You all know what we do and why we do it here at Team GDW, and many of you share our sentiments that NOTHING beats live music! This very blog was born out of a memorable live music experience, and we need to maintain a regular quota of concerts in our diet to fulfill that live music adrenaline fix. We enjoy taking an annual extra-long weekend Canadian road trip in mid-August, and while those plans are continually made well in advance, we deviated from our cemented itinerary at a moment’s notice this time around upon learning of an opportunity to catch one of THE finest live acts out there today.
Founded in Windsor, ON in 2002, and with their first EP, “Tin Type,” released two years later in 2004, alt-country indie-folk-rock trio Elliott BROOD has been “doing it the hard way for 20 years” – as per their current motto – and have earned a strong legion of fans with their energetic and infectious live performances. Every time we have the pleasure of catching up with Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet, and Stephen Pitkin, we are always left in complete awe of their musical gifts and brilliance. Indeed, following our last encounter with the trio back in February 2024, I boldly proclaimed right here that “I do not believe that there is a better live band out there on the alt-country circuit right now than Elliott BROOD!” Eighteen months later, do I wish to retract that statement? Absolutely NOT!
Altering our route and pointing the car towards Quebec, we made a return visit to Motel Chelsea to kick off our extended weekend in style – an evening of music with Elliott BROOD. With a two-set performance and almost two hours of stage time, the packed-to-capacity crowd in this delightful retro establishment was at fever pitch in no time. For the uninitiated, attending an Elliott BROOD show is much more than just a concert – it is a living, breathing experience where you quickly adopt the role of a participant rather than a mere spectator. A collective camaraderie of hand clapping, foot stomping, thigh slapping, adrenaline surges that fill the room with an abundance of positive energy, breathing so much life into the smallest of spaces and largest of stages. These three gentlemen never relent, still “doing it the hard way for 20 years” – you better believe it!
With the summer sunshine still illuminating the room, the trio kicked off the show with “Need To Know,” the first of four tracks taken from their 2020 “Keeper” album. “Hey, it’s our first time here at The Chelsea,” Mark offered as the song ended. “It’s a nice spot. We’re gonna do one of our famous songs where three people get murdered in three minutes. It’s set to a very happy musical opening. It’s still light out…” And with some encouraged hand clapping alongside Stephen’s kick drum, the familiar rings of “Dig A Little Hole” broke out. “So, we’re gonna move on and turn murder into regret,” Mark added prior to a performance of “Without Again.” “We’re gonna play down the sadness a little less intense. This is a regret thing, not a murder thing.”
While some bands are content to keep talking to a minimum and let the music speak for itself, Elliott BROOD always seek to interact with their audience – and when it comes to ‘living for the banter,’ Casey Laforet is a true master purveyor of this art. Yet, on this given night, both Mark and Stephen were equally as eager to converse between themselves and with the crowd in-between songs, adding so much more to that living, breathing experience that I referred to previously. One such moment was centered around “Bluebird Wine,” a cover tune that the band recorded for their latest “Country” album in 2024, where Casey made some hilarious attempts to recover from referencing it too early into the first set:
Casey: “How many Rodney Crowell fans do we have here?”
Mark: “No, not yet. Not yet.”
Casey: “Oh, I’ll ask again later. I just wanna know ahead of time.”
Mark: “He likes counting and making sure there’s enough.”
Stephen would help bail Casey out with a siren wail that signaled the arrival of “Bird Dog,” Casey informing the crowd that this was a tune “for you people from the country.” But as Mark’s final banjo licks brought the song to a close, the conversation thread would continue: “We’re back to Rodney Crowell. I love Rodney Crowell so much that I start mentioning it before we play his song,” Casey shared, before referencing “Rose City,” the lead track from their 2023 “Town” album. “We’re from the greatest city in Canada. Windsor, Ontario, Canada, folks. Ranked number one by no magazine or newspaper or television. This song is about Windsor. It could be about anywhere where the people are good, but the place is a little iffy.” And once more, following the song, Casey would solicit a roomful of laughter by merely asking, “Have you guys ever heard of Rodney Crowell?” – the band finally sharing their awesome interpretation of Crowell’s “Bluebird Wine.”
Returning to their 2023 album, the trio would perform “Paper Money,” much to my delight. “This song has a lot to do with the demise of cash money, and it has other undertones, but the main message is that an angry old man tries to pay for something with cash [learns] that they say we don’t take cash anymore, you have to have a credit card,” Casey shared. “So, this is my old man shaking a fist at the cloud time.” “It’s a true story,” Mark added, and when asked later in the show if they accept cash for their merchandise, both Mark and Casey responded in unison with “Oh, We Do Take Cash!”
Closing out the first set with the killer combination of “Oh Alberta” and “Northern Air,” the band returned from the intermission with so much more to offer – weaving their doing it the hard way for 20 years motto nicely into a conversational segue prior to sharing “Second Son:”
Casey: “We’re gonna do a song from our second record that we ever made.”
Stephen: “Nailed it twenty years ago in 2005.”
Mark: “We recorded it at an abandoned abattoir.”
Casey: “But it was easier than recording it at an abattoir that was functioning. It would have been trouble working in there with all the shit that was going on.”
Mark: “But the weirdest thing, there was a church in there as well that was also housed in there. It was dark.”
Stephen (spookily): “Church of the abattoir.”
Another conversation would commence prior to a performance of “Stay Out,” a song Casey wrote about the life-altering changes brought about by raising a family. “As we got older and had kids, things got harder,” he stated. “The honest truth is when we were a band just starting out, Steve was the first one to have a kid,” Mark continued. “We were like, ‘holy shit, it’s the end of the band man, oh holy shit.’ But we were recording our next record and Steve comes to us and he’s like ‘we’re pregnant again,’ and we’re like, ‘oh no, this is the end, this is the end of the band.’ And we’re like, if Steve can do it, we can all do it.”
All three bandmates are married, and each have two children from their relationships, prompting Casey to share how difficult parenting was on him as a partier. “My kids made it very clear as babies that I can’t be hungover and hang out with them at all,” he offered. “They have no compassion for my old lifestyle, so I wrote a song about it. What I am saying is that I lived a certain way and I had a hard time adjusting to becoming a dad, and I wrote a song complaining about it – which my wife loves hearing me complain about having two gorgeous ‘healthy kids and a beautiful wife.’ She does actually like the song because I think she’s not exactly listening to the words at all. If she was listening close, she would divorce me right away.”
If seeking that perfect moment of synergy between the audience and band, on this given evening, it occurred during a performance of “The Bridge.” Dangling some perfect bait with their banter to plant the seeds for full audience engagement, the energy was off the charts in the room for this once-in-a-lifetime moment (and we had heard this tune several times in the past, but never with this monumental response). So, just how did it transpire? Casey, naturally, would entice us with a seemingly straightforward announcement:
Casey: “We have a song that has two chords in it. It’s not our only song that has two chords in it, but this is the first one that has two chords in it, and you don’t need a fucking third chord in a song.”
Mark: “It has more than two chords.”
Casey: “Basically, it’s fucking two! The third one is almost the same as the first one.”
Mark: “I’m not gonna argue.”
Casey: “You’ll see. When you see a third chord in this song, go nuts. It’s about two minutes in…”
Casey (two minutes later): “Come on, here it comes…”
Casey (as crowd cheers): “That’s right everybody. Let’s hear it for that fucking D chord.”
Casey (after the song): “You don’t even have to pay extra for that third chord. It was included in the price of admission tonight.”
Mark: “That’s the biggest yell I’ve ever heard for a D chord.”
Casey: “It’s a very popular chord.”
Audience member: “What about the E minor?”
Mark: “No, don’t bring the E minor into this, man, that’s not cool. That guy’s a downer.”
Following a difference of opinion between Mark and Casey about the upcoming concert by Oasis in Toronto (Mark adding that he’d rather just see the opening act, Cage The Elephant), the band would commence a non-encore encore (no room to exit and return from the stage), and surprised everybody with a completely unexpected cover of “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” – the theme tune from Cheers. “So, this song you should know the words to if you grew up when we grew up,” Casey shared (rapidly) prior to the performance. “If you might have grown up before we grew up or a little bit out there, but this is a very popular song either way. Ninety words a minute, ninety words a minute, that was pretty fast. It’s a theme song to one of the greatest tv shows of all time, you’ll recognize it, let’s go.”
Progressing immediately into “The Banjo Song,” and the ukulele fueled crowd favorite “The Valley Road,” Elliott BROOD would close the show with their rousing anthem, “Write It All Down For You” – easily evoking the “hey, hey, hey” chants from the energized room. Another solid performance, another memorable Elliott BROOD experience. Am I happy to jump back upon my soapbox and stick to my proclamation that this trio are one of the best bands to catch in concert? You can bet your a$$ that I most certainly am happy to preach it!!!
Set List:
- Need To Know
- Dig A Little Hole
- Nothing Left
- Without Again
- Bird Dog (Not a Rodney Crowell tune)
- Rose City (Still not a Rodney Crowell tune)
- Bluebird Wine (Rodney Crowell cover)
- Owen Sound
- Paper Money
- C’mon Let’s Go
- Oh Alberta
- Northern Air
- Out Walkin’
- Second Son
- Wolfgang
- Stay Out
- Dark End Of The Road
- Stars Align
- The Bridge
- Dried Up
- Wind and Snow
Encore:
- Where Everybody Knows Your Name (Theme from Cheers)
- The Banjo Song
- The Valley Town
- Write It All Down For You
Photo Credit: Motel Chelsea (concert poster)
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
