{"id":34397,"date":"2024-03-28T16:14:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T20:14:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34397"},"modified":"2024-03-28T16:14:25","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T20:14:25","slug":"revivals-st-patricks-day-performance-provides-a-great-green-time-at-castle-johns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/revivals-st-patricks-day-performance-provides-a-great-green-time-at-castle-johns\/","title":{"rendered":"Revival\u2019s St. Patrick\u2019s Day Performance provides a Great Green Time at Castle John\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Review by Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revival\u2019s lead singer Joey Villeneuve welcomed hundreds of green-clad revelers at Castle John\u2019s on Yonge Street for his band\u2019s St. Patrick\u2019s Day performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospitality and great times were in order on that  Sunday afternoon at the eight-year old eatery as the four-man band rolled out masterful covers much to the delight of the packed venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The immediately recognizable songs were part of the charm of Revival\u2019s late afternoon performance that appealed to a wide audience assembled at the north Newmarket pub. With screens beaming sports events surrounding the stage area, patrons were treated to the Final Round of the PGA Players Championship in the background and great music in the foreground\u2014a celebration of Golf Greens and Green Beer in wonderful symmetry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The quartet\u2014comprised of the dynamic Villeneuve on lead vocals and guitar; JD Parent on drums; Owen Bulger on bass and vocals; and Bruno Tassone on lead guitar and vocals\u2014opened and closed each set with high-velocity Irish and Newfoundlander tunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In between the book-ended St. Patrick\u2019s Day staples, set one featured Revival\u2019s classic bar tunes such as \u201cBad Moon Rising\u201d by CCR, \u201cBrown Eyed Girl\u201d by Van Morrison, and \u201cStuck in the Middle with You\u201d by Stealers Wheel with Tassone and Villeneuve hitting Gerry Rafferty\u2019s range of notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tassone\u2019s delivery of Oasis\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Look Back in Anger\u201d was the highlight of the opening set and the revelers responded with a thunderous ovation. There wasn\u2019t a hint of anger at Castle John\u2019s, especially when Revival moved seamlessly from the Gallagher brothers to Blue Rodeo\u2019s \u201cTil I\u2019m Myself Again\u201d with Villeneuve covering Jim Cuddy as patrons enjoyed both the band\u2019s playlist and the tasty gustatory offerings of the pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The radiant Yazra set up my writer\u2019s table stage left and delivered a refreshing green Molson Canadian<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My second verdant-tinted pint arrived with a delicious Shepherd\u2019s Pie, grilled vegetables, and a wee pot of perfect gravy between sets. Hospitality was on full display at the pub with ten friendly, green-garbed servers looking after the patrons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The food and drink complemented my St. Patrick\u2019s Day concert experience as did the band\u2019s stellar second set featuring a rousing version of Tom Petty\u2019s \u201cAmerican Girl.\u201d Patrons clanged their bells and noisemakers, especially in tribute to Tassone\u2019s fine guitar work. Appreciative audience members sang along to Villeneuve\u2019s delivery of \u201cShe Ain\u2019t Pretty\u201d by the Northern Pikes and took in the perfect drum rolls of Parent on the Beatles\u2019 classic \u201cCome Together.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRamblin\u2019 Man\u201d by The Allman Brothers energized the big crowd at CJ\u2019s followed by The Clash\u2019s \u201cShould I Stay or Should I Go?\u201d\u2014a rhetorical question posed to the audience.  The answer to the question was easy.  Hundreds stayed for the good times and company. Tassone\u2019s steady vocals and Villeneuve\u2019s harmonica solo in \u201cWhat I Like about You\u201d rolled together to set off the Romantics\u2019 hit song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An up-tempo delivery of Dire Straits\u2019 \u201cWalk of Life\u201d filled the dance floor and bassist Owen Bulger\u2019s lead vocal of the 1963 Beatles\u2019 hit \u201cI Saw Her Standing There\u201d further energized the dancers.  Revival\u2019s versatility was on full display during the second set as its three vocalists took turns engaging the revelers. A transition to 1983 with the Violent Femmes\u2019 \u201cBlister in the Sun\u201d then back to the 60\u2019s to the Monkees\u2019 standard \u201cI\u2019m a Believer\u201d\u2014a song with broad appeal in the bar due to Smash Mouth\u2019s remake that appeared on the Shrek soundtrack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Killers\u2019 hypnotic chorus \u201cI got soul \u2013 but I\u2019m not a soldier\u201d from \u201cAll These Things That I\u2019ve Done\u201d got the revelers chanting and what Revival concert would be complete without Villeneuve covering Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip\u2019s \u201cNew Orleans is Sinking.\u201d A high energy version of Duran Duran\u2019s \u201cHungry Like the Wolf\u201d and Bulger\u2019s growling vocal work on Billy Idol\u2019s \u201cDancing with Myself\u201d packed the dance floor as revelers soaked in the band\u2019s musical stylings and the green beer that filled tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revival lived up to their name on Sunday as the concert felt like a Rite of Spring after a dreary Winter.  The quartet is one of York Region\u2019s bar band treasures and offered another stellar performance on their home turf on St. Patrick\u2019s Day at Castle John\u2019s.  Slainte.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Review by Jim Stewart Revival\u2019s lead singer Joey Villeneuve welcomed hundreds of green-clad revelers at Castle John\u2019s on Yonge Street for his band\u2019s St. Patrick\u2019s Day performance. Hospitality and great times were in order on that  Sunday afternoon at the eight-year old eatery as the four-man band rolled out masterful covers much to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/2024-03-28-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8WN","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 21:38:22","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}