Prince Rupert music lovers packed into the Lester Centre of the Arts over the weekend to see Canadian rockers Myles Goodwyn and April Wine presented by Astral Radio and Television, with Prince Rupert’s own Dylan Rysstad and the Rain Dogs opening the show.
April Wine have been releasing albums since the 1970’s, becoming one of Canada’s most popular rock bands. The group was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2010, and have won numerous other awards.
Over the years there have been many line up changes, but currently the band consists of lead singer, guitarist and keyboardist Myles Goodwyn, who is the only remaining original member of the band since they formed back in 1969, guitarists and back up vocalist Brian Greenway, who has been in the group since 1977, bassist Richard Lanthier who joined the band in 2011, and drummer Roy Nichol, who is the newest member.
The group opened their performance with “Oowatanite” before moving on to “You Could Have Been a Lady”. They then slowed it down for the third song, performing “I’m on Fire for you Baby”.
Throughout the evening the band played past hits such as “Just Between You and Me”, “Tonite’s a Wonderful Night to Fall in Love” and “Roller”. The band also played a cover of the Rolling Stone’s hit song “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”.
Before the show ended, Myles Goodwyn and April Wine came back onstage to perform two encore songs, “Sign of the Gypsy Queen” and “Over the Moon”, a song Goodwyn wrote about his youngest son who was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes, and has had to given himself needles daily.
The group is collecting funds for Juvenile Diabetes research on their 2012 tour, as well as raising awareness about the disease.
Additionally, opening the show was Prince Rupert’s own Dylan Rysstad and the Rain Dogs, consisting of Dylan Rysstad on guitar and vocals, Joe Meggison on guitar, Dustin Woodman on mandolin, Rob Rushton on drums, Joshua Meggison on bass, and Mercedes Taylor singing back up vocals.
The band performed a half an hour set, and played songs from Rysstad’s newest album, “Halfway Houses”, as well as older material.
