I don’t usually check out concerts in the Enmax Centre. The narrow seats aren’t built for a bigger fellow like me who eats three square meals a day and drinks twice as many beers.
But I was impressed with Canadian country singer Dean Brody, Feb. 16 who turned the hockey rink into a giant kitchen party. But first, Brody dubbed Florida based singer Cassadee Pope an “honorary Canadian Girl” for playing her first Canadian shows — six in six days starting in Newfoundland through some of the harshest winter weather we’ve seen in some time.
A fanfare of a few bars of the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again” brought her on stage as she sang an appealing set of country pop music as she strutted across the stage like a young Shania Twain which was emphasized by a hot cover of “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” which emphasized how much she reminded me of Twain. She had a huge voice with just a touch of sass.
Brody began his show with a brief video of Brody in an animated UFO talking to his alien friend “Jimmy”, telling him “ Friends don’t probe Friends,” and eventually having him dropping him back on earth. The screen showed a graphics of crop circles from all over the world as Brody began his set with the title track off his latest CD. He followed it up with bigger hits “Dirt” and “People Know You By Your First Name.”
Dean Brody played all the hits from his albums, the kitchen party part of the night began with my favourite part of the show — “Mountain Man” before which the lights went down as the band changed hats and instruments. They they came on again, the bassist played tuba, the banjo and mandolin came to the forefront while Brody alternated between playing guitar and cracking a set of antlers together for extra percussion. He sounded a lot like Brad Paisley but without the guitar pyrotechnics.
Cassadee Pope joined him on stage to sing a duet of “Bounty” from his latest CD “Crop Circles.
The video display was excellent, displaying videos and suitable images like pick up trucks from “Four Wheel Drive,” and the occasional song title.
Most of the audience sang along with songs like “Roll That Barrel Out” and party anthems like “It’s Friday.’
There was a lot of Celtic influence on several songs including “ It’s Friday.”
Most of audience erupted in cheers every time he mentioned he was originally from Jaffray B.C.
Another popular song was “Bob Marley” with which he followed up by playing Bob Marley’s “ One Love” after a brief excerpt with Bob Marley the video screen about “what is wealth.” The most moving part of the show was “Brothers,” which he began just singing and backed by gorgeous Hammond organ.
He told lots of stories. He ended his show with his first hit “Dirt Road Scholar.”
I had to leave to catch a couple other shows, but I’m sure he returned for an encore of “Canadian Girl,” one of his biggest hits.
The show was a “celebration” of the simple life all the way through with thoughtful stories and plenty of catchy, singalong choruses which had audience members crowing “That’s my song!”. The TV show “Duck Dynasty” was mentioned a couple of times, which also got the crowd cheering.