Barenaked Ladies
Ontario

– PERFORMING SATURDAY –

“It’s not easy to be hyperactive, brooding and whimsical all at once,” New York Times pop critic Jon Pareles once wrote about BNL. “But the Barenaked Ladies do just that.”

It’s this heady combination that’s had this country, and others too, fascinated and in love with this band of witty, friendly, charmers since they erupted out of Scarborough circa 1988. The Barenaked Ladies are still together and going strong after nearly three decades, and their music’s still everywhere. They’ve produced 15 studio albums which have collectively sold more than 14 million copies, won eight Juno Awards, earned multiple Grammy nominations, a U.S. chart-topping single (One Week) and crafted the hugely popular theme song to one of TV’s top shows, The Big Bang Theory. And there’s more coming: they’ve recently recorded with New York’s a cappella group, The Persuasions, and are currently working on their next studio album.

We like Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn, and Tyler Stewart cause they still clearly like each other and what they’re doing, continue to enjoy challenging themselves and their music-making, have maintained a healthy sense of humour — and they invite us in to their party. Many of us have grown up with them, drawn to their incredible live shows, their on-stage camaraderie, their personality as much as to their great tunes, amazing harmonies, and those times when their writing strikes a chord.

And, decades on, when they sing one of their multi-platinum hits like One Week, Pinch Me, and If I Had $1,000,000, we all perk up — we know every word. Heck, they’re Canada’s unofficial anthems.