Music/Events

Who: Rock of Fame Induction Concert
Where: Massey Hall
When: Thurs., Sept. 26
Vibe: Boomer trip down Memory Lane
Highlight: Crown Lands blistering version of April Wine’s Could Have Been a Lady
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)

WHEN THE INVITATION to last Thursday’s pre-show Rock of Fame celebration party cautions “Show begins promptly at 6 pm. It is important to respect the timing due to the demographic of our Inductees,”  it’s easy to fear a geriatric night ahead. But Canada’s Walk of Fame’s expansion into rock proves a joyous, music-packed tribute to 13 of the country’s most influential bands from the ’70s and ’80s.

A rotating collection of VJs and DJs introduce each act at a packed Massey Hall, in a celebration that feels more like a concert than an awards show. And that’s when the night works best, when the music is performed either by the original band or well-chosen modern acts.

The Trews kick off the night with an in-your-face performance of Loverboy’s Raise a Little Hell. Video tributes to the bands work well throughout the night but interview segments handled by either Terry David Mulligan or Jeanne Beker prove awkward and often peter out leaving flat transitions from act to act. How many times can you ask a performer “How does it feel to be honoured tonight?” and expect a fresh answer? The answer is maybe once, but it was asked 13 times.

Like all awards show, the general rule is less talk, more performances. And there were some great ones.

Following a magnificently meandering intro from local radio legend David Marsden, after which he wanders the stage aimlessly before eventually exiting, Rough Trade bring tons of trademark edge and boundary-pushing sexiness to their track High School Confidential.

Quebec legend Michel Pagliaro plays a satisfying version of his hit What the Hell I Got, but a remarkable show a few nights later at the Phoenix blows it away.

Bill Henderson from Chilliwack powerfully performs his band’s hit Fly at Night, his voice in fine form and still able to hit all the high notes, his guitar playing with plenty of flash. Arguably the best of the “original” performers tonight.

After a break that doesn’t see half the crowd leave, demographic warnings be damned, Lighthouse re-energize the night with a massive, horn-fuelled, power pop explosion version of their hit One Fine Morning that leaves even those without breathing problems gasping.

Febe Dobson kicks off Lee Aaron’s Whatcha Do to My Body with a rocking version before the hard-rock queen herself joins Dobson on stage to finish the song as a duet.

Mark Holmes and Platinum Blonde perform a track as majestic as the towering, blonde plume of hair on guitarist Sergio Gallo’s head. Holmes’s expansive twirls after he belts out the words to his band’s Crying Over You capture the go-for-it vibe of the night.

New artists Crown Lands steal the show with a blistering, rock-god-invoking performance of honorees April Wine’s hit Could Have Been a Lady near the end of the night, the show’s highlight.

To the surprise of no one, Parachute Club’s ’80s anthem Rise Up closes the night as the band’s Lorraine Segato joins a wall of singers to wrap up what proves more a satisfying night of entertainment than overlong awards show.

The challenge, going forward, is more diversity in terms of race and gender. By the end of the night, the only people of colour on stage are in the house band, a host and “new” artists wisely added to the bill with only a handful of women among those honoured. The challenge for organizers in honouring past artists is that they were products of an even more sexist and racist era with limited opportunities for women and people of colour, especially to produce the kind of records that end up being celebrated.

This is a challenge not limited to music but to any group choosing to honour important contributions from the past when women and people of colour were largely excluded.