Grapes of Wrath put on a Neat show

The Neat Cafe is a venue I have lots of good things about but for some reason I had not yet gone to a show there. For some reason it felt like it was far away but yet I frequently go to Wakefield for shows and I have even drive to Montreal for shows so really it was a pretty weak excuse. The Grapes of Wrath twisted my arm a bit because they had no date closer to Ottawa.

The Grapes of Wrath are of course an amazing band that hit the Canadian music scene big time in the late 80s. At the time my musical tastes were mired in classic rock and I was not exploring much new music. A few years later my eyes, or should I say my ears were awoken to a much greater range of music and I came to really appreciate the Grapes of Wrath. Unfortunately for me, they had disbanded before I came to this revelation so I could not see them live. When they reunited a few years ago I bought tickets for a show but it was cancelled. Then the following tour they unfortunately came to town while I was away for business. Like I said, this tour they are skipping Ottawa completely but I did not want to miss them again so it was a great excuse to make the trek out to Burnstown.

Neat Cafe is a fantastic place. It would be hard to find a more intimate venue to see a band, it’s essentially like seeing them in a house. The club sits less than a hundred people by my estimation and you are very close to the band. I was in the third row and maybe twelve feet from the band as they performed. Speaking of performing, it was so great to finally see this talented Canadian band play both a collection of their older hits and some of their newer material, which is also very strong. The band sounded fantastic, the club was fantastic. I will be returning to the Neat Cafe, and am also looking forward to my next chance to see The Grapes of Wrath.