Fifty years ago, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, brothers David and Ritchie Henman along with their cousin Jim Henman and Myles Goodwyn formed April Wine. Sixteen albums and several line-up changes later, Myles Goodwyn and April Wine were still going strong and playing to packed venues across Canada and The U.S. The band's most recent stop was October 11th at London Music Hall with special guests, London’s own Delta Stone and the Wardogs.
April Wine hit the stage close to 9:30, making the crowd of mostly older fans a little restless waiting, but once they arrived and started playing, the fans forgave their tardiness.
Leading with the song “You Could Have Been a Lady,” originally written by members of Hot Chocolate, the boys set the mood and got the crowd dancing and moving pretty quickly. There was a good mix of hits in this show, covering everything from their first single “Fast Train” to several off their 1979 hit album “Harder…Faster”.
Besides founding member and frontman Myles Goodwyn, guitarist Brian Greenway, who is the second longest serving member of the band, has been with the band since 1977. The duo were joined by newer members Richard Lanthier (bass since 2011) and Roy “Nip” Nichol (drumming since 2012). April Wine only performed about 25 shows a year now, making each show a special moment and that schedule seemed to keep everyone happy and dedicated to keeping their history alive. To fill the void, Goodwyn and Greenway both had blues bands besides April Wine and Nip performs the vocals in a Journey tribute band.
Good, I like it loud.
The show in London was loud and Goodwyn still had pretty good pipes for a 71-year-old. At one point Goodwyn asked the crowd if it was loud enough for them and then replied, “Good, I like it loud”. Some of the heavier jams included King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man”, “I Like to Rock” and the 1978 hit “Roller”.
Two of their biggest ballads, “Just Between You and Me” and “Tonight is a Wonderful Time to Fall in Love” were crowd favourites, mostly amongst the middle-aged women who enjoyed the memories. The show ended with a two-song encore, “Enough is Enough” and maybe their most popular song, “Oowatanite”.
Fifty years is a great run for any band and it appeared April Wine had no intention of stopping anytime soon. The band still loved to play and we still loved to hear and see them do it.
Delta Stone opened with an 11-song set of guitar-driven blues rock that heated the capacity crowd up. With an authentic southern sound and song titles like Dixie Bones and Cajun Queen it would be easy to assume they came straight from Texas or Louisiana, but this is a hometown London act to watch out for. Ian Stone’s vocals are gritty and impressive, as is his guitar playing, which was joined by fellow guitarist Nick “Houndog” Houle. The combination of the two is hard to top - each complementing the other and providing a thick, bluesy groove that drives the band’s sound.
Backing this duo is The Wardogs: Warren ‘Wardog’ Stinson on drums, ‘Cryin’ Ryan McNevin on keyboards and Mark Irmler on bass, featuring Rickie Lee Olean and Nelle Fuentes on backup vocals. This is a band on the rise. The talent here is unmistakable and it’s only a matter of time before they really make a mark.
