Everyone was out at the Slice for the return of Australian blues/ rock trio Mason Rack Band — and it was about bloody time.
He has played his muscular brand of blues rock for smaller audiences than he deserves in Lethbridge — usually around 20 or 30, but people came out in force for a show that was off the hook, packing the Slice to the rafters.
Mason Rack sat with his Weissenborn guitar poised on his lap, promising ”lots of shenanigans” as he grinned out at the frothing crowd before crashing into the deadly slide powered “Seen Her B4,” to start the show off around 10 p.m.
The first shenanigan of the night came soon as he wandered into the audience with his Weissenborn, and placed it on the pool table, brought birthday girl Crystal Thornhill from the crowd and guided her hands through one of many sizzling slide solos.
He slowed things down by saying he was clean and sober for 12 years, then played the jazzy “Hard Goodbye,” and grinned an evil grin as he groaned, in his deep gravelly voice “ I’m a genius at digging my own grave.”
He kicked things up a notch for the rest of the set as he introduced his band members, drummer Joel Purkess and bassist Nathan Lee-Archer.
It was time for the Shenanigans on blues classic “Baby Please Don”t Go,” as they did the “old switcheroonie,” with Rack taking a seat behind the drums, Nathan Lee Archer taking over on guitar and Purkess on bass.
The Shenanigans weren’t over as, as always, during “Who Do You Love,” it was time for the first of two beer keg solos.
Rack took his drum stick and wandered through the crown rapping on tables, chairs, the floor, put one are around both sides of a girl in the audience and drummed on the table around her.
It was time for a well deserved breather after that.
His second set was full of blues classics including John Lee Hooker’s Crawling King Snake, a sizzling version of ZZ Top’s “La Grange,” then a new song of his own “I Do Believe.”
Another of his own songs “Five Things,” was a highlight of the second set. And just when yo
The trio placed a beer keg each on two chairs, and stood on two others as the hammered away. The third set a drum stage centre and drummed on it, then they threw drum sticks to each other, pounding on all three without missing a beat.
