Having been on the backburner for two years due to the pandemic, the 50th anniversary tour may just boil over as the Downchild Blues Band returns to touring this month.
In what it dubs The Longest 50th Anniversary Tour Ever, the band hopes to make up for lost time, playing all the hits that have made Downchild a legendary blues act since the band’s start in 1969. It’s a celebration that began with 2019’s Live at The Toronto Jazz Festival recording – the group’s first vinyl release in more than 30 years – and now finally gets to go on the road as pandemic restrictions are eased.
“We’re just looking forward to getting back out there and seeing everybody since the 50th anniversary was 2019. We didn’t get to finish it because of the pandemic, so it’s been kind of the longest 50th anniversary tour in history,” said Chuck Jackson, lead singer and one of the harmonica players in Downchild. “We didn’t get to play places to celebrate that.”
The tour launches March 24 in Meaford before the band makes its way to the River Run Centre in Guelph two days later.
“We’ve got great audiences right across the country, but we always enjoy coming to Guelph. We’ll have some guests and we’ll be doing a lot of Downchild hits. You know, ‘Flip, Flop and Fly’ and ‘I Got Everything’ … Mostly we’ll be playing a collection of songs from our 20 CDs that we’ve recorded over the years – a lot of favourites – and it’s going to be a great time. Looking forward to seeing a lot of our old fans – the band’s been together 50 years, so we see a lot of fans that bring out their children or their grandchildren to see us play. We’ve gone through a few generations, so it should be a good time.”
The band was formed in Toronto in 1969 by bandleader Donnie “Mr. Downchild” Walsh and his brother, the late Richard Walsh. Donnie got his first taste of blues music as a young teenager during a birthday party for his girlfriend. From there, he was hooked.
“I was absolutely amazed by the music and, like, most people who heard the blues, started looking for more,” said Donnie Walsh in a release.
Excited to finally be back on the road, to celebrate with fans, Downchild Blues Band has over 30 spots across Canada and the US lined up for the anniversary tour.
“Last year we did three gigs with Downchild, two in Quebec and one in Mississauga. But most of our theatre gigs and stuff were cancelled or moved because of the pandemic. So, we’re very much looking forward to getting back on the road. We’ll be going out west later in the summer. So, it’s bouncing back and looking forward to seeing all our fans across the country,” said Jackson.
Downchild’s current lineup, who’ve been performing together for some 25 years, includes Walsh, who still leads the band, Jackson, Pat Carey on tenor sax, Mike Fitzpatrick on drums, Gary Kendall on bass and Tyler Yarema on keyboards.
They’re all looking forward to being back on stage together, said Jackson.
“The main thing is it looks like now things are coming back together and making sure that everybody’s safe and our families and members of the bands are healthy. Things are well and good right now. We’ll have some rehearsals and just run over some of our show, but after playing for 50 years, we pretty much know it all pretty well, so it won’t take long to get back into the groove.”
The band members are all triple vaccinated and ready to play, continuing their celebration of their JUNO award win for the 2017 album ‘Something I’ve Done’ and their latest release, ‘Live at the Toronto Jazz Festival.’
“We do all original songs, we pretty much write all our own songs. We did our 50th anniversary gig in Toronto in 2019, with Dan Aykroyd and Paul Shaffer and a bunch of other guests. That was a great time – I think there was probably about 40,000 people for that,” said Jackson.
Tickets to see Downchild Blues Band in Guelph on March 26 are available through
their website.
