Paul Humphrey, Blue Peter‘s suave singer, opened the band’s Lee’s Palace show with the lines, “Shout it from the rooftops, shout it from the streets/ celebrate this place.”
Anyone who thinks Toronto suffers from severe cultural amnesia might well be bewildered by the live music listings for the coming weeks: NXNE boasts a Rough Trade gig, while Luminato plays host to the Parachute Club, Mary Margaret O’Hara and other Queen Street regulars of the early ’80s. The Spoons played Dundas Square last week. Teenage Head have a new album. Sadly, Martha and the Muffins appear to be laying low. Blue Peter have never enjoyed the lasting affection that many of their peers have maintained, despite having a much more consistent discography than most of them. Perhaps that’s why Humphrey appeared humbled that anyone had shown up at Lee’s Palace at all, for the band’s first headlining gig of this decade that didn’t involve them piggybacking on a specific reissue or ’80s theme night. “I know you could all be at the Sex and the City premiere right now,” he deadpanned. Age has treated the suave singer well; he’s every bit as dashing as he was 25 years ago, and still wearing the same suit seen in the iconic “Don’t Walk Past” video; his slight resemblance to Harrison Ford made the sight of him fitting into old clothes all the more timely. It’s not hard to imagine why he was a compelling frontman back in the day, when Blue Peter would fill the Ontario Place Forum beyond capacity (and making an indelible impression on a certain 12-year old budding CanRock critic swept away by his first taste of rock’n’roll euphoria, listening to the show from the outskirts of the venue and trying to convince his parents to just sit and listen). He seemed a bit perplexed at the task of being a rock star again; these days he’s much more comfortable singing with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, which he does on his 2007 solo album A Rumour of Angels. This was far from a triumphant show — it’s obvious that these guys haven’t spent a lot of time in the same room lately, and guitarist/songwriter/producer Chris Wardman seemed merely bemused than by the whole experience. Animated bassist Rick Joudrey dusted off his Steinberger, while keyboardist Jason Sniderman’s set-up was a throwback to ’80s excess — there was no logical reason why he needed to be surrounded by six keyboards not seen on stage in decades. Drummer Owen Tennyson had to deal with a collapsing drum kit during the aptly titled opening song, “Falling.” Yet it was certainly exhilarating to hear Toronto classics like “Radio Silence,” “I Walk Alone” and “Take Me to War” performed live and with gusto, as well as most of the 1983 swan song Falling. Blue Peter were one of the few bands anywhere to transition effortlessly from Buzzcock punk (“Same Old Place”) to Joy Division ennui (“Radio Silence”) to funk flirtations (“Up To You,” sadly not on the set list) to classy romantics (“Burning Bridges”), maintaining their songwriting standards the entire time. The entire discography is now available on CD, though, judging by the audience demographic, it’s not being snapped up by a single soul under 40. (I won’t get into how strange it was to be the youngest person in Lee’s Palace.) The only youth contingent was actually on stage: a plodding opening set by the initially promising Vitaminsforyou, and a guest appearance by Emm Gryner substituting for Sherry Kean on “Chinese Graffiti” and “Don’t Walk Past.”
There’s no telling what — if anything — might prompt the next Blue Peter reunion. But while lesser acts seem to sneak into the CanCon canon on the basis of a few good singles, this band remains ripe for rediscovery.