Del Barber Show Review

On October 28, I got to see Del Barber at the Bassment with friend and one of the pastors at College Park Covenant Church, Colin Bruins.  This show was a part of the Bassment's "Roots Series."  This is the second time that I seen Del this year.  Now I've never been to the Bassment and it is chill little venue tucked away in the basement of a building on 4th Ave. in downtown Saskatoon.  This time, Del was the headlining act.  He had a band opening for him.

The opening band is called Gunner & Smith.  Never of them before that show.  They have a blues sound with some slight folk to it.  I dug their sound.  Their lead guitarist laid down some great blues solos.  The one song I actually remember the name of, "Needle in Haystack," was great song.  I liked the one song towards the end of their set that showcased the bassist more.  They had a fill-in drummer.  I've never seen this band before, even with the fill-in drummer they were good.

Del Barber is a storyteller and you can tell by his songs and his banter/storytelling.  He has crafted this through his travels and whatnot.  I'd like to be better at it, but you know, I'm not.  I guess it's something I have to work at.  But not everybody can write a story in their songs.  Del is one of the fortunate ones that can.  I'm not saying you have to be a story songwriter, but the odd song would nice if I could.

Before I seen Del the first time this year, I thought to myself, "I've never seen him before."  That is in fact false.  I seen him at the CBC barbecue before school started.  But that was before he got as big as he is.  That time he was doing a lot of shows within the Covenant Church.  Now he has distanced himself a lot from that.  Sure they've supported him lots, but you need to move on from that to make it where you want.  Del has been making it places.  Seeing him doing shows not associated with that, it's different seeing him. Basically, he doesn't have to do events associated with the Covenant Church.  He was always relied on by the Covenant.  Not so much in years.

But I digress, Del is a great talent who has put his unique stamp on the music business.  With the success he has had so far, he will only have much more.  I recommend you go see him perform.  He is very good and will only get better.