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This article was published 04/07/2019 (2445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

From counterterrorism to country songs

Canadian actor turned singer-songwriter Kiefer Sutherland is bringing his gritty country tunes to Winnipeg. Known for movies such as Stand by Me, Young Guns, A Few Good Men and the TV show 24, Sutherland released his first album, Down in a Hole, in 2016 and has been promoting his music around the world ever since.

The Kiefer Sutherland Band comes to the Club Regent Event Centre on Thursday, July 4, fresh off a North American and European tour in support of his newest release Reckless & Me.

The guitarist and vocalist has a reputation for engaging with the audience and sharing the stories behind the songs during live shows. In addition to original music, Sutherland usually includes covers of Merle Haggard and Tom Petty in his setlist.

Toronto singer-songwriter Darcy Windover will open the night.

Tickets are $30.45 and $36.75 plus fees at Ticketmaster.

— Eva Wasney

 

Unreal — Canada’s Ultimate Tribute Band Festival

While it’s impossible to turn back time and see Cher’s recently cancelled Winnipeg performance, the next best thing will be rocking the stage at Assiniboia Downs on Sunday, July 7, as part of a daylong festival of tribute acts.

Eight different tribute acts will grace the stage at the Downs starting at 3 p.m. as part of Unreal — Canada’s Ultimate Tribute Band Festival, hosted by legendary radio personality Howard Mandshein. Among the artists featured at the fest will be Turn Back Time, a Cher tribute, as well as homages to crooners such as Johnny Cash (A.R. Cash) and Elvis Presley (Steinbach’s award-winning Corny Rempel).

A number of full-band tributes will also rock the Downs. Local mainstays Free Ride will perform two sets — one in their well-known Beatles roles and another that tips the hat to British icons such as David Bowie, the Rolling Stones and solo material from John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Also slated to appear are Renegade (Styx), Rattlesnake Suitcase (Guns N’ Roses) and Last Kiss (Kiss).

Unreal will feature food trucks, a meet and greet, and more. Tickets are $35 plus fees at eventbrite.ca. Guests are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs. For set times and additional information, visit asdowns.com.

— Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson

 

Winnipeg Comedy Showcase

School’s out, but there’s still time to get straight A’s at the next Winnipeg Comedy Showcase.

Five comedians and one sketch group are bringing their A games and will perform nothing but their best material on Friday at the Park Theatre, organizer/host Jared Story promises.

“With each lineup, I try to get a diversity of comedic styles, including some rock-solid standup veterans, and a little up-and-coming talent as well. I pick comics who are not only killing it in the local scene, but who are also putting in the required effort, the ones that are honing their craft night after night at bar-room open mics,” he says.

The evening will be the 23rd edition of the local showcase and includes:

Paul Rabliauskas: A North Ender and a member of Poplar River First Nation, who finds the funny in his upbringing and where he lives.

Elissa Kixen: An Anishinaabe two-spirit comedian who uses comedy to fight racism, sexism and homophobia.

Tyler Kotowski: Kotowski’s bag of tricks includes observations, absurdist one-liners and a group of half-baked characters. There could be props.

Chris Stanton: Stanton is the host/producer of Comedy at Le Garage and the Nerd Show at Wee Johnny’s.

Chad Anderson: Anderson takes on addiction and racism, both of which he has personal experience with.

Family Dinner: A sketch comedy group who put on a well-received Fringe Fest show last year.

Tickets for the show are $10 at the Park Theatre and eventbrite.ca. Any remaining tickets will be available at the door for $15. Showtime is at 9 p.m. on Friday, July 5.

“We must be doing something right. This is the 23rd Winnipeg Comedy Showcase and I think all but two shows have completely sold out,” Story says.

“People tend to come the first time because they personally know a comic on the bill, but then I see them again at the next show and the show after that. They go from supporting a friend to local comedy fan, just like that. And when I do hear from people who are attending their first show, they usually ask me some variation of ‘Are you really all from Winnipeg?’ They can’t believe the amount of funny talent we have in this city.”

— Rob Williams

 

Bad Religion

Bad Religion is still fighting the good fight.

The veteran Los Angeles socio-political punk band just released its latest studio album, Age of Unreason — its first with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House.

His name isn’t specifically mentioned, but songs such as Candidate, The Approach and Do the Paranoid Style are directly inspired by events from the past two years.

“The band has always stood for enlightenment values,” co-songwriter and guitarist Brett Gurewitz explains in the album’s release notes. “Today, these values of truth, freedom, equality, tolerance and science are in real danger. This record is our response.”

Bad Religion played its first show in 1980 and released a six-song self-titled EP clocking in at less than 10 minutes the following year on Epitaph Records, a label started by Gurewitz.

Its full-length, How Could Hell Be Any Worse, followed the next year, and since then the band has released another 16 studio albums, along with various EPs, compilations and live records that helped define a certain speedy melodic style of southern California punk rock. The four albums released between 1988 and 1992 — Suffer, No Control, Against the Grain and Generator — have been cited as especially influential to countless bands over the years, many who released albums on Epitaph.

Along the way, vocalist Greg Graffin found time to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his PhD in the history of science from Cornell University.

His PhD dissertation was published as a paperback book, Evolution and Religion: Questioning the Beliefs of the World’s Eminent Evolutionists.

Who says punk rock is dumb?

Bad Religion plays the Burton Cummings Theatre on Thursday, July 4, with Philadelphia’s Dave Hause & the Mermaid, who kick things off at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $25 to $49.50 plus fees at Ticketmaster.

— Rob Williams

 

Queensrÿche

American progressive metal band Queensrÿche is returning to Winnipeg with some new faces in its lineup.

The original band was formed in 1980 in Bellevue, Wash., and consisted of lead vocalist Geoff Tate, guitarists Michael Wilton and Chris DeGarmo, bassist Eddie Jackson, and drummer Scott Rockenfield.

DeGarmo left the band for personal reasons in 1998 and was replaced by Kelly Gray, Mike Stone, and most recently by current band member Parker Lundgren. The band had another change in 2012, when vocalist Geoff Tate was fired. He was replaced by Todd La Torre, former vocalist for the band Crimson Glory.

Following a highly publicized legal battle that spanned almost two years, a settlement between the remaining band members and Tate was reached, with the band retaining the rights to tour as Queensrÿche. Tate continues to tour under his own name, with exclusive rights to perform the albums Operation: Mindcrime and Operation: Mindcrime II.

The three-time Grammy-nominated band has sold more than 20 million albums worldwide and was last on stage in Winnipeg in 2005, when they played at the Burton Cummings Theatre. The band is best known for its 1988 album Operation: Mindcrime and the hit single Silent Lucidity from the 1990 album, Empire.

Queensrÿche performs at the Club Regent Event Centre on Sunday, July 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 plus fees at Ticketmaster.

— Frances Koncan