Barrie one of only three Canadian stops for Saga
Author:
Jim Barber
The second hand is winding down on the
Canadian progressive rock band Saga, at least in its current
incarnation.
The band, which is actually much bigger in Europe and other parts of the
world than in its home country, is best known for
tunes such as On The Loose, Wind Him Up, Catwalk and What Do I Know, and
will be performing at Barrie's Random Ranch
on a double bill with party rock legends Goddo, on Thursday, Oct. 4.
Doors open at 9 p.m.
There are two reasons why this current tour by Saga is particularly
special. First, the band is celebrating the 30th
anniversary of its formation. The second reason is that it marks the last
time original lead vocalist Michael Sadler will
perform with the band, either on record, or in performance.
Sadler announced in the spring that he would be leaving the band to spend
more time with his family.
"As I think about it, I've spent more than half my life focused on my
career. Whether traveling or in the studio, I simply
haven't spent a great deal of time at home, wherever that may have been
at the time, over the last 30 years," the 53-
year-old singer said in a June posting on his website. "I suppose what
I'm trying to say is, I've decided to shift my focus
to what now matters most to me and something that has eluded me since we
began the band … that something is my
family!
"As you can well imagine, maintaining a family in the traditional sense
is next to impossible when you're gallivanting
around the globe. Calling home to check in when you can, missing
birthdays and other important family activities,
sending flowers on special occasions to remind those at home you still
exist, is no longer an option for me."
Another of Saga's co-founders, guitarist Ian Crichton, said they had
known this decision might be coming for some time,
but it was still shocking nonetheless.
"He gave us an e-mail after Christmas," Crichton told Simcoe.com from his
home in Brantford. "It was really a surprise,
but we kind of saw it coming in a way. Things do come to an end."
Crichton said he and the rest of the band, including his brother Jim (bass/keyboards),
keyboardist Jim 'Daryl' Gilmour
and drummer Brian Doerner (formerly of Helix), are exploring the
possibility of bringing a new vocalist into the fold, but
it's a process that will be done with a lot of thought.
"We're in a strange position. Mike's been the singer for the whole time –
30 years. And he is the voice of the band. So it's
not just a case of getting a great singer or something. It's a case of
finding the right guy. I think I might have found him,
and it's taken a year," he said. "But I'm still not sure. We have to get
into a room with him, and play some old stuff."
"He's got a hell of a set of pipes on him. And we're going to give it a
shot, let's put it that way. We'll know if it's working
or not. The fans will give us one shot and that'll be it, that's about
the size of it," Crichton continued.
"If this were to work, we're concerned about whether he can cut about 10
cool Saga songs (for a new album). I imagine
we'd do a new album, go out and play it, but we'd also want to play 10,
12 from our catalogue. And that's really the
clincher there. Because the new stuff is going to be the new stuff. He's
not going to be expected to be a Mike Sadler, or
whatever. But on the old stuff, that's the kind of tricky part.”
The band's third and fourth albums, Silent Knight and Worlds Apart,
brought the band not only to national, but
international prominence, and by the mid-1980s, on the backs of a string
of huge hits, Saga was one of the biggest
touring acts in Canada, was opening for major acts in the United States
in massive convert venues, and were becoming
superstars in Europe, particularly Germany.
A squabble with their Canadian promoter later in the 1980s led the band
to concentrate on foreign territory at the
expense of their Canadian audience. At one point, Crichton said Saga did
not play a concert on their home soil for nine
years, even through they were doing sellout business in Europe and the
United Kingdom.
"We probably should have just swallowed the bullet and came in and kept
it going in Canada. Because what happened
was it was out of sight, out of mind as far as the Canadian market was
concerned," he said.
The band's fortunes in Canada had dipped to the point where in the 1980s
they could sell out at Maple Leaf Gardens, to a
decade later when they were playing in the now defunct Goodfellas bar in
Barrie. Yet, they would return to Europe to
headline major music festivals.
"If we had kept it up instead of trying to bust open America and the rest
of the world, we might have done better here in
Canada," Crichton said.
Constant touring in Europe, and the nearly annual release of new CDs had
kept a very loyal fan base satiated throughout
Europe. In fact, the band's latest album, 10,000 Days, is set to be
released next month on the continent, and also
domestically through Montreal-based Fusion 3 Records.
A couple of songs from that album will be performed at the Random Ranch
show, as well as the usual array of hits like
The Flyer, Scratching the Surface, and Amnesia. Besides Barrie, Saga is
also playing a show in Toronto and another in
Brantford before heading to Europe on a 34-city tour. The final show with
Michael Sadler will be in December in San Juan,
Puerto Rico.
Saga lead vocalist Michael Sadler is held aloft by
his
bandmates in this band poster commemorating their 30th-
anniversary tour, which also happens to be Sadler's last with
the seminal Canadian progressive rock band |
