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Vancouver ‘green-bottle’ rockers ignite Vernon stage

54-40 rocked the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre stage Saturday night
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54-40 bassist Brad Merritt tows the line as the Vancouver rockers take the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre stage Saturday. (Kevin Mitchell/Morning Star)

Neil Osborne once spent a long weekend in Colorado drinking Guinness beer and discussing Buddhism with a Zen Roshi. He also swigged black-market beer out of milk jugs with strangers in Russia.

Osborne, the 57-year-old lead vocalist and guitarist with Vancouver’s 54-40, is an accomplished story teller who, after 38 years and 14 albums, can still parlay a quadruple-octave voice into beautiful and soul-filling music.

Osborne and long-time bass buddy Brad Merritt, who got in the odd word on stage Saturday night at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre, jumpstarted their Unplugged Tour by crushing a one hour, 50-minute concert before a sell-out crowd of 750.

They added magical violin player Daniel Lapp to their tour lineup and Lapp anchored the rhythm section with extreme panache.

Guitarist/keyboard whiz Dave Genn, who joined 54-40 from the Matthew Good Band in 2005, was given props by Osborne for re-injecting inspiration into the band. They played all their top singles which they tweaked to reflect the acoustic flavour and vibe.

Osborne, who formed the band in Tsawwassen, will likely match the likes of 70-somethings Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart based on his enthusiasm and love of performing Saturday night. 54-40 nailed their monster hit Ocean Pearl on the encore with Merritt urging the crowd, which was standing by then, to sing the chorus five or six times.

Despite owning three Platinum-selling albums and one Canadian gold-selling CD, 54-40 is hardly done yet. Osborne is still into writing and volunteers were selling their newest compilation Keep on Walking in the theatre foyer.

A green-bottle band – they favour Heineken, Stella Artois and Beck’s – 54-40 has travelled the planet making friends and serving as first-class ambassadors for Canada.

Osborne revealed the story of how 54-40 and a wild group known as The Scramblers were invited to represent Canada at a huge concert in Russia in 1989, he talked about how his wife and a friend convinced him to sing his own Hootie & The Blowfish cover I Go Blind at karaoke in a small Maui bar and he had fun recalling how Merritt was choked they had to drink Molson product despite playing a Molson event one year in Barrie, Ont.

“I did an OK job at karaoke and it was kind of cool looking up and seeing my name and some other guy’s name as the writers of the song,” chuckled Osborne. “Anyway, that was one of the best days of my life.”

Even the lighting guy was on his game Saturday, cranking the bright white lights which temporarily blinded the audience as the band, also featuring veteran drummer Matt Johnson, knocked off I Go Blind.

The biggest applause was saved for the group’s hot single She La and inaugural hit Baby Ran, but Osborne also drew claps and awestruck looks for tender ditties like Crossing the Canyon, The Dream We Speak Of and Life Goes On.

Pretty much the house band at The Commodore in Vancouver since they started, 54-40 moves to the McPherson Playhouse Thursday in Victoria and the Port Theatre Friday in Nanaimo.

The Vernon show was a fundraiser for North Okanagan Youth and Family Services (NOYFSS). Dean Francks of NOYFSS, who yucked it up with the band in the green room after they took post-concert photographs with fans in the foyer, was the band’s airport driver.


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