Concert Review: Cowboy Junkies/Son Volt, Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO, 7/8/09 - Page 2

Sure, it’s all about the serious business of making music and Margo (right), hiding in plain sight with her head bowed and eyes wide shut, has come across as the shy-and-retiring type since the band’s debut in 1986. That’s part of the charm of the lovely woman with the silky smooth pipes, who’s much more gregarious in post-show meet-and-greets, even admitting to the crowd, “I love to chat.” But at age 48, it’s probably time she broke out of her stage shell.

Maybe the sluggish pace was caused by the rigors of beginning another tour and the travel involved. (But can you get jet lag from a Toronto-to-Denver flight?) Mike did shed some light on the situation, writing on the Junkies’ tour diary, “Opening nights are always difficult no matter how many opening nights one has had in a career. In a co-bill situation there are all sorts of logistical issues that need to be ironed out, so that adds to the stress.”

He wasn’t too thrilled about the Ogden, either, calling it “a theater in name only. It’s one of those venues that was once a movie theater but has long ago been gutted, had a bar put in to the back of the room, outfitted with a shitty soundsystem and had a couple of storage closets turned into dressing rooms; voila, a music club. These types of venues are all over the country and we usually try and avoid them.

“They are uncomfortable for the audience, uncomfortable for the band and crew and don’t usually inspire the most memorable night of music: tonight held true to form. We had a tough time with our sound on stage, fought it throughout the show and never really settled in to a groove.”

If the band struggled (and skipped “Still Lost” from their planned setlist), most of the audience either couldn’t tell or couldn’t care less. Except for a few tipsy ticket-holders who knocked over a couple of beer bottles near the front of the stage during Margo’s sweet “Fairytale” (a new song that’s a favorite of her 6-year-old son Ed), the crowd stayed quiet during the gentle moments. They were particularly rapt for the forever wondrous “Misguided Angel,” The Trinity Session’s classic that was bolstered by Bird’s mandolin. And they erupted when Mike wailed on his guitar during frenzied runs through an all-too-brief “Murder, Tonight, In the Trailer Park” and injected powerful bursts of slide throughout “Sing In My Meadow,” another recent addition to the Junkies’ formidable catalog that made up for some earlier bouts of lethargy.

Article Author: Michael Bialas

A newspaper editor and former college football player, Michael Bialas makes sports his business but exploring and reviewing music, movies, TV and other forms of pop culture are among the games he enjoys playing now.
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