It was a throwback last Thursday night in Brampton, with Canadian metal acts Lee Aaron and Helix performing together at the Rose Theatre in Brampton, Ontario. The fifteen-year-old kid in me was losing his mind over this line-up!
This was my first time attending a show at the Rose Theatre, a lovely concert venue nestled into downtown Brantford that offers an intimate concert experience with excellent seating, lighting, and sound.
Helix took the stage first; The ever charismatic Brian Vollmer strutting about the stage with energy to spare. Over 40 years in the game and Vollmer shows no signs of slowing down whatsoever. Adorned in a pair of jeans, an untucked denim shirt accented with a leather hat and boots, the man still looks like a veteran rock star. Accompanied by Greg “Fritz” Hinz, Daryl Gray, Kaleb “Duckman” Duck and Chris Julke, Helix worked their way through over a dozen songs this evening. Helix touched on magic moments like “Wild in the Streets”, “The Kids Are All Shakin’”, “Deep Cuts the Knife” and “Rock You”. We got the “(Make Me Do) Anything You Want” and “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’” covers along with the title track off of their recently double song 12-inch vinyl release The Devil is Having a Party Tonight.
Lee Aaron, Sean Kelly, Dave Reimer, Kevin Saulnier and John Cody took the stage shortly after Helix and delivered a kicking set of material spanning Aaron’s lengthy career. Aaron performed a new track called “Diamond Baby” from her upcoming CD, and also performed her version of “I’m a Woman”, a track she described as part of a bluesy album project she is also currently working on. This may or may not be something over and above the album that “Diamond Baby” will see it’s inclusion on.
Aaron described the blues-infused album as being her playful take on some classics, and “I’m a Woman” is indeed a classic blues track that has seen iterations by Koko Taylor, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon. The song came off sounding great. Based on this performance, things certainly bode well for the as yet unreleased new album.
We were treated to some classics as well this evening; “Hands On”, “Some Girls Do,” “Metal Queen” and “Whatcha Do to My Body” were all met with a warm response. Aaron shared her microphone with members of the audience during “Metal Queen” and “Whatcha Do to My Body”. A good number of tracks from Aaron’s recently released Fire and Gasoline album (released last year) rounded out tonight’s entertaining performance. Members of Helix and Lee Aaron spent time in the mezzanine posing for photos and signing autographs after their respective performances.
