Ten years ago, four icons of CanCon alt-rock got together to form Trans-Canada Highwaymen. After some on and off touring and the release of Explosive Hits Vol. 1 — covering some late 60s and 70s Canadian classics — Chris Murphy (Sloan), Craig Northey (Odds), Steven Page (Barenaked Ladies), and Moe Berg (the Pursuit of Happiness) finally made it to Vancouver. And nothing was going to stop me from seeing them (not even a high school reunion).

With no opener, Trans-Canada Highwaymen hit the stage as each member took turn on vocals, starting with Page doing BNL’s “It’s All Been Done”, Craig with “Someone Who’s Cool”, Moe taking over on “Hard to Laugh” and Chris not doing a Sloan song, but Michel Pagliaro’s “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy”.

That set the stage for the rest of the show with the four members trading off vocals, harmonizing with each other, and rotating around the stage; Chris drummed for most of the night, but each member took their own turn at least once. As well as their own hits, they got some classic covers from their album, and the “Theme from Trans-Canada Highwaymen”, an autobiographical song about the start of the band. All four members were clearly having a ton of fun as they joked and laughed with the crowd, constantly needled not only each other between songs, but even people not on stage when Chris made up a Smugglers song on the spot once they confirmed Grant Lawrence was in the crowd.

Other highlights were classics like Seven Page rocking “Undun” from The Guess Who and Moe channeling Lifehouse’s “Pretty Lady”. For their own tunes, the crowd was singing along with songs like “Underwhelmed”, the eternally catchy “Jane”, and “She’s So Young”. Near the end of the set, Odds’ “Make You Mad” segued into something of a CanCon Medley, with each member taking turns singing lines from iconic Canadian songs including (but not limited to) The Tragically Hip, 54-50, Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Barney Bentall, BTO, Chilliwack, Doug & The Slugs, and wrapping up with the Sleep Country Canada jingle.

The main set came to an end with me getting chills as everyone sang along to one of my favourite songs, “Brian Wilson”, but the band was back out for a couple more. First Andy Kim’s “Rock Me Gently”, before one more Sloan hit “The Rest of My Life” and the song Steven, Craig, and Chris all credited as opening the door for them on the radio, “I’m an Adult Now”.

Page then said that was normally the end of their set, but they had one special surprise for us, introducing Geoffrey Kelly from Spirit of the West as they had the entire commodore singing (and jumping) along to “Home for a Rest” for one of the most fun endings to a show I’ve seen.

One of my favourite ‘unique concert concepts’ is a supergroup getting together and playing a bunch of their individual songs together. I’ve been lucky to see that sort of show a few times, and it could be recency bias, but this was definitely my favourite. It was a great night spending two hours with some incredible musicians celebrating song amazing Canadian music.

setlist
It’s All Been Done (Barenaked Ladies)
Someone Who’s Cool (Odds)
Hard to Laugh (The Pursuit of Happiness)
Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy (Michel Pagliaro)
Theme from Trans-Canada Highwaymen
It Falls Apart (Odds)
Jane (Barenaked Ladies)
Pretty Lady (Lighthouse)
Underwhelmed (Sloan)
Undun (The Guess Who)
Tonight Is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love (April Wine)
She’s So Young (The Pursuit of Happiness)
The Other Man (Sloan)
The Old Apartment (Barenaked Ladies)
Make You Mad (Odds)
CanCon Medley
Brian Wilson (Barenaked Ladies)
(Encore)
Rock Me Gently (Andy Kim)
The Rest of My Life (Sloan)
I’m an Adult Now (The Pursuit of Happiness)
Home for a Rest (Spirit of the West)