How many bands do you know that have been together for forty years and never had a hiatus or changed band members? Cowboy Junkies formed in 1985 with siblings Michael, (guitar) Peter (drums) and Margo Timmins (vocals), along with bassist Alan Anton and this original formula has remained the same ever since. Special mention also to multi-instrumentalist, Jeff Bird, playing tonight, who has appeared on every album except the first.
This being the fortieth anniversary tour, “Forty years” said Margo “no one has died, no one has left”, there was great anticipation as to what songs they would play as the Cowboy Junkies are known to not play the same set each night.
At 8pm, the Timmins siblings and friends walked on stage to an enthusiastic reception. Margo sat at the front of the stage next to a table with a vase of white roses, representing eternal love and reverence, and a cup of tea. Mike sits to the side of the stage with his small guitar collection with Alan on the other side, seemingly anchored to the spot. I never saw him move an inch all evening, but all the while anchoring the sound, along with drummer Peter.
With some beautiful harmonica from Jeff Bird, followed by the sound of his mandolin, the band kicked off proceedings with Misguided Angel from their 1988 breakthrough album, The Trinity Sessions. With the stage bathed in red, Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning rolls out. We were treated to two classics in the opening two songs. Margo commented, “what a wonderful theatre is The Woodville Town Hall. Better than some we have played”.
“We are going to do three songs from our latest album, Such Ferocious Beauty” commented Margo. “So, it’s time to text your mum, play Candy Crush or whatever. We don’t care; we are Canadians”. The three songs, What I Lost, a tribute to the passing of their father, Hard to Build. Easy to Break and Circe and Penelope were as good as any songs played during the evening.
Renewing her cup of tea, Margo and band got slightly louder for A Common Disaster and the cover of John Lee Hooker’s Forgive Me was pure blues heaven, with the band descending into musical darkness during the extended jam finale. This was only the end of set one. Surely things couldn’t get better than this?
The Things We Do to Each Other from 2018, kicks off set two, with their signature song, a cover of Lou Reed’s Sweet Jane next, receiving rapturous applause. It may have been written by Lou but Cowboy Junkies make it theirs.
Townes’ Blues tells the story of touring with Townes Van Zandt. “He actually opened for us” Margo told everyone “How strange is that”. Townes apparently taught them to shoot dice on the tour so they thought they would write a song about it.
A three-song acoustic set followed, with just Margo, Mike and Jeff on stage. River Waltz, A Horse in the Country and Shadows 2 were played out. While Jeff led the way with his acoustic guitar, it was Jeff filling the holes in the sound with his mandolin, harmonica and assorted other instruments. Jeff may have been sitting at the back of the stage, often in the darkness but he was an integral part of the band’s sound.
Shining Moon and Good Friday led to a thank you to “the roadies, without whom we would have to plug everything our selves and that wouldn’t work,” said Margo. And in a nice touch, she also thanked everyone working in the theatre, “even though I don’t know your names”. The Elvis tribute, Blue Moon Revisited closed out set two.
With the shortest break I have ever seen, the band must have just walked to the edge of the stage and turned around, they were back for a two-song encore. The Way I Feel and a return to The Trinity Sessions album for Walking After Midnight.
Sometimes words cannot explain just how great a show was. This is one of those shows. You had to be there!
Live Review By Geoff Jenke