).

Canadian singer/songwriter/story teller Fred Eaglesmith has been to Oz a few times before, but only as a solo act. Joining him on-stage tonight for the first time here was his band, the Flying Squirrels. This is a band ANY performer would gladly sell bodily parts to have behind them. A five piece band (which didn't leave much room on the Vic on the Parks stage for the six of them), of truly accomplished multi instrumentalists, they were on target right from the word go; a perfect foil for the gravel washed vocals of Fred Eaglesmith (a bit like Steve Earle meets Bon Scott). I didn't catch all the names, but to give you an idea of the set up, on electric guitars/Dobro was the aforementioned Dan Walsh, on Mandolin/Harp, William P Bennet (at least I THINK that's what I heard when he was introduced), and then I missed all the other names, due to the enthusiastic whoops and whistles of the crowd, but there was a pedal steel/lead guitarist, a bass player and a drummer.

Fred opened the set with a blistering little mini-set of three songs leading in to each other before he stopped to say hello and tell a very funny story about the bands day at the reptile park (in fact, most of the stories tonight were very funny). As I was wiping tears of laughter away, the next section of the show shifted into top gear. From the tongue in check blues stomp of Time to get a Gun, we were ushered into the spook factor times 10 of Share Cropping, then on to the heart breaking I still look for you in Crowds from the new album DUSTY.

I HAVE to mention the Squirrels' performance during Share Cropping, because they were simply astonishing. First came the mandolin solo, then the dobro solo, then the pedal steel solo, then it was back for a harp solo, then Dan Walsh swapped the dobro for the electric, then the pedal steel player swapped to HIS electric, and then the crowning glory: a DUAL harp/slide mandolin solo from William P. I know this sounds a bit 70's art rock, but it was spellbinding.

The rest of the almost two hour show just maintained the standard established from the outset. Fred Eaglesmith is possibly one of the best storytellers I've ever had the joy to watch, and he was in fine form, dealing with hecklers, "There's six of us up here buddy. You think I got a band for the musicians? We'll just come on down and beat the crap outta ya." To the fan down the front smoking, "It's never a good idea to blow smoke on the band, cause you're killing them, and when they're dead your gonna have to go back to your old Back Street Boys records." Maybe you had to be there.

A consummate performer, Eaglesmith had us crying with laughter at a story, only to have us crying for real as the song unfolded. As I mentioned, this set went for almost two hours, with Fred giving us a two song encore unaccompanied by the band, but just as powerful. Fred describes himself as "a dirty old country band from Canada," but I doubt that goes even close to describing the depth and range of his song writing abilities. No matter what type of music you're into, if you want to watch and hear something truly magical, get yourself along the next time he comes out, solo or with band. There's a truckload of info on his website, including a lot of stuff about his record label, which is called 'A MAJOR LABEL.' He tells us he called his record company that because he LOVES telling people he's signed to.... This was also the basis for a side splitting monologue about being taken out to lunch by the head of his record company, i.e. himself. Anyway, I for one am glad I made the effort to GET OUT THERE! I won't forget tonight's experience for many moons to come.

Final note: much kudos to the Vic On The Park. This has turned into a GREAT and much needed live venue for the inner city. Not only did we see two top class acts in the front room, there was also a very classy duo in the back bar playing nice chilled out tunes if you wanted to give your senses a break, or you could just head to the beer garden for some fresh air and a bit of peace and quiet in between sets. Well done guys, and thanks.

WT