By Keith Sharp
When Fort McMurray was devastated by a wild fire in May 2016, Maritime rock legend, Matt Minglewood rallied his fellow East Coast musicians to stage a special fund-raising concert in Sydney Nova Scotia to raise badly-needed funds for that Northern Alberta community.
Between Thursday October 12th to Saturday October 14th, the residents of Fort McMurray get to show their appreciation when The Matt Minglewood Band appear at Boomtown Casino as part of an 11-date Western Canada tour in support of the band’s new record, “Fly Like Desperados”.
“Maritimes have always had a special relationship with Alberta and the Fort McMurray area,” acknowledged Minglewood. “A lot of Maritimers work in the Oil Patch so what happened in Fort Mc hit close to home. It was great that we were able to raise funds during our “Give Back To The Mc” concert (staged Sunday May 15th at Sydney’s Centre 200) and it will be great to be able to go back to Fort McMurray and play for the residents in person.”
With a new band which features, Minglewood (guitar/vocals), Moon McInnis (drums/vocals), Nick McInnis (guitars), Emily Dingwall (bass/vocals) and Jeff Stapleton (keyboards), Minglewood says the infusion of energy injected into the band by the new members, resulted in his first studio album since 2005 and has sparked the band’s desire to execute their first Western Canadian tour in almost eight years.
“We’ve gone out and played select dates before for various blues societies but we haven’t organized a full Western tour in a long time,” confirmed the Glace Bay native. “We are really looking forward to getting back out in front of our Western fans again. I have received comments on my facebook that I’ve got fans traveling from all over Western Canada just to catch our shows.”
Minglewood’s set, sponsored by Long & McQuade will include band classics like his anthemic “Can’t You See”, “”Dorchester”, “Someday I’m Gonna Ride In A Cadillac” and “Rockin The Blues” but also tracks from his new album, which features his ode to Canadian troops in Afghanistan, “Kandahar” plus “Amsterdam”, a love song to his wife, Barbara.
The Matt Minglewood Band opens their tour in Edmonton at the Century Casino on Friday October 6th, play Saturday October 7th at the Red Deer Elks Club before heading south to perform Sunday October 8th at Average Joe’s in Lethbridge. Tuesday October 10th sees the band on the Calgary outskirts playing at the Cochrane Venue before the band travels north to what should be a Hero’s Welcome in Fort McMurray October 12-14. Then it’s on to Grande Prairie for gig at Better Than Fred’s on Monday October 16th before heading East for a gig at Bud’s On Broadway in Saskatoon on Wednesday October 18th, The 40 Club in Brandon on Thursday October 19th before ending this Western swing on Friday October 20th at Winnipeg’s Pyramid venue.
MATT MINGLEWOOD BAND: Full Tour Itinerary.
Friday October 6th Edmonton Century Casino
Saturday October 7th Red Deer Elks Club
Sunday October 8th Lethbridge Average Joe’s
Tuesday October 10th Cochrane The Venue
Thursday October 12 – Saturday October 14th Fort McMurray Boomtown Casino
Monday October 16th Grande Prairie Better Than Freds
Wednesday October 18th Saskatoon Buds On Broadway
Thursday October 19th Brandon Club 40
Friday October 20th Winnipeg The Pyramid
Tickets are on sale at all the above venues.