Barenaked Ladies' Night At Wise Guys

By JOHN KENDLE, Winnipeg Sun, February 28th, 2001.

The Barenaked Ladies did play in Winnipeg Monday night after all. Not at the Arena — but at Wise Guys.

Faced with a night off in River City when it became clear their tour gear wasn't going to make it here on time to mount Monday's Winnipeg Arena show, the Toronto band and its 45-person crew rented some instruments and held an impromptu bash at the Exchange District nightclub.

The gathering wasn't open to the public as Wise Guys is closed on Mondays, but "there were about 100 people there," the club's general manager Perry Miller said yesterday.

"We got a call saying that the show was cancelled, they had all these people in from out of town and they wanted to throw a party for their crew and friends — would we open for them? I said sure, we called some staff and we had a great night," Miller said.

"They were great guys. They put on food for everybody and they jammed all night. In fact, they got onstage to do a soundcheck and didn't come off till about three hours later," he said.

Guitarist Ed Robertson did not attend the bash but the band's other four members — Steven Page, Jim Creeggan, Tyler Stewart and Kevin Hearn — were all onstage throughout the evening.

"They didn't play any Ladies stuff, it was just a pure jamfest," said one insider. "Someone would yell 'All right, '70s' and they'd play every '70s song they knew. The best part was when Tyler did a rap about the Grammy awards. That was probably the highlight."

After being delayed over the weekend at Hearst, Ont., in a snowstorm, the band's five equipment trucks arrived in Winnipeg at 7:30 p.m. Monday — the scheduled start time for the concert.

As of yesterday afternoon, a makeup date for the show hadn't been announced. Tickets for Monday's concert will be honoured at a later show or they can be turned in for a refund.