THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE LIVE @ LEE'S PALACE (20.11.09)

All of a sudden I want to move out West. Holy Shit. I mean I've played their debut Hometowns around 100 million times. Its been a perpetual occurrence in my life. Wake up. Eat. Listen to The RAA. Over and Over. But I expected the minimum from The RAA live. Despite hearing they put on a show when they hit up Bowery in NY in Oct. Not sure why my expectations were low, maybe because there's only 3 of'em? Who gives a shit, i was so fucking impressed. 

I missed the very first opener of the night. I caught most of Bahamas as the second opener though. I was pretty impressed. Bahamas is a one man show lead by Afie Jurvanen who often has a special guest occupy the drum set. Last night this dude was on point, after interacting with the crowd in between a set full of classic covers, Afie ended the night off with a cover of Prince's 'Purple Rain' which the crowd basically took control of. 

After Bahamas, the threesome that is THE RAA took the stage. Paul Banwatt, Amy Cole and Nils Edenloff. Nil's the lead on the keys, guitar and the rough around the edge voice. Amy is on percussions, drum, and keeps the stage pretty. And Paul, fucking Paul. This guy stole the fucking show. Go on youtube immediately and watch a clip of this guy on the drums. My camera doesn't even operate at a speed fast enough to capture his insane spontaneous and overzealous drum techniques. Together these 3 form one fuck of a band. Their main set was about an hour and followed by a three song encore. Highlights of the show for me were 'Frank, AB', 'Four Night Rider', 'Drain the Blood', and 'Edmonton'.

Rural Alberta Advantage - Four Night Rider

Rural Alberta Advantage - Frank, AB

Rural Alberta Advantage - Drain the Blood

Rural Alberta Advantage - Edmonton