While I was sad to miss Alyssa McQuaid’s opening set, I was glad I arrived in time to catch the bulk of Canadian country 
rising stars Hey Romeo’s show at Average Joes, April 9.
They played a lot of crowd favourites and hits from their latest CD “That’s What I Am.”
They had the audience members two-stepping and calling out for requests.
“Their big hit ‘Searching For You,’ was the constant refrain from a couple of enthusiastic audience members throughout their upbeat set featuring the beaming front-woman Stacie Roper, the killer keyboards of Rob Shapiro and twanging Telecaster licks of guitarist Darren Gusnowski plus unstoppable rhythm from drummer Brad Kettle and bassist Curtis Edner.
Roper looked quite at home on the stage, bouncing around and belting out beautiful melodies with a toothy grin. She had the audience dancing and singing along to many of the band’s hits. She introduced the band’s new single “Hello,” and blasthed through much of the band’s repertoire, including some older numbers, one of which Gusnowski sang.
In addition to playing most of their new CD including my favourite, the bluesy ‘If I’m Not Here,’ they added a few choice covers like ‘Fishing In The Dark,’ by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Dixie Chicks’ ‘Long Road,’and Tom Cochrane’s ‘Life Is A Highway,’ among others.
Everyone in the band was given the opportunity to shine.
