So one of my favourite bands are Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, half of which were formerly known as The Refreshments. You know them from Banditos – “give your ID card to the border guard, now your alias says you’re Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets” – a hit song back in those 1990s. The last time they’d hit Toronto was 1998, and considering I’d already looked into seeing them in Mexico and Cleveland this year, I figured it’d be crazy not to catch a rare appearance in Toronto on Tuesday. Unfortunately my fellow Peacemaker-loving friends couldn’t go, so I actually went by myself.
That’s right. The guy who can’t even go to a restaurant alone actually attended a concert alone.
Fortunately Peacemakers fans are a bit of a family, so making some new friends didn’t take long, and I ended up spending some time with a couple guys from Brockville who’d taken the four-hour trek across the 401, and were taking the same trek back after the show.
Long story short, the show was amazing – these guys put on a set. Great music, lots of booze to go around, tequila shots being taken from centre stage. All around it was good times. I, as I tend to be at concerts, was somewhat rowdy. After the show, on the way back to the car, I passed the tour bus where my new Brockville friends were waiting for the band. At that point the bassist – Nick Scropos – came down a side alley from the back and recognized me from the show (I told you I was rowdy), shook my hand, and we had a chat. He was followed by drummer PH Naffah and the lead, Roger Clyne. A bunch of us hung out a bit, had a brief chat, and then it was off home. Pics below: