Live music was back pretty much everywhere this weekend. it gave me a chance to see how different venues are coping with new Covid protocols.
Local blues rock band made a long awaited return to Honker’s Pub, Friday, Sept. 18.
Every venue is required to have bands playing behind sheets of plexiglass, which gives the effect of bands playing in a giant terrarium, but as long we have live music again, it’s worth putting up with.
Honker‘s has three sheets of plexiglass hanging from the ceiling to almost the floor.
I caught Coda’s second set.
The vocals were a little echoey and muffled.
But they played a fun set of classic rock and blues with guitarist Sheldon Shukaliak, keyboardist Cory Rasmussen and bassist taking turns singing lead vocals and adding harmonies. Ben Lamb kept the rhythm behind them on drums.
They opened with Shukaliak singing an immediate highlight of David Wilcox’s “Riverboat Fantasy.”
Rasmussen, whose keyboard was front and centre on the small stage flanked by Shukaliak and Maddeaux followed that up by leading the band through Van Morrison’s bar room favourite ‘Brown Eyed Girl.”
Maddeaux brought them back to the blues with blues classic “ Hold On I’m Coming.”
They showed off their vocal harmonies on the Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride.” which also included a Cory Rasmussen keyboard solo and a Shukaliak guitar solo.
He also sang an excellent version of another blues classic “ She Caught the Katy” as well as “Sweet Home Alabama” before Ben Lamb got the spotlight to sing Bad Company”s “Can’t Get Enough.”
I left during a hot version of “The House is Rocking” to catch a few other gigs.
