man aren't the rheostatics great.

Todd76

mrwalkerb wrote:

I'm so choked that they are breaking up I only got to see them once, I'm doubly mad because they were in Calgary for a week in Janurary and despite being on thier mailing list I didn't know baout it till after the fact. I wish I could go to that farewell but I guess I'll just have to hope for another record or maybe a live dvd.

Every winter they played a week at the Horseshoe in Toronto (a historic little club) and every year we would go check out at least a couple of the shows....every night had a different theme (ie. covers night, audience request night....one night they even had a huge wheel with many of their songs on it and they would spin it and play whatever it landed on).....I have seen them live more than any band (at least 20 times) - I am really going to miss my Rheos shows, Tielli live is something that every true music fan should experience at least once.

direwolf74

Todd76 wrote:

Every winter they played a week at the Horseshoe in Toronto (a historic little club) and every year we would go check out at least a couple of the shows....every night had a different theme (ie. covers night, audience request night....one night they even had a huge wheel with many of their songs on it and they would spin it and play whatever it landed on).....I have seen them live more than any band (at least 20 times) - I am really going to miss my Rheos shows, Tielli live is something that every true music fan should experience at least once.

No kidding. The guy is a f**king genius. Personally I think he's one of the most innovative guitarists in rock, and he's a pretty damn good songwriter as well. Too bad he'll never get the recognition he so richly deserves, but I think I'm ok with that. The Rheos will forever be Canada's little secret. I was lucky enough to see them at least 10 times over the years, and they blew my mind every single time. Best show was a gig at the University of Calgary a few years back. For the last song of the night they jumped off the stage with their acoustic guitars and proceeded to walk through the crowd while singing "Legal Age Life at Variety Store". As they finished up the song, they ran down the center aisle and disappeared out the front doors of the theatre. Everybody was sitting there going "I guess the show's over." It was hilarious. Another thing that sticks out about that particular show is that the opening band was The Weakerthans. They weren't very well known at the time, but they were amazing. They impressed me so much that I picked up their first album "Fallow" at the merch table right after their set was over.


"This is for the Rheostatics. We're all richer for having seen them tonight."

-Gord Downie, Detroit, 11/23/96