rtbuck
Senior Member
Kim Mitchell
Date: 11/27/2010
Location: Buffalo, NY
Venue: The Tralf
The first time I heard Max Webster was back in 1978 while in High School. A friend of mine had made me a mix cassette tape of songs & bands I never heard. One of the songs on this cassette was “The Party” by Max Webster & all I needed to do was hear that song once & I rushed out to buy their ‘Mutiny Up My Sleeve’ record album. I was hooked & a year later I seen them open for Rush. They were unbelievable in concert & before long I had all of their albums. I have been a fan of Max Webster & Kim Mitchell’s solo career ever since.
Over 30 years later & seeing numerous appearances by Kim Mitchell, he was back in Buffalo for his annual Thanksgiving Holiday Show but this wasn’t your typical Kim Mitchell show. This show featuring Kim along with bassist Peter Fredette (who’s been with Kim since his solo career began around ’81), hard hitting drummer Chris Sutherland, & keyboardist Don Breithaup took the Kim Mitchell show to the Max as they rocked through a near 2 hour set of Max Webster classics along with 3 songs from his solo career.
The show opened with “Hangover” from the Max Webster debut album & the sound was crystal clear. Kim then walked up to the mic & said “Check…Check” & the band kicked into high gear as they launched into “Check” from the ‘Universal Juveniles’ album rocking the full house. Up next Mitchell revisited the ‘Mutiny Up My Sleeve’ album with “Waterline” which was followed by one of the many highlights of the night as Kim tore up his fret board during a bit of an extended version of the hard rocking “In the World of Giants”. The tempo was brought down as a stool appeared at the front of the stage & a roadie handed Kim an acoustic guitar. Mitchell proceeded to play probably the most beautiful version of “On the Road” from Max Webster’s ‘High Class in Borrowed Shoes’ album I had ever heard him perform. The few times I heard him play it live it was just Kim & his guitar but this time the band backed him up with soft sounds which gave it a full sound. The floors began to rumble as the crowd favorite “Oh War” began & the hardcore Max Webster fans began counting “2...3…4!” during the appropriate time of the song. Up next was the title track from the Max Webster album ‘A Million Vacations’ (this song was originally sung by former keyboardist Terry Watkinson) followed by “Diamonds Diamonds”. “Beyond the Moon” sounded phenomenal & has one of my all-time favorite guitar solos at the end. It was kind of funny because at first when Kim was introducing the song he couldn’t think of the album title yet every time I seen him over the years he always sticks that ending solo at the end of one of his other songs such as “Lager & Ale”. One of my favorite fun songs of all-time is “Toronto Tontos” & Kim didn’t disappoint as he awkwardly danced around with his guitar as if he was a deranged marionette. The band then launched into their anthem “Battle Scar” but with a bit of a mellower intro to it before it kicked in. As always Peter Fredette’s outstanding vocals rivaled the original version which featured Geddy Lee. The band ripped into “High Class in Borrowed Shoes” & then Kim toyed around with his guitar. The band played the first couple of verses of “Here Among the Cats” for fun. A fan shouted “Night Flights” & Kim Kind of chuckled as he recited one line from the 1979 tune. The band then played an outstanding version of the Max Webster Canadian hit “Paradise Skies” featuring some sensational Keyboard work by Don Breithaup that was reminiscent of the Doors Ray Manzarek. As the night was coming to an end Kim led the crowd with the classic Max Webster chant “Cats in the Bag…The Neighbors holler…This Party’s higher than the Eiffel Tower!!” & the band ripped into a roaring version of the crowd stopper “The Party”. The band left the stage & returned with a 3 song encore featuring “Rock & Roll Duty”, “Go For a Soda”, & “Lager & Ale” from Kim’s solo career which the crowd loved.
Bucky
Date: 11/27/2010
Location: Buffalo, NY
Venue: The Tralf
The first time I heard Max Webster was back in 1978 while in High School. A friend of mine had made me a mix cassette tape of songs & bands I never heard. One of the songs on this cassette was “The Party” by Max Webster & all I needed to do was hear that song once & I rushed out to buy their ‘Mutiny Up My Sleeve’ record album. I was hooked & a year later I seen them open for Rush. They were unbelievable in concert & before long I had all of their albums. I have been a fan of Max Webster & Kim Mitchell’s solo career ever since.
Over 30 years later & seeing numerous appearances by Kim Mitchell, he was back in Buffalo for his annual Thanksgiving Holiday Show but this wasn’t your typical Kim Mitchell show. This show featuring Kim along with bassist Peter Fredette (who’s been with Kim since his solo career began around ’81), hard hitting drummer Chris Sutherland, & keyboardist Don Breithaup took the Kim Mitchell show to the Max as they rocked through a near 2 hour set of Max Webster classics along with 3 songs from his solo career.
The show opened with “Hangover” from the Max Webster debut album & the sound was crystal clear. Kim then walked up to the mic & said “Check…Check” & the band kicked into high gear as they launched into “Check” from the ‘Universal Juveniles’ album rocking the full house. Up next Mitchell revisited the ‘Mutiny Up My Sleeve’ album with “Waterline” which was followed by one of the many highlights of the night as Kim tore up his fret board during a bit of an extended version of the hard rocking “In the World of Giants”. The tempo was brought down as a stool appeared at the front of the stage & a roadie handed Kim an acoustic guitar. Mitchell proceeded to play probably the most beautiful version of “On the Road” from Max Webster’s ‘High Class in Borrowed Shoes’ album I had ever heard him perform. The few times I heard him play it live it was just Kim & his guitar but this time the band backed him up with soft sounds which gave it a full sound. The floors began to rumble as the crowd favorite “Oh War” began & the hardcore Max Webster fans began counting “2...3…4!” during the appropriate time of the song. Up next was the title track from the Max Webster album ‘A Million Vacations’ (this song was originally sung by former keyboardist Terry Watkinson) followed by “Diamonds Diamonds”. “Beyond the Moon” sounded phenomenal & has one of my all-time favorite guitar solos at the end. It was kind of funny because at first when Kim was introducing the song he couldn’t think of the album title yet every time I seen him over the years he always sticks that ending solo at the end of one of his other songs such as “Lager & Ale”. One of my favorite fun songs of all-time is “Toronto Tontos” & Kim didn’t disappoint as he awkwardly danced around with his guitar as if he was a deranged marionette. The band then launched into their anthem “Battle Scar” but with a bit of a mellower intro to it before it kicked in. As always Peter Fredette’s outstanding vocals rivaled the original version which featured Geddy Lee. The band ripped into “High Class in Borrowed Shoes” & then Kim toyed around with his guitar. The band played the first couple of verses of “Here Among the Cats” for fun. A fan shouted “Night Flights” & Kim Kind of chuckled as he recited one line from the 1979 tune. The band then played an outstanding version of the Max Webster Canadian hit “Paradise Skies” featuring some sensational Keyboard work by Don Breithaup that was reminiscent of the Doors Ray Manzarek. As the night was coming to an end Kim led the crowd with the classic Max Webster chant “Cats in the Bag…The Neighbors holler…This Party’s higher than the Eiffel Tower!!” & the band ripped into a roaring version of the crowd stopper “The Party”. The band left the stage & returned with a 3 song encore featuring “Rock & Roll Duty”, “Go For a Soda”, & “Lager & Ale” from Kim’s solo career which the crowd loved.
Bucky
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