Not Dad Yet

On Saturday, I was at the 2nd show of Dwayne Gretzky's tribute to 90s music at The Phoenix. This is the 6th year for Big Shiny Dwayne and the crowd was as full as ever. As time marches on, even the youngest were in their thirties and a good chunk were likely nearing the half-century mark. But if the music of your youth is now dad-rock, Dwayne Gretzky made it fun to listen to these covers.

The major part of it was their professionalism and passion. You don't regularly sell-out thousand-capacity venues by phoning it in as a bar band. So whether it was rock, indie, R'n'B, or any other genre, they played with gusto and skill. As the years go by, the band itself has also changed. Singer Carleigh Aikins has taken on more lead vocals. Her strong, slightly raspy voice lent itself well to indie (Everyday Is A Winding Road), R'n'B (I Try), and rock ballad on a blistering duet with Tyler Kite on Aerosmith's Cryin'. Meg Contini, still involved in harmonies, only sang on 2 numbers: My Heart Will Go On and Everybody Dance Now. But they induced some of the biggest crowd reaction tonight.

Speaking of the latter song, Dwayne Gretzky sometimes does well-known, slightly cheesy dance number of boy-bands as part of an encore. But they have upped their game for this show and commissioned a full choreographic routine for Everybody Dance Now replete with high-energy 90s dance moves like Running Man, Prep, and Kid'n'Play. The members must have spent hours practicing this on top of their band practice; the work was much appreciated by the fans. When the lights finally came up on the last song, big grins were plastered on every face in the crowd.