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On August 15th, 2023 I went to see Gowan (née Lawrence Gowan, double-née Gowan) at the Holy Heart Theatre in St. John’s. It was a pretty good show, though not quite as good as I was expecting it to be. But as I sit here typing these words through a beautiful, sunny summer afternoon what strikes me most about this concert is that it occurred nearly a year ago.
I can’t tell you how much that astounds me (and not simply in a wow-I-can’t-believe-a-year-has-gone-by-already sort of way), but I’ll try:
The thing is, when I finally caught up with these ticket stories I figured I would stay up to date on them, but I sure didn’t. I suppose it took about six or seven years, but I finally finished retroactively reviewing all of my concert experiences about two years ago. What began as a lark became a project before finally becoming a chore, and when I was done I swore that I would keep on top of things and be sure to write my ticket memories shortly after they happened. And I did, for a while. It’s not like I see so many shows now that I live in rural Newfoundland, although I guess when I do it is often multi-night runs somewhere like Vegas or Mexico, where I don’t necessarily feel like hunching over my computer for a few hours each day. So I get back from a four-night run in Tennessee and follow that up with a couple of local shows and before you know it I’m…let’s see now…fourteen shows behind. Fourteen! And I’ve been pretty good lately; I knocked two or three out this week already. And still, here I am fourteen shows behind and I’ve got Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle coming up at the NL Folk Fest this weekend. And then the Van Gogh 3D thing is this summer, and we’ll be flying to Delaware to see Phish…
And I’m already fourteen shows behind. I’m shocked at myself. It’s not like I don’t have the free time.
Anyway, Gowan…
As we sat in the largish theatre waiting for the show to begin I couldn’t help but wonder how many Newfoundlanders around me were inwardly pronouncing the large “Gowan” that was printed on the backdrop that was strung up behind the drum kit as “G’wan”, as in: “G’wan wit’ ya’…”.
If I may interject again: I was very surprised when Gowan made basically the very same joke early in his show, but then again he has never seemed to take himself too seriously. Well, except that he’ll freely admit to being an exceptionally good piano player. He’ll even be the first one to bring it up. But really, that’s just stating a fact, because Gowan is a monstrously good player. And whilst fully acknowledging this fact, he simultaneously tends to not take himself too seriously. He seems like a pretty cool guy actually.
Back to the show, another surprise came when he introduced his band. First of all, the guitarist on stage left has been playing with Gowan since the Strange Animal tour in the early ’80’s! And he’s a good guitar player too. ‘Matter of fact, he had just finished an extended tenure playing in the Come From Away pit band, which is sayin’ somethin’, especially around here.
And the bass player who looked so much like Gowan that I assumed it must be his son? It was his brother, and he has been playing in the band since forever as well.* Turns out it was the drummer who was Gowan’s son. He plays with a heavy metal band in Montreal and this was his first time touring with his dad. Crazy.
And like I say, it was a good show with a tight band and all-around high quality musicianship. It was only the brilliance of the one time I saw Gowan play a solo show that had me hoping for more. That show had been the surprise of all surprises: that was when I found out how serious of a musician the guy is and how deep and varied his repertoire goes. But alas, this concert was much like my first Gowan concert (see asterisk): simply a good, solid rock show put on by great musicians playing fantastic songs.
That’s all.
Now, had I written this in the days immediately following the concert (and not to make excuses, but I thought I did write this one) then I probably would have remembered some of the song titles (though of course I remember Criminal Mind; what an awesome song that is, and one I was amazed to discover that m’lady had never heard before. And I remember Strange Animal. And, is it called Moonlight Desires? I remember that one too). Although I’ve always thought that one of the interesting features of these writeups is that they are not reviews per se, but rather a summation of the memories that remain from a show however many years later. The time-tested highlights instead of the minutia.
For example, I remember Gowan joking that a roped-off area between the stage and the audience that was obviously undergoing some sort of repair was actually a Rolling Stones-level security gap aimed at keeping him safe from the seething masses of fans. Which is a pretty Gowan thing to say.
I also remember that he was using his spinning electric piano, which itself is a perfect Gowan-esque blend of cool and cheeseball. And like I say, I remember the hits. Oh, and the drum solo. Kid put in a pretty kickin’ drum solo.
Geez, I really can’t believe I let myself get so behind. I’m not saying I’m ashamed of myself but yeah, I kinda am. I’ll catch up, and when I do I’ll totally stay on top of them, for sure this time. I promise.
*I would’ve seen both these guys play alongside Mr. Gowan when I saw him at Ontario Place on June 1st, 1985.
Todd Man Out 