Canyon City – DREAM TOUR

In this Dream Tour segment, the singer-songwriter, Canyon City, lets you know who he would like on his ultimate tour lineup. You can check out the feature, after the break.

My dream tour would be sharing the bill with Neil Young, Dawes and Weird Al (hang with me on the last one), because of its absurd improbability, the impact each of these shows have had on me personally, and most of all, because I think it’d cover the full spectrum of emotion to the absolute widest extremes.

First, Neil. I’ve had the good fortune of seeing him a few times now, but one of my favorite concert memories was an annual show in Mountain View, California, that Neil put together as a benefit for the Bridge School. It was an acoustic show in a small outdoor amphitheater that included sets from Tom Waits, Regina Spektor, John Mayer, Jerry Lee Lewis, Metallica, and of course, Neil Young. Aside from the irony of seeing Metallica’s acoustic set, I (17 or 18 at the time) was really affected by what an unassuming and genuine host Neil was. While half the audience was still shuffling in and finding their seat in the daylight hours, Neil just walked out on stage with an acoustic guitar and dove right in to “Comes a Time.” The intimate environment stripped down set and the cause that the evening supported affirmed the songwriting hero of my adolescence as worthy of the reverence that I, along with so many, have attributed to his art.

Dawes. I think I’ve seen Dawes’ live show more than any other, and every time you’d swear it was a special set just for that lucky audience. If Taylor Goldsmith’s songwriting prowess doesn’t immediately win you over (though I think it would), the visible comradery and whole-building shout-alongs like the last chorus of “When My Time Comes” will. When they inevitably sing the famed line “may all your favorite bands stay together,” you realize they’re talking about this band, this show, right now.

And finally, Weird Al. For as many melancholy folk songs as I write you’d think I christened my concert-going experiences with some underground “before they were cool” act… but for better or worse (alright, it was definitely for better), my first show was Weird Al at the Minnesota State Fair, deep fryers a-blazing straight out of the American playbook. The thing about that guy is you can’t not smile, and you can’t not feel like you get a work-out just watching him. We’re talking full set and costume changes. Every. Song. Life is complex, heartbreaking, beautiful, and the artists I love to reflect and sit in that space… but sometimes you just need to eat a double-battered Snickers bar and laugh at how you got here.

For all those reasons, that would be a dream (or fever dream) tour.

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(Photo credit: Jordan Merrigan)