Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans

Last night, for her birthday, Jenna and I went to the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver to see Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans. It was *late* concert. Doors opened at 8pm, and the oening act, Hayes Carll took the stage at 9pm. Because of that we didn't leave home until after six and were still there in plenty of time. We chose to sit at a table on the first level instead of up by the stage like we were when we went to see Dierks (the night I fell in love ;))


The first and last (until last night) time I was at the Commodore was to see Dierks in 2005. Those were the first tickets I won from the radio station and the first time I got to see him up close (before that was when he opened for George Strait at the Pacific Coliseum but we were up in the second level). Being back at the Commodore was great. It's crazy to think of all the acts I've seen since I was last there. Probably 3 dozen already!
This concert was a lot of fun. Hayes Carll is considered an "Americana" artist and, from what I understand, is pretty big in Texas and other areas of the US. He doesn't get airplay up here so I wasn't familiar with his music but I enjoyed it. Even the irreverant "She Left me for Jesus". He was a good fit for Corb too.
Corb Lund I am much more familiar with. For one, he's Canadian and two, he gets airplay. He's not a mainstream country artist, his MySpace categorizes him as "Folk/Country/Alternative" but with his last three cd's he's developed a healthy fan base here in his home country. I also have his last three cd's so I was able to sing along quite a bit.


Corb has toured extensively. He was in Dallas the night I was at Billy Bob's and he's going to Australia when he finishes this Canadian run. His songs have a lot of Canadian references. He is *VERY* proud to be from Alberta and definitely makes that known. He also loves poking fun at the Americans which made for lots of jokes ;) Above all they're catchy and fun and make you want to clap and dance along.
The Commodore is an 19 and over venue so there was lots of alcohol flowing and "smoke" blowing. At one point Corb looked at the crowd and commented "that doesn't smell like a normal cigarette..." Hey, welcome to BC Corb!

If you get a chance to see him, I'd definitely recommend it. It's a fun show and I'm really glad I was able to take it in...even if I didn't get home until 2am.