Se7en

Dwayne Gretzky, supergroup cover band, did their 6th annual ode to the 90s (Big Shiny Dwayne) back in 2019. But because of the pandemic, it wasn't until Friday night that they returned to The Phoenix for the next edition. With the 90s now 30-years-old and rapidly fading out of view, most everyone there was getting long in the tooth. But people were still enthusiastic enough to cheer and sing to every song.

Early Dwayne shows, including Big Shiny, tended to be male-heavy and leaned toward rock numbers. But the women have now achieved parity in the set list. This was a good thing since it also added more genres and variety to the music. It would be ridiculous to ignore the calibre of female singers in the band: The O'Pears (Jill Harris, Lydia Persaud, Meg Contini) and Carleigh Aikins. So we got indie (Hand In My Pocket - Alanis Morissette), pop (Never Ever - All Saints), ska-lite (Don't Speak - No Doubt), and ballad (It's All Coming Back To Me Now - Céline Dion).

It's always fun to hear the classics return like I'm Not Sick But I'm Not Well (Flagpole Sitta), My Hero (Foo Fighters), Just (Radiohead). But it's more fun to hear new songs in the repertoire. Tonight, we got such disparate numbers as Everything is Everything (Lauren Hill), Crash Into Me (Dave Matthews), and Blue (Eiffel 65). For the latter, Nick Rose sang it while dressed in a green zentai suit. As bandleader Tyler Kyte pointed out: only at a Dwayne Gretzky show will you hear these songs together.

There was no boy-band/girl-band choreography tonight but we did get Rodrigo doing his usual over-the-top performance of a cheesy song. This time it was Santana's Smooth. The encore wrapped up the night with the one-two punch of All My Life (K-Ci & Jojo) and Tubthumping (Chumbawamba). The first with its' sing-along heart-on-sleeve chorus (All my life/I've waited for someone like you) with all 6 singers harmonizing got the audience right in the feels. The second with its' defiant lyrics (I get knocked down but I get up again) seemed to be the pandemic anthem to get everyone jumping in a frenzy.