vintage

If you’re a fan of the Joel Plaskett Emergency, chances are you heard about his 6-night run at Toronto’s Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in mid-December. And if you live in Toronto, chances are you probably attended at least one show, or fought unsuccessfully for a ticket - five of the six shows were sold out.

Never mind that Winter Nationals had been a Rheostatics tradition since Joel was cutting his teeth in Thrush Hermit. Never mind that they had just broken up in March and the fans were still sulking over the loss - and the end of the formidable Nationals run. The fact of the matter was that the Horseshoe’s 60th anniversary was coming up, a giant party was in store, and suddenly … there were no Rheos. A slight dilemma.

Enter Joel Plaskett. With his popularity on an exponential rise, a song in a Zellers commercial, recent tours with the Tragically Hip … well, he seemed like a pretty reasonable candidate for the ‘Shoe and a big anniversary bash. When he was approached by the head honcho of the Horseshoe, he gamely accepted - but decided that damn it, he was going to put a twist on things. For one, it was a milestone birthday; for another, a lot of people were probably not going to take a different artist playing Winter Nationals very lightly. So it was up to Joel to make it worth their while.

Being one part excited musician and one part sly businessman, Plaskett decided that he was going to play one of his albums every night (totalling five), and play the sixth night as a wild-card themeless Emergency set. Of course, this ensured attendance at multiple nights for people who “just couldn’t miss” certain albums; some crazy fans even went all six nights, this writer included. Sneaky.

Herein lies the genius of naming Plaskett the successor to Bidini, Tielli et al. There are few artists who could rehearse a repertoire of over sixty songs, play a full set each night (ramping it up a notch each time, as you’ll hear about) of almost completely different material, draw sellout crowds for an entire week, and still come away with fans who are not sick of seeing them. I’m still trying to come up with any other bands that are currently active who could do the same for me. Who on earth would I want to see six times in a row? Is there anyone?

Interesting: with these six Horseshoe Tavern shows, the Emergency has tied for most times I’ve seen a band live (nine) with Sloan, but I don’t think I’d ever voluntarily see Sloan that many times in such a ridiculously short period of time. Well, unless they played four album shows, Twice Removed through Between the Bridges - that would definitely get me out. But I digress.

The point is, Joel has a stage presence and a way about performing that is always, and I do mean always, fun and exciting. He does all the right things: engaging with the audience, making jokes, messing up every once in a while, having extended harmonica duels (Elkas playing “Low Rider”? Golden). Oh yeah, and bringing up a set of guests a la The Last Waltz didn’t hurt either.

If you’re curious, you can check out the complete setlists of his six-day residency at the ‘Shoe. If you’re not so into looking through them, allow me to impart the list of his guests:

• Tara S’Appart (Elevator)
• Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar, Grady)
• his father, Bill Plaskett
• Taylor Knox & Neil Quin (Major Grange, The Golden Dogs)
• Andrew Scott (Sloan)
• Mr Chill
• Gord Downie (Tragically Hip)
• Sarah Harmer
• Ian McGettigan (Thrush Hermit, former Emergency, Camouflage Nights)

Seeing Plaskett, McGettigan and Marsh on the same stage was certainly cause for quite a lot of celebration (especially their performances of “Light of the Moon” and “Down at the Khyber,” as well as unexpected Clayton Park favourites “Oh My Soul!” and “From the Back of the Film”. Let’s just say I picked that as one of the best shows of the year for a reason, mmhmm? There are few things more excellent than that.

Anyway, without going into excessive detail about each night, I’m going to say that there was no one week better than the reborn Winter Nationals at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. Everything from seeing Joel play with his father to Gord Downie singing on “Love This Town” to the Hermit to “In a Town This Size” and “The Lakes of Pontchartrain”. Ladies and gentlemen, Canada mourns the Rheostatics, and we will for a long time; but in their absence, it sure is nice to have a guy like Joel.

Tags: big sugar, camouflage nights, elevator, golden dogs, gord downie, grady, horseshoe tavern, joel plaskett emergency, major grange, mr chill, peter elkas, rheostatics, sarah harmer, sloan, thrush hermit