Feral Five And Guests Pack Sharbot Lake Legion

Mar 27, 2014

In the second of their winter series of Center Stage Café concerts at the Sharbot Lake Legion, the Feral Five house band comprised of Gary Giller, Terry Reynolds, Jim MacPherson, Dave Limber and Dennis Larocque were joined by a stellar line up of local musical guests on March 20. Together they attracted a record-breaking number of listeners (and dancers) to a festive evening of entertainment at the Legion. As one guest said, the evening felt more like a large family celebration than a public concert.

Over 100 listeners, many well known to each other and the performers, enjoyed an evening of eclectic musical entertainment that included R&B, blues, rock, and jazz. Flautist Anne Archer joined the band first onstage and she dazzled listeners with her newly found skills as a saxophonist. Archer interspersed her solo efforts on both flute and sax on such R&B classics like Van Morrison's "Moondance", Blackwell/Cooley's "Fever" and Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" and all were met with generous applause. Later in the evening Archer called her two fellow flautists to the stage, Melanie Fyfe and Debbie Twiddy, and the trio known as Toute Ensemble played a number of jazzy selections including "Sentimental Journey", "St. Louis Blues" and "Cutie Flutie".

Well known Granite Ridge Education Centre teacher Andrea Jones was up next and gave a suave and sultry performance with her classic set of jazz standards. With Julia Schall accompanying her on keyboard, Jones sidled up to an old style mic and charmed listeners with her intimate and heart felt renditions of "Mean to Me", "You Don't Know Me", "Breaking Up is Hard To Do" and "Cry Me A River".

In set three the Five Feral fellas demonstrated their polished repertoire and highlights included drummer Dave Limber's limelit vocals on Taj Mahal's "She Caught the Katy", proving he is a more than capable front man and move buster. Reynolds shone vocally throughout the night especially on tunes like "Moondance", and Men at Work’s’ "Down Under", proving he can tackle and nail every genre. MacPherson's lead vocals on Robert Johnson's "Crosswords" were a stand out as were Giller's solid bass and back ups, which deepened the band's grove on tunes like "Can't Ya See", their always popular ZZTop medley. Larocque's lightning-fast solo work on tunes like "Quit Your Low Down Ways" and Jeff Healy's "Can You See the Light" were also unbeatable.

Legion President Dave Whalen was thrilled with the record turn out. The next Centre Stage Cafe event will take place on April 17 from 7-9:30pm at the Sharbot Lake Legion with guests Brian Robertson and Rob and Nancy Moore. Admission is $4. Get there early to get a seat.