If you haven’t seen 54-40 live, do yourself a favour and go. I saw them at the commodore just this weekend and man, I gotta tell you about it. As you might expect for a 54-40 show, the crowd was, to be polite, middle aged. So much so that at one point a group of them ran a contest between each other to find the youngest person there, which turned out to be me! I thought I was gonna win some money but no such luck. But beyond that, the venue was packed! I mean really packed, I hadn’t seen it this busy before. But I got a not too bad spot near the back of the dancefloor and had a full view of the stage. Which was great, but did lead to the shock of a lifetime.

You know that moment when the lights dim, and the preshow playlist fades out, when you know the band is on their way? Well, that moment was briefly undercut by an inflatable turkey waddling out on stage. Followed shortly thereafter by corn, a potato, some garlic, and a carrot. Can you imagine that? The surprise of the whole thing could’ve killed some of the older members of the crowd, which was most of the crowd.

But they finished their routine, and on came the band. And these guys are rockstars, in the truest sense of the word. Age has not slowed them down one bit. I mean they rocked that place. As for set list, it was a great mix of new and old. They played a bunch of stuff from their new album Porto, including this one song, Time Will Tell. Listening to it was kind of like hot it feels if you’ve ever driven at night, like late at night. It was free, and alone, but not lonely, if that makes any sense to you. Give it a listen and see what you think. Alongside new stuff, they played the hits as well. Baby Ran, I Go Blind, Ocean Pearl. Go through their top songs on a streaming platform, I bet they played it.

This is the one I was literally at! Isn’t that cool?

But one more thing I want to highlight, is the lighting. I have no idea who designed it or who was running it, but they were not getting paid enough. That was the most incredible lighting display I have ever seen. At one point they flashed all these lights between white and black, and the two guys singing into the lead singers mic had this crazy outline around them. It felt like it was just you and them in the room, it was amazing. Seriously, next time they come to town, get tickets and go.