Originally published in CVV Magazine on February 24, 2016
Saskatoon 70s-rock revivalists The Sheepdogs played a sold-out show at Sugar Nightclub on Saturday, February 20.
The dingy bar with its pit and shredding-height stack of speakers in front of the stage provided the perfect setting for The Sheepdogs’ rock and roll debauchery.
After a rousing opening set from Montreal alt-rockers Beat Cops, frontman Ewan Currie and co. took to the stage to all the noise of a full house, despite not looking as Sheepdog-like as they did in the summer.
They opened with a number of songs from their most recent album, last year’s Future Nostalgia—a record that earned them wider success both at home and abroad, having just come off of a fairly large European tour for a band from Saskatoon.
The new songs included “Where I Can Roam,” “I’m Gonna Be Myself,” and “I Really Wanna Be Your Man,” before Currie threw the audience an old classic with “Who?”
Future Nostalgia’s hit single “Downtown” came right in the middle of the 20-odd song set, sandwiched in between “The One You Belong To” and “The Way It Is,” from 2012’s self-titled major label debut.
They ended the set with more hits like “Feeling Good,” “How Late, How Long,” and “I Don’t Know” from their first ever Five Easy Pieces EP, which came out in 2011.
The Sheepdogs still know how to rouse a Victoria crowd, and its not surprising, considering Future Nostalgia speaks to a small-town city currently experiencing a vinyl revival, where vintage fashion meets craft beer and almost everyone knows someone in a nostalgic rock band. The Sheepdogs are a tribute to the 70s-rock revival movement, in Victoria and beyond.
Full set list:
- Where Can I Roam
- I’m Gonna Be Myself
- I Really Wanna Be Your Man
- Who?
- Bad Lieutenant
- Southern Dreaming
- Same Old Feeling
- Right On
- The One You Belong To
- Downtown
- The Way It Is
- Jim Gordon
- Plastic Man
- Back Down
- Take a Trip
- Help Us All
- Feeling Good
- How Late, How Long
- I Don’t Know
Encore:
- Whipping Post (The Allman Brothers Band cover)
- Learn & Burn
Freshly Squeezed 