St.Patrick’s Day week rocks with all kinds of shows from tributes to punk legends , to alternative rock and the requisite batch of St. Patrick’s Day themed parties.
The Lethbridge and District Music and Speech Arts Festival,, which began, March 11 continues through March 23, with events happening at Sterndale Bennett Theatre, Southminster United Church, St. Augustine’s Hall and Sanctuary and the casa Stephure Hall and community room and Owl Acoustic Lounge.
There are two big concerts this year including the opening concert opening concert at 7 p.m., March 13 at Southminster United Church focusing on instrumental acts, features the LCI Gold Band, U of L Chinook guitar ensemble and the Con Brio Trio (Anna Jeong, Alayna McNeil and Brenna Le May), who represented Lethbridge and area at the provincial festival last year and won a gold medal in the Classical Guitar Solo category at the Canada West Performing Arts Festival last year.
The Musical Theatre showcase is at 2 p.m., March 16.
If you want to rock ’80s and ’90s style, Buck Cherry and Skid Row plus special guests Sierra Pilot play the Enmax Centre tonight, March 12 at 7:30 p.m. The show was rescheduled from Oct.16. Tickets are $47, $59 and $71. After that catch the blues at the Slice as the Peter Noel band hosts the blues jam beginning at 8 p.m.
The Owl Acoustic Lounge hosts a stand up comedy open mic on Wednesday, March 13. Around the corner, Bridgette Yarwood hosts the Slice’s open mic, March 13.
Gabe Thaine’s Jam For Hunger is at Theoretically Brewing on Thursday.
Harley Packer hosts Honker’s Pub’s open mic on Friday, March 15.
Lethbridge is your oyster for St. Patrick’s Day revellers.
St. Patrick’s Day is on a Sunday this year, so the weekend is full of fun Celtic and other music.
To get an early start on the celebrations, Blowers and Grafton host Kavanagh and Hepher on Friday, March 15.
Blowers and Grafton welcome Lani Folkard to the Stage on Saturday, March 16. Tickets are $11.30 online, $10 at the door which includes a Green Grafton Street Beer and a selfie sized pepperoni pizza. The show begins at 7 p.m.
Junkman’s Quire return to the Owl Acoustic Lounge with James Swinney playing traditional folk music and more, Friday March 15. Admission is by donation, the music begins at 9 p.m.
Adequate bring the funk back to the Owl Acoustic lounge on Saturday, March 16.
Mahoney have a couple different St. Patrick’s shows.
They play the Duke on Friday, March 15 and Pop’s Pub North the next night .
Pop’s Pub South welcomes the Plaid Ramblers to play St. Patrick’s Day itself on Sunday, March 17.
And you can’t have St Patrick’s Day without pipes and drums. So with that in mind, The Lethbridge Firefighters Pipes and Drums are doing a St. Patrick’s Day Pub crawl beginning on the west side at 1 p.m. at Mojo’s Pub where they will be performing for approximately an hour before moving on to The Duke, Backstreet West, The Kingman, Pop’s Pub South, Pop’s Pub North and Blanco Cantina before winding up the day at 8 p.m. at Hudsons Pub.
The Slice features a great new female fronted Celtic rock band Clover Overboard on March 15 with Calgary based bluegrass band The Sour Patch Men, plus Chrome Harvest’s Aaron Phelan.
The Old Man River Ramblers play a St. Patrick’s Day party at Honker’s Pub for Wellness Through Living, March 16. There will be a 50 50 draw, silent auction and more. The music begins at 7 p.m.
The other big fundraiser is for Youth One. Eric Braun Band plays the gala at March 16 at Sandman Signature. Tickets are $120 to $150. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. The goal is to raise $120,000 to provide mentorship programs, meals and support services for youth in need.
There are a couple big tribute shows this weekend too.
The Story of Linda Ronstadt featuring Andrea House hits the Yates theatre, March 16. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. There is a $60.
If you like Tom Petty, Clayton Bellamy brings his tribute to Tom Petty to the Yates theatre on Sunday. Tickets are $60 The show begins at 7:30 p.m.
The Cody Hall band plays Casino Lethbridge this weekend.
There are two other big shows this weekend.
The Lethbridge Folk Club welcomes back Ryan McMahon to Lethbridge. He is touring in support of his new album Live Now.
Steve Keenan will open the show t the Lethbridge College Cave, Saturday, March 16. Tickets are $40/ $35 for members and $10 for students.
The Slice has a huge punk show on Saturday with Dead Bob aka NoMeansNo drummer John Wright. The Motherfuckers and Queen of the Worms will be joining them. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. The show begins at 9 p.m.
Last, but not least, The University of Lethbridge’s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar runs March 12-16 in University Theatre.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
