Someone give me a ride to Edmonton on Friday. Hear me out… not only will I buy you an Orange Julius at the mall but we can also go to the Full Flex Express tour which is hitting the Shaw Conference Centre. The lineup is absolutely ridiculous: Skrillex Diplo Grimes Pretty Lights and more. It’s a bizarre cross-section between hipster blog stars and EDM millionaires that regardless of how you feel about wobbly bass and huge drops will probably be endlessly fascinating to witness. Seriously I’ll bring some Nibs for the ride up there.
I’ll have to be back for Saturday though so I can go see Steve Martin . Obviously we’re all going to be sitting in our seats thinking about our favourite moments from The Jerk and quoting A Wild and Crazy Guy but our white-haired prince isn’t coming here to do comedy. Instead he wants us to listen to his bluegrass work with The Steep Canyon Rangers when he hits the Jubilee on Saturday July 21. And you know what? He’s earned it. So try to behave yourselves — they might not let you in with a rubber chicken and a fake arrow through your head.
In fact if you’re lookin’ for LOLs you might do better with the quirky joke-y pop-punk of Ramones-core rebels Teenage Bottlerocket . In town to promote their new LP Freak Out! the leather-clad punks will hit The Gateway with guests The Dopamines on Saturday July 21.
The schedule on Saturday is actually pretty damn packed. If you’re not feeling a comedian playing the banjo or some pop-punk dudes playing comedy there will also be an appearance from Saskatoon-based sludge metal dudes Shooting Guns . The group — who were long-listed for the Polaris Prize but didn’t make the cut for the shortlist — will hit The Palomino with guests On Lock and The Suppliers .
Is there a need to see Strung Out in 2012? I’m not sure — I mean I love me some goofy golden-era Fat Wreck punk as much as the next guy (actually probably more. I feel like I’m the only person I know who loves that bullshit) but Strung Out have never really been one of my favourites. That’s just me though maybe some of y’all want to don a pair of baggy Dickies work pants a fitted Spitfire Wheels hat and some disgustingly padded skate shoes. No judgment over here — I still have a Gob toque that I consider wearing every morning before work.
Aside from all that though you might want to sit tight for the remaining days of the week because next week’s going to be absolutely insane with the Calgary Folk Fest the return of Iron fucking Maiden an appearance from Viceroy-smoking shit-eating pop star Mac DeMarco and Vancouver twee experts Woolworm. But we’ll talk about all that next week.
