It was the last place anyone expected to be treated to a concert by one of Canada's most legendary bands. But those commuting to work outside Union Station on Monday were stunned to come upon the members of
Blue Rodeo giving an impromptu concert on the street.
For many fans, their jobs were soon forgotten as they got the first chance to sample music from the group's new CD, aptly titled "Small Miracles". "This makes my Monday!" a delighted Christine Chang admits. She was supposed to be at work for a conference call, but decided to come in late. "I can still stop to smell the roses," she laughs.
The station gig was just the first of several stops along the way on a morning that began at 8:30am and ended much later in the day at places like First Canadian Place, Yonge and Dundas and the Black Bull at Queen and Peter Sts. Leader Jim Cuddy, along with band mates Greg Keelor, Bazil Donovan, Glenn Milchem, Bob Egan and Bob Packwood played about five songs at each stop.
"Most of these stunts are just to announce to people that something's happening," Cuddy explains. Not that he didn't have his own nightmares about his waking moments. "Oh God, what if we are here and everybody just goes off to work and we're just like idiots?"
But that didn't happen, and fans were impressed by what they saw. "Singing without a sound system or anything and getting it over the traffic and everybody's enjoying it," one man praises.
Christian Fletcher has been following them around non-stop. "I've been doing the whole day, actually," he admits. "Since this morning at 8:30 at Union. It's been a long day but it's been a good day."
But it was the mini-concert at Princess Margaret Hospital that proved the most memorable for the musicians, even though the audience numbered only about 100. Many wheelchair-bound patients and those with IVs crowded into the performance area, singing along with the guys.
"The nurse who looked after my dad when he was in intensive care up in North York was there too and so that was pretty sweet," Cuddy recalls. He wrote many of the tracks while caring for a dog that also had cancer. Months later, he was facing human beings who were suffering with similar life or death struggles.
For leukemia patient Brent Hart from Oshawa, it was a morning he'll never forget. "They talk about positive things to influence cancer treatment -- I can't think of anything better than something like this," he reveals, emotion in his voice. "I feel alive again for the first time. You just can't believe how much this meant to me."
The Rodeo riders croon their tunes for real at the Air Canada Centre for paying fans Monday night.
See Blue Rodeo performing outside Union Station In The Raw