CHARLIE A MAJOR PLAYER ON SUNDAY STAGE

Give Charlie Major credit.
Surrounded by bikers, leather jackets, punks in cheap sunglasses, bald-headed boomers and tattooed women all anxious to see and hear Texas headliner ZZ Top, the clean-cut Canadian country music artist quickly reminded a small-ish Sunday crowd why he was country’s king of the ’90s with a short, but superb opening set.
The pride of Aylmer, Quebec, Major turns 55 next month – he looks 10 years younger – but on this night he was the energetic young gun of the Double Down Live Tour, which could have been aptly named Grandpas Gone Wild.
He opened with his 1997 monster hit I’m Feeling Kind of Lucky Tonight that immediately got people dancing and clapping – and remembering why he ruled the charts for a decade.
His 1993 album The Other Side spawned six No. 1 hits, including I’m Gonna Drive You Out of My Mind, which earned him one of two standing ovations at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.
Halfway through his performance he jested: “Hey, I know it’s Sunday and all, but what do you say we party here a bit and show the rest of B.C. how it’s done?”
A whole bunch of beer-induced “we love you Charlie” cheers rained down from the stands and he performed his hit It Can’t Happen To Me, which ironically addresses the dangers of drinking and driving!
Major, who sounds just as good live as he does on radio, did a great job of interacting with the audience, shared a few funny Canadian stories, but mostly let his great from-the-heart music do the talking.
He spent no time pitching albums, or reminding folks about his many Junos, Canadian Country Music Awards or appearing on Holmes on Homes.
In his prime he was described as “Canada’s Bruce Springsteen.” On Sunday night he gave the early arrivals full value with (I Do It) For The Money and You’ll See Angels, and he left them standing and wanting more after performing his closing number Backroads, a monster hit he wrote for Ricky Van Shelton in that artist’s heyday.
The only knock on Major’s performance was that it didn’t last longer. Then again, those old guys need their sleep, right?