Steven Page - 2025-04-17 - Orono, ME - Concert review

 

Steven Page,  Live, Collins Center for the Arts, University of Maine, Orono, ME, April 17, 2025

Last week I got the chance to see Steven Page (formerly of Barenaked Ladies) perform at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono, Maine. It was a great show. Steven performed with his trio, with Craig Northey (The Odds) on guitar and backing vocals, and Kevin Fox on cello and backing vocals. Although cello may seem like an odd instrument for a pop-rock group, it actually was quite a nice touch, as it was able to fill in the bass parts as well as provide backing strings and flowing counterpoint lines, really filling out the sound for a trio. Steven was in fine voice and the show was a great mix of classic Barenaked Ladies songs and selections from Steven's stellar solo work. As would be expected from Steven, there was also much humor and banter among the performers (who have been friends and performing together for many years), providing a very entertaining evening. The show lasted nearly 2 hours with 19 songs (and between song banter). The setlist (detailed below) provided something for everyone, with the beginning and end of the show dominated by Barenaked Ladies favorites, and the middle highlighting some excellent songs from his albums Page One (2010), Heal Thyself Part I: Instinct (2016), Discipline: Heal Thyself Part II (2018), and his most recent, Excelsior (2022), which is a wonderful underappreciated album (the album was released in a small Canadian label and didn't get much attention, but is a great album that deserves to be sought out), and the three songs from Excelsior played here (Golden Age of Doubling Down, Something About Me, and How Much is Enough?) exemplify the strength of the album. I recorded just a few songs from the show to post here (and on Youtube), with the first being The Golden Age of Doubling Down, a delightful, insightful, and applicable song for our times. 

  

The Golden Age of Doubling Down

Steven closed the main part of the show with the BNL classic Brian Wilson.

Brian Wilson

The encore consisted of Enid and Call and Answer, with Steven starting out on piano.

 Call and Answer

 All in all a wonderful show that highlighted Steven's excellent songwriting skills, feel for great pop melodies and song structure, and vocal prowess throughout his career, and the performance by the trio provided the perfect accompaniment to the songs. And the Collins Center was a great venue to see this act, with its smaller size and more intimate setting, and great acoustics, providing a wonderful experience. Steven also gave a short interview session prior to the concert, where he talked about his music, upbringing, and experiences over the years. A great time. 

Setlist: Steven Page, 2025-04-17, Collins Center for the Arts, Orono, ME

1. It's All Been Done (BNL)
2. A New Shore
3. Jane (BNL)
4. Alternative Girlfriend (BNL)
5. The Golden Age of Doubling Down (N)
6. What a Good Boy (BNL)
7. Gravity
8. The Feelgood Strum
9. Linda Ronstadt in the 70s/Someone Who's Cool (Craig)
10. Something About Me
11. No Song Left to Save Me
12. Where Do You Stand?
13. Tonight Is the Night I Fell Asleep at the Wheel (BNL)
14. How Much Is Enough?
15. Bull in a China Shop (BNL)
16. The Old Apartment (BNL)
17. Brian Wilson (BNL)
Encores:
18.    Enid (BNL)
19.    Call and Answer (BNL)

Steven Page - vocals, acoustic guitar, piano

Craig Northey - electric guitar, backing vocals 

Kevin Fox - cello, backing vocals 

Aliotta-Haynes-Jeremiah & Bill Quateman - 1973 Made in Chicago TV (Alternate Source)

Aliotta - Haynes - Jeremiah
Bill Quateman
1973-04-11 (Original Broadcast date)
Made In Chicago TV Broadcast
(audio extracted from videotape source) - Alternate source from previous version available

As indicated earlier, here is an alternate audio source for the same Made in Chicago Live TV broadcast previously made available here, featuring these two great Chicago area artists of the 1970's. The date has been updated to the original broadcast date for the show, according to the archivists at fuzzymemories,tv, (I would've sworn it was from 1972, but they seem to know their stuff), who are responsible for finding the rare video footage from this classic show. Please see the previous AHJ and Bill Quateman post for fuller descriptions of these memorable Chicago artists and the songs they played in this live performance show.The tracks and files are organized in exactly the same way as the previous version

Although far from a high fidelity recording, these audio tracks extracted from a mono videotape recording of the off-air broadcast, are nonetheless much clearer and distinct from the rather low quality cassette recording I had previously, even though that was taken from the stereo FM simulcast of the original broadcast. So, it provides a much better and clearer presentation of these remarkable one-of-a-kind performances. And now, in addition to the audio, you can actually see these performances, thanks to this B&W video that was recently unearthed by the folks at fuzzymemories.tv. This is just great stuff, even if the sound and picture quality leaves something to be desired. It is just amazing that this tape survived and exists at all (almost none of the other Made in Chicago shows were preserved in any form). So, if you did not previously check out these great, but relatively unknown artists the first time I featured them, here you have another chance. And if you already are of fan of them, well it is an even bigger treat. Although the overall quality of this recording is better than the one I had, I am still keeping the original recordings available also, because that was true stereo, and from the FM feed, even though the tape and quality had deteriorated over time, it still is of interest also. So, anyway, here they are again, Chicago's own Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah, and Bill Quateman, with their original performances from Chicago TV in 1973, with performances and songs not heard anywhere else. A huge thanks to fuzzymemories.tv for finding this rare gem, and making it available to the masses. 

Audio files (from alternate source - videotape) New Links! (Updated 10/8/21)
Aliotta-Haynes-Jeremiah - AHJ_1973-TVaudio link here
Bill Quateman - Bill Quateman 1973-TVaudio link here


Also, Here are the links to the video clips of the show now available at www.fuzzymemories.tv, which together comprise the entire broadcast (2 segments for each act). This is the order of the show (AHJ, then BQ, then AHJ again). Although the show was broadcast in color, the videotape this was recorded on was B&W

AHJ, part1: http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/#videoclip-3980
BQ, part1: http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/#videoclip-3981
BQ, part2: http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/#videoclip-3982
AHJ, part2: http://www.fuzzymemories.tv/#videoclip-3983