Big Sugar brought the house down with a whole lot of peace, love and happiness, Nov. 6 at Average Joes by bringing out the big guns at the beginning of the show which left approximately 300 people in ecstasy. They make me proud to be Canadian. 
They are pretty much the archetypal Canadian band— experimental, innovative, yet humble while drawing on a cornucopia of multi-cultural influences from all over the world.
While lead singer/ guitarist Gordie Johnson spends most of his time in Austin, Texas these days, he wears his Canadian roots on his sleeve, whether singing about Alberta in “All Hell For A Basement,” which officially brought the show to a close,” or playing a scorching rendition of “Oh Canada,” on his battered white Gibson double neck guitar, which had the Canadian flag emblazoned on the back of it.
They began an incendiary, freewheeling, free spirited show full of peace, love , good vibes and the scent of incense wafting through the air with their big hit “Digging a Hole,” featuring multi-instrumentalist Mr. Chill (Kelly Hoppe) sharing his microphone with frontman Gordie Johnson. He’d play sax, harp, keyboards and a melodica ( the little gadget that looked like a mini-keyboard with a mouthpiece Mr, Chill blew through, throughout the show.
It can be easy to take it for granted exactly how much he adds to the band when you hear them on the radio or on CD, though you really notice him and appreciate his contributions live.
They band sounded great. You could hear every note from everybody just about perfectly.
The stage lighting was superb, so you could see everything everyone was doing. Bassist Garry Lowe played perfectly in the pocket, usually staying at the back of the stage, but came to the front to sing with Johnson, and occasionally to preach the gospel of peace and love.
Their set was chock full of extended jams, throughout the set they effortlessly alternated between laid back reggae grooves, gritty blues and popular balls to the wall riff rockers sometimes all in the same song like “A Little Bit of All Right,” which he had the women, and then the men all singing along with him.
Johnson was impressed with the audience, observing“ if you keep treating us like this, we’ll keep coming back.”
He chuckled “Isn’t this a school night,” before noting they were going to play some old jams form 10 years ago and new jams and was true to his world. Some of the old jams were highlights of the show including “ Where I Stand” and “Gone For Good.”
Some of the new jams were just that— extended jams incorporating a variety of influences like on “ Eliminate Ya” and their latest hit single “Roads Ahead.”
They actually stayed pretty close to their new live CD Eliminate Ya, combing old favourites like Digging a Hole and “Cop A Plea,” plus “Roads Ahead” with newer material like “Eliminate Ya.”
They were in the mood to experiment.
One of their big hits, “If I Had My Way, began with a beautiful harp and slide guitar blues jam, then amped up into the familiar refrain, then expanded into a massive reggae jam.
Members of opening act, Ottawa based indie rock band Balconies, unobtrusively joined the band on stage to add extra guitar, percussion and voice.
Unfortunately reggae legend Willi Williams wasn’t part of the show as I expected, apparently he was in France until the day after the show, but keyboardist
Friendliness added reggae, a touch of rap and lot of good vibes to the proceedings, bringing The Balconies’ lead singer Jacquie Neville to the front of the stage to sing a couple songs to her and got friendly with her as he hugged her and praised her voice and guitar playing. She added some extra percussion and voice to songs throughout the set. and grinned ear to ear as she showed off some of her moves.
They ended a solid two hour set of music with an encore of “On The Scene,” which also meandered into a reggae flavoured jam.
