Dad Rock

On Thursday, I succumbed to nostalgia and went to see long-time band The Northern Pikes. The crowd, the majority of which were in the thinning hair and middle-age spread phase of life, were already there in large numbers for opener Before The Flood.

Appropriately enough, this trio played radio-friendly dad rock with tinges of nostalgia as they sing about "the life I could have had" and "time chasing us". They ended their set with a cover of another long-time Canadian band, Spirit of the West's Political.

The Northern Pikes came up through the 80s and now they're down to a trio. Although like their fans it was grey hair and wrinkles, touring must be good because they looked fit. Only two songs in and they already pulled out their 1st hit from 1987: Teenland. It was a bit strange watching this crowd sing along to this angsty anthem. But their discography is deep enough that the hits kept coming: Kiss Me You Fool, Things I Do For Money, Girl With a Problem. There has always been humour in their music so Blame It On The Song "lamented" being 50 in a band playing Teenland. To keep things fresh they also snuck in snippets of cover songs in solos and bridges. The night ended with a rousing sing-a-long to their classic "bar song" She Ain't Pretty.