Friday night I made a last minute decision to see Crash Test Dummies at Club 9One9 in Victoria. The last time I sort of saw them live was way back in 1994 in their heyday. They were one of the acts to perform at the Legislature lawn during the 1994 Commonwealth Games. I was 13 and watched them from afar on the causeway. Friday’s show was an opportunity to actually see them up close for the first time. I’m not even sure if they’ve been back to Victoria since that ’94 show.
I was apprehensive to attend mainly because the show could go one of two ways… It could be a pleasant surprise… or a complete trainwreck. The show ended up very entertaining and nicely attended. Going down the stairs of the night club I wondered if anyone would remember the band well enough to show up and once I got down there I saw a few hundred people mingling in the club. The age range was wide. You had people in their early 20’s all the way up to some what looked to be in their 50s. Crash Test Dummies are definitely a nostalgia band.
This was the very first night of the new tour in Canada and the band consisted of Brad Roberts, Ellen Reid and a guitarist. A very basic acoustic show. They performed a mixture of songs from their albums during the successful years and new music from their latest album ‘Oooh La La’. There were some young douches in the audience that screamed out “Superman” every-so-often throughout the set which was annoying, but the group took it in stride.
One of Brad Roberts funny anecdotes during the show was that the band had toured the U.S. recently and upon coming on stage for the Victoria show he noticed a major difference between our show and the U.S… the U.S. gigs didn’t have “hot chicks” in the audience… There were also a few good jabs at certain audience members. All in all, it was very relaxed show. The trio seemed to be enjoying themselves on stage.
After the show about 30-40 people lined up for autographs by Roberts and Reid. It was nice to see that there were a good chunk of fans there really showing support.
I remember owning the ‘God Shuffled His Feet’ album on cassette tape and this show brought back a lot of good memories.
Here’s video of two of their biggest hits:
Crash Test Dummies- Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Crash Test Dummies- Superman’s Song
