Mad Dogs & Vancouverites – Two Nights Only – Oct 12 & 13!

Vancouver is home to a thriving indie music scene. Next weekend, a few key players are joining up with a few out-of-towners to take on Joe Cocker’s classic live double album Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

Over past seasons, Nashville-based producer and musician Steve Dawson has returned home to helm co-productions with our centre and BlueShore at CapU’s Global Roots Series. So far, audiences have heard iconic albums re-imagined by David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and Tom Waits.

Check out the impressive lineup for this year’s show…

Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen was recorded in LA in 1970, produced by Leon Russell and backed by the rock equivalent of a big-band with three dozen players working in the studio with the singer. Cocker immediately embarked on a gruelling but electric 52-city US tour documented by a film of the same name. Only four tracks of the release were Cocker’s original material from earlier albums. It also features songs by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding and Leonard Cohen.

For Mad Dogs and Vancouverites it seems especially fitting Matt Andersen, blues singer and guitarist from New Brunswick, returns to Vancouver after his explosive performance at SKOOKUM to channel Joe Cocker’s notoriously epic live performances. He is joined by the artistic chameleon C.R. Avery, acoustic blues and traditional country master Roy Forbes, rockabilly god Rich Hope, soul and gospel phenom Khari Wendell McClelland, jazz and blues sensation Ndidi Onukwulu and beloved queen of soul Dawn Pemberton.

If that’s not enough talent for you, the house band is made up of Jeremy Holmes bass, Geoff Hicks drums, Liam MacDonald percussion, Chris Gestrin keys, Malcolm Aiken trumpet, Dominic Conway saxophone and Jerry Cook saxophone.

Did we mention that three previous incarnations have all sold out? Join us Friday night at Kay Meek Arts Centre for opening night…