![]() These days, he takes the stage Sunday nights at the Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club, and it was there on Sunday where he got the ball rolling with a host of guitar-slingers, keyboard-players and drummers. Legends such as Johnny Winter and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top have even taken part. ![]() ![]() James to downtown landmarks such as the Hotel Fort Garry, and the Marlborough and Windsor hotels. They’ve taken place at several Winnipeg hotspots over the years, from the Viscount Gort in St. “We had an amazing tour set up for 2020 and then COVID kicked our ass, so we had to put it on hold,” McLean says.Īnother facet of McLean’s musical career that keeps going strong are his famous blues jam nights, which have been going on for over 35 years and are touted as the longest running jam night in Western Canada. They got together for a jam session at the Edmonton Blues Festival in 2018, and the positive vibe led to them releasing the LP Catfish in late 2019, an album that revs as smoothly as the German sports car brand.īig Dave McLean has been hosting local jam sessions for more than 35 years. Some of McLean’s shows this month were with a relatively new trio, composed of Calgary blues veterans Kevin Belzner and Tim Williams, called BMW, after their surnames’ initials. “A lot of people want you to go off and party with them. “You get conditioned to that sort of thing,” says McLean, who adds that between shows and travel he only got three hours sleep on the final leg of the recent tour. He recognizes he’s no kid anymore either, and says pacing himself is key when on tour at festivals, where fans and musicians interact. Earlier this month he toured Western Canada, including gigs in Calgary, one on Gabriola Island, one of B.C.’s Gulf Islands, and at the Nanaimo Blues Festival. McLean’s kids are grown up now, which allows him more freedom to tour. “It can be very tough sometimes… Especially when you have little kids and you have to decide whether you’re going to be on the road or at home being dad and a husband.” – Big Dave McLean “Especially when you have little kids and you have to decide whether you’re going to be on the road or at home being dad and a husband.” It can be very tough sometimes,” McLean says. “(The blues) certainly had its rewards and it’s been a decent living. So McLean’s soldiering on too, but the blues scene in Canada doesn’t match the glitz and glamour of rock legends’ global tours. Two other septuagenarians, Don Henley and Joe Walsh, will lead the Eagles to the Canada Life Centre stage next month. Rockers are no different, with Mick Jagger, 79, and Keith Richards, 78, original members of the Rolling Stones, continuing their stage antics in front of massive crowds, and Paul McCartney, 80, and Elton John, 75, following suit. King, both of whom performed well into their 80s. Singing the blues and turning it into a lifetime affair has worked for blues greats such as Buddy Guy, 86, who still tours and has a new album on the way in the fall, and the late John Lee Hooker and B.B. “I don’t think there’s going to be any special celebration going on about my birthday, I’m just happening to be playing at Blue Note Park on my birthday… as far as I know, anyway.” “I’ve never really given it too much thought I mean, we all get older,” McLean says. ![]() While the Juno Award-winning artist and member of the Order of Canada is honoured by the latest recognition of a personal milestone, McLean considers Tuesday night’s concert just another gig in a year when musical veterans and rookies alike struggle to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic and extended periods away from live audiences. Manitoba blues mainstay Big Dave McLean celebrates his 70th birthday tonight. His fans in Winnipeg will once again give McLean his due this evening at Blue Note Park, when the outdoor lounge and concert venue on Main Street hosts his 70th birthday concert. “The older you are, the more respect you get for being older,” he says with a chuckle. The singer-songwriter and blues guitarist turns 70 today and he’s nowhere near ready to put his guitars in their cases and hang up his harmonica for good. His 50s have long been in his rear-view mirror. Big Dave McLean knows there’s no Freedom 55 in the blues. ![]()
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