Ron Sexsmith at The Studio Theatre...

Wednesday night Rich and I had front row seats for the best show in town. Sure, The Pixies were playing next door, but Ron Sexsmith was at the Studio Theatre, and what could be better than that?
The show started on time with an opening set from Ash Koley. They were better than expected, and apart from way too much "Gee golly, it's so cool to be on tour with such a wonderful guy as Ron Sexsmith..." they provided an entertaining opening. I mean, even if it's true (and it is) that Ron is a sweetheart, enough is enough.
Ron took the stage, in front of his touring band, wearing a new stage jacket with embroidered flowers. He looked every inch the professional. He has an open easy-going style, friendly and chatty with a touch of humour and cynicism. The band really cooked this time, Bover shone on lead guitar, and the addition of Dave Matthewson on piano was a good idea.
Ron did tunes from the new album interspersed with classics like "Strawberry Blonde," "Brandy Alexander" and "Hard Bargain". Working with Bob Rock helped. The new songs and the old came off as punchier, and more solid than in the past. They've never sounded bad, but this band owned them.
The merch counter had T-shirts, CDs, signed lithos and the new album on vinyl, but I'd pretty much gathered all that stuff up over the past month, so after an encore of "Michael and His Dad" and "Every time I Follow" we headed home, our heads full of Ron's beautiful music.