Concert Reviews

The Band Perry at GM Centre – January 29, 2014

The temperatures warmed up a little last night in Oshawa as Tennessee trio The Band Perry showed up and thrilled the GM Centre crowd with a little country and a lot of rock & roll while on their We Are Pioneers tour.

This band brought everything they had didn’t disappoint the near sold-out crowd, bringing guitar solos, fiddle solos, dancing, strutting, and a lot of fun. Kimberly (lead vocals), Neil (mandolin), and Reid (bass) Perry looked like they were here for good from the first time i’d heard of them at the Boots & Hearts festival. They were great then, they are better now.

They brought a full stage show and had a walkway allowing them to adventure into the middle of the singing crowd that kept up with their every word. The crowds vocals were quite impressive and made the GM Centre sound more like the Air Canada Centre as the thunderous voices attempted to raise the decibel levels to the max. When Neil brought out a Canadian flag and he performed the national anthem on fiddle, the crowd sang Oh Canada while standing in unison.

The show was the final one on their Canadian tour and their performance was nothing short of pure energy, they certainly didn’t look like a tiring band. There were rumors of Kimberly having sore vocal chords causing some media cancellations earlier in the day. She did show a few signs of a weak voice during the rendition of Amazing Grace but everything else like Done, Night Gone Wasted, All Your Life, If I Die Young, You Lie, I’m A Keeper and their number one single Better Dig Two.

The best song of the night was a Queen cover of Fat Bottomed Girls. This was the last song anyone was expecting but showed their heavy rock influence their parents played for them when they were younger.

The Band Perry is well worth the price of admission and guaranteed a good night out. Look for them on tour in Canada in the near future with another new album. 

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Senior Sports Photojournalist at Live in Limbo.