The Pinnicle of Canadian Mediocraty

I saw Ashley McIssac perform at the George St. Festival last night. I was looking forward to the show, as it was something a bit different than I was used to; a cross between the Celtic traditionalists and the 3 piece rock bands that are so prevalent around here.

I did enjoy the show but i found a few things strange. Many of McIssac's released tracks feature vocalists, and all the songs that anyone knew were played as instrumentals, which I found to be a bit anti-climatic. And something else I learned is that he must feature other vocalists on his albums because singing is not his strong point. The few traditional songs he sang were rough and hurried, which was dissapointing.

About halfway through the show, things deteriorated into a semi punk band show with very little fiddle, much more heavy guitars and grunting into the microphone. The songs about Pot Smoking didn't really go over large with the older crowd who showed up to see him play "Sleepy Maggie".

Overall I thought it was worth $5 even though it wasn't what I expected. You can't really complain for that price.