By KJ JensenSpecial to the Western StandardThe Enmax Centre celebrated its 50 year anniversary this weekend with their first outdoor festival on the tarmac of the large parking lot usually reserved for Lethbridge Hurricanes.Thousands of rock enthusiasts jonesing for their vintage alt rock fix congregated in a steamy 35C Friday afternoon in the heart of Lethbridge.Friday was Rock Day, while Saturday had country artists like Walker Hayes, Cooper Alan and Tyler Braden.Friday’s event kicked off in the early afternoon with Paul Kype and Texas Flood, The Definitive, Northern Royals, and Tyrants of Chaos.The main act featured three main headliners straight out of a Muchmusic playlist from 1995: I Mother Earth, The Headstones, and Our Lady Peace..I MOTHER EARTHEdwin, legendary frontman for I Mother Earth, was in full form as a silver haired charmer during an explosive set of IME material.He was backed by a full touring band, complete with percussionist, keyboardist, bassist, guitarist and drummer.Congenial and smiley, Edwin expressed appreciation for his younger fans “When anyone who is half my age loves rock, I really appreciate it.”The band liked to prolong fan favorites with funky jams like One More Astronaut where he introduced it like “This is about a guy who dreamt about being a musician but became an astronaut instead.”Edwin's enthusiasm was infectious and he reclaimed the 90s alt rock throne as one of alt rock’s premier frontmen that afternoon in Deathbridge.Always a fan of the groove, Edwin loved to grab his african drum and shake to the funky grooves when not handling vocal duties. Edwin and IME played what he called a “short set” as many in the audience reminisced to the funky sounds of their best and brightest material..THE HEADSTONESFront man Hugh Dillon is really a mean mofo, I found out the hard way as the Headstones took the stage as the second mainliner.They served up slabs of their dark meat & potatoes rock n’roll to the outdoor airwaves of the concrete Enmax jungle.Hugh was in a feisty mood, after I attempted to snap some close-ups, he tossed his drink at me, spit in my direction and wielded his mike stand at my head.It did keep me on my toes and ruined my snapshots, but nothing prepared me for round two.During the third number Tweeter and the Monkey Man he chased me down the middle runaway and grabbed my phone holding device causing my watch to fly off my hand. After an awkward pause he retreated and went back to further menace the crowds.I think he liked me. I really do.He was exactly like I thought he would be. I had just watched his performance in Hard Core Logo and basically it was the snotty protagonist Joe Dick in the flesh.The H-stones 15 song set was a great variety of classic nineties hits and their more recent work, like Devils on Fire and Headlight Holds a Deer.Hugh was an active participant in egging on the audience, even roaming around and asking people what song they wanted to hear, when the band quickly switched to playing the requested House of the Rising Sun on the spot.At that point, I wondered how long his mike cord really was, and was he going to seek me out for round three? Always a teaser, Hugh claimed that their 90's hit Three Angels was co-written with Raine Maida from OLP when they were in Ottawa back in the day. He then warned people to stay off the internet as he admitted the story was pure BS. He “wrote this song himself, when I was hung over” he confessed.The band broke into the song with its cooler vibe, seeming to match the lower temperature drop due to the advancing evening hours.What was amazing was the mashup of Hip songs worked into many of the H-Stones hits, like New Orleans and Blow at High Dough.The heavier Headstones vibe was a perfect addition to the more subdued IME and OLP nuances, some real meat in the alt-rock sandwich.OUR LADY PEACEAfter a brief interlude, Our Lady Peace rushed the stage as sInger Raine Maida, looking quite comfortable in his Cuban-style chapeau approached the mike stand.They made a bold play starting off with their strongest material, like Superman’s Dead, We are all Innocent and many early hits of yesteryear. He agreed with Edwins comments that this crowd was “unbelievable” as the crowd cheered and applauded.Raine exclaimed “Summers not over man. No way”.The OLP crystallized their throne as alt-rock gods amidst that beautiful night in the heart of Lethbridge,Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the OLP’s live show was the brief soliloquy before they launched into Ballad a Poet:“This is our last show of the summer, this sh*t, it goes by so fast, like life it goes by so fast. I remember when I was a punk ass kid, getting kicked out of school in Toronto.""I knew I needed a way to just play music, whether that was a stage or at a pizza parlor. I just wanted to play music. I had an idea on how to do that. I went to Toronto music school as a way to make connections, see who was recording, see what was working. I sat there watching a few bands one night, and was almost ready to go. There was one band that I wanted to check out a couple songs with. That band was the Tragically Hip. I learned more in 10 minutes watching them than in my whole life regarding music. It profoundly changed me. That last 10 minutes, it was art. It renewed my spirit in music until the day I would freaking die “The night continued, and one encore as they played my absolute favorite 3 a.m., a melancholy slice of alt rock goodness. OLP was the perfect addition to bring back many fond memories from the mature crowd, yearning for that feeling of youth back to a simpler time known forever as the nineties.CONCLUSION: ROUND THREE????What happened with me and Hugh? Did I come back for a KO in round three?I managed to track him down when the H-stones set closed.I called him a mean mofo and he laughed. I snapped a selfie with him and we called it a draw.At least I had a cool story and some fond memories of that sizzling fall day in Deathbridge, Alberta’s home of alt-rock.Can’t wait until next year, I think they should bring in the Tea Party and Sloan to add to the festivities, whaddya think?
