Jim Beam Rock and Roll Night at CMW 2015 ft. Scott Weiland

Many thanks to our friends at Jim Beam for making this post, and Thursday night’s adventure for us and our contest winners possible. When in doubt, Make History!

Thursday night in Toronto a whole bunch of rock and roll fans congregated at the Mod Club to see Scott Weiland take the stage and put on a show… and while they weren’t sure what kind of show they were going to get, they were ready.

But it wasn’t all Weiland, 3 acts took the stage first to get things started, get the crowd warmed up, and turn the night into a full on Canadian Music Week rock show.

The Jim Beam Canadian Music Week Rock & Roll Lineup at Mod Club!

★ The Luke Austin Band
★ Stuck on Planet Earth
★ Josh Beech
★ Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Luke Austin Band

First on stage, a rock and roll quartet from right here in Toronto. The Luke Austin Band kicked off the show.

Mr. Austin himself set up the band’s time by telling the crowd, “for the next 45 minutes we’re going to be entertaining, and you’re going to be entertained.”

The hometown boys didn’t leave anything out in their attempts to make that statement true. With high energy, steady sounds, a pretty cool mash-up cover of CCR’s Proud Mary & Eminem’s Lose Yourself, a set closing performance of their most recognizable track, Long Road Home – The Luke Austin Band was in fact entertaining.

It’s party rock and roll. It’s grab a drink and have some fun while you’re listening rock. Especially if you get to see them live.

Good job boys, we’ll be seeing you again soon.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Stuck on Planet Earth

From nearby Woodbridge, the boys of Stuck on Planet Earth told the Mod Club crowd that they were here to represent the 905 on Thursday night.

This was the second time we’d seen Stuck on Planet Earth play CMW… the 1st was 2014 at Tattoo Rock Parlour, opening for The Reason.

Billed in the Canadian Music Week program as Alternative/Grunge/Rock, the trio played with a bunch of energy, and a lot of enthusiasm. With vocal responsibilities split between the 2 dudes at the front of the stage, this is most definitely a ‘less talk, more rock’ band.

If you’re out with friends, looking for a live show and cold beer, pay the cover to see Stuck on Planet Earth if they’re playing near you.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Josh Beech

“My name is Josh Beech and I’m from South Fucking London” – and so the opening act for Scott Weiland introduced himself and his set at the Mod Club on Thursday night.

While the program bills him as Folk/Singer-Songwriter, this wasn’t a solo acoustic set. With his electric guitar joined by drums and bass, Beech’s music is probably best defined as Electric Singer-Songwriter.

As the set started we were talking to Luke Austin, who told us that Josh Beech is one of the cooler guys he’s ever met… and then a minute later, after a heckler got under Beech’s skin, the music stopped, some words were exchanged, there was a little tension – and then we were back to the music again.

Beech is good with the audience, bringing them into the music – at one point even jumping down onto the floor to play some guitar. And they loved him back, with great applause from the full Canadian Music Week room.

If Josh Beech is playing somewhere near you, we’d recommend going to see him play some music.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts

The main event. The reason the room was full. The reason Jim Beam gave us tickets to give away and put us in the VIP (thanks for that guys). There was a buzz in the room in the moments leading up to 11pm when Scott Weiland took the stage with the Wildabouts.

Being completely honest, we didn’t know what to expect. Having seen some unflattering things on the internet lately, we didn’t want to set ourselves up…

But all of that, the wondering and curiosity, quickly gave way to cheering and singing and enjoying the hell out of a Scott Weiland rock and roll show. To say that expectations were shattered would be an understatement. Weiland was in complete control on stage, working the microphone, bullhorn, and swaying, arm swinging, twirling dance moves like the rock star he’s always been.

STP hits like Big Bang Baby and Vasoline took us back in time 20 years – and while we always try to be objective in the moment, especially at a show with as many question marks going into it as this one, there wasn’t a moment where we weren’t screaming along with the rest of the Mod Club crowd when those hits were being played.

The only draw back, the set was short. And while that was expected, it was still a bummer because it was going so well that we wanted more.

But… we got to meet Scott Weiland quickly after the show and it sounds like there could very well be a Toronto tour date coming this summer – and that one will definitely be longer with more hits and more singing along.

Forget about that video you saw, because Thursday night at Canadian Music Week, Scott Weiland crushed it.

Author profile

Joshua Murray

creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.