BUZZon - Columnists - Sue Shipley - Prince Edward Island (PEI)

On a pleasant July evening I experienced a concert at The King’s Playhouse, a gem located in the heart of the small village of Georgetown in Eastern Kings County. It is an historic building with a welcoming lobby that displays a town quilt and lots of photos lining the hallway. The comfortable interior has wonderful acoustics.

This night The Chucky Danger Band was playing. When I arrived, shortly before show time, the seats were filling up and there was a feeling of anticipation in the air.

The four-member band made their entrance wearing their trademark matching dark suits and ties. They looked classy and confident, reminded me of a young foursome from England in the 60s.

The band’s energy was contagious as they had the audience singing “find a way to walk with me” on the opening number and clapping along with them to the Spanish beat of the second song.

Chucky Danger Band photographed live in concert at the King’s Playhouse. Lead singer John Macphee carried the show well between songs with easy humour and a comfortable stage presence. He also showed his strong abilities as a songsmith with “Beautiful Mistake,” “So Willing To Let Each Other Down” and “Beautiful One” to name only a few.

Lead guitarist Colin Buchanan played a dazzling guitar solo during “Lost in a Dream,” a rocky tune that also included several percussion instruments played by the other members of the band.

One of the highlights for me was when brothers Rob and John Macphee took center stage singing harmony on John’s song “Silent Stars.” Something magical always seems to happen when siblings join their voices that way. The quiet acoustic beginning of the song grew to full expression when drummer Dave Macdonald and Colin Buchanan rejoined the brothers on stage.

Just when we thought the show was winding down with the announcement of one last number, things really began to wind up! The grand finale was a song well-known to local fans, entitled “Sweet Symphony.” The song progresses in stages of quiet to raucous and back again. Included in the mix members switch instruments while continuing to play, eventually leading to a solo by drummer Dave Macdonald on a set of bongos. It was a well thought out, polished and very entertaining part of the show. Now the crowd was ready for more so when the guys tried to say goodnight much clapping and hooting brought them back for an encore. They played a fine version of the Beatles “Back in the USSR” with the audience clapping along.

I suspect we are going to hear much more from this talented group of Islanders. They are extremely gifted musically, have strong captivating vocals, and they are fun to watch. As John Macphee introduced one song he commented, “I wrote this when I was very young…well I’m still very young, but I was younger then.” The Chucky Danger Band is a very young band with an enormous amount of talent and with many great things awaiting them in the future.

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