Trans-Canada Highwaymen Bring Comedy & Canadian Tunes to Avalon Theatre [Photos]

The Trans-Canada Highwaymen are a different kind of supergroup. Instead of having the traditional one person per instrument, this group swaps between instruments nearly every song. It feels like a big group of dads getting together to play their favorite Canadian songs and crack jokes, but with one major difference: these are the songwriters of those songs.

The group consists of Steven Page, the original frontman of Barenaked Ladies; Chris Murphy, the frontman of Sloan; Craig Northey, the frontman of Odds; and Moe Berg, the frontman of The Pursuit of Happiness. These four took turns on each instrument except for the keyboard, which only Steven Page occupied during a couple of songs.

The evening was filled with comedy between every song. Whether it was the bandmates having friendly banter or old stories about past events between members, they had the crowd laughing all night. My personal favorite was their shot at 54-40’s “Ocean Pearl,” which was later sung while playing “Make You Mad” by Odds.

The band didn’t forget to include the crowd in the action. Whether it was responding to those yelling or Chris Murphy handing his bass off to sing, sitting front row and running through the venue delivering high fives to everyone, the band’s crowd work could be its own comedy show.

Song 9 marked the end of the first set of the night, before Steven Page took the mic to talk about the band, and gave a story time. He talked about how Trans-Canada Highwaymen was made not only for the band members to play their favorites from the original bands, but also their favorite Canadian songs, before telling the story of Burton Cummings granting them special rights to cover songs by The Guess Who. Before ending the story with the fact that the rights that were given are now useless, and kicked into “Undun” by The Guess Who, a song that heavily showcased Steven Page’s vocal performance.

The crowd were loving the Sloan songs that were played, which led to an eruption when Chris Murphy snuck into one of his speeches that a new Sloan album would be released in the fall.

Right before the encore, the band played “Make You Mad” by Odds, but with a very different ending. They were showing their patriotism by throwing in Canadian things to the beat. They started off with 54-40’s “Ocean Pearl,” a snippet of “The Hockey Song” by Stompin’ Tom and ending it with that iconic jingle “Sleep Country Canada, why buy a mattress anywhere else.”

Encore kicked off with a cover of “Rock Me Gently” by Andy Kim, a song that had the crowd running to the front to dance. A nice plus to having a show in a small theatre, intimidation and security aren’t as strict. The jokes and jams stayed all night, from song 1 to the final song, the band was cracking jokes, and it was clear the band was having a good time.

This show is a part of a small weekend tour that will see the band in Waterloo and London on April 4th and 5th. Their shows after that can be found here, and it’s a must-see for fans of Canadian ’90s and 2000s music!

Trans-Canada Highwaymen @ Avalon Theatre (Niagara Falls, ON) on April 3rd, 2025

18 photos