I’ve seen OLP three times. In ’97 or so I caught them at the U of R Multi-Purpose Room. I don’t think Riddell Centre had been open long, so it was probably one of the first concerts. Although I also remember seeing Social Distortion there pretty early on.

In late August 1999 I saw them headline Edgefest up in Saskatoon at that absolutely horrible outdoor concert venue they used to have next to the SaskatoonPlex or whatever they call that hockey rink on the outskirts of town. Mind you, it was a pretty good bill. Tea Party, Collective Soul and I Mother Earth also played the main stage. And I think Age of Electric played the small stage.

The gig was on a Saturday. It ended up being pretty memorable as Lady Diana died that day. The first I heard of it was the next morning when I was sitting in the Sasktoon bus depot waiting to head back to Regina.

Then this summer OLP played the SaskTel Summer Invasion in Wascana Park on a Friday night in late July. I didn’t actually attend the Invasion, but I did head down to the park that night. Last summer sucked weatherwise, but that evening it was nice and warm with no wind. I sat across the lake from the gig and took it in from there. Very enjoyable.

Now OLP returns with a show at Conexus Arts Centre tonight at 8 p.m. It’s built around their Clumsy album, which they will play in its entirety in the first set, then do a second set featuring hit songs from other albums.

A similar evening devoted to Spiritual Machines had been planned for tomorrow night. I read somewhere that in choosing which albums to feature OLP had solicited fans in an on-line poll. Spiritual Machines, a concept album inspired by the writings of futurist/inventor Ray Kurzweil (author of the the 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines) came first in the voting. But that proved a tough sell in a meat-and-potatoes town like Regina and the gig ended up being cancelled. 

Our loss, I think. Here’s a video version of their song “Made to Heal” off Spiritual Machines.

Also on tonight is the final concert of the Regina Musical Club’s 2009-10 season. It’s a rare Monday night gig featuring the True Jive Pluckers. Not quite the classical music that the RMC typically specializes in, but definitely a quality show. The Pluckers, led by guitarist Jack Semple, violinist Ed Minevich and bassist Stephen McLellan, have been together for a few years now, and appear regularly at high profile concerts in the city.