The Age of Electric live at L3 Nightclub – St. Catharines, Ontario – April 10, 2017

Posted on April 11, 2017 by Joel Naphin

Todd Kerns and Ryan Dahle from **The Age of Electric** playing at the L3 Nightclub on April 10. It was the band’s first time back to St. Catharines in 20 years. (Photo Credit: Joel Naphin)

The Age of Electric
L3 Nightclub
St. Catharines, Ontario
April 10, 2017

Where did 20 years go? That was about the last time The Age of Electric played St. Catharines. And it was that long ago when the band released their last album Make A Pest A Pet in 1997 with the singles Remote Control and I Don’t Mind. For the past 20 years AoE members continued in other bands and music projects.

The Dahle brothers (drummer Kurt and guitarist Ryan) had formed Limblifter and Kurt was also a member of The New Pornographers. Vocalist Todd Kerns worked on other projects and released a number of solo albums. He has spent the better part of the past seven years touring the globe as the bassist and occasional vocalist for Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.

In recent months Slash reunited with Guns N’ Roses for a tour and Myles Kennedy released a new album and went on the road with his other band, Alter Bridge (featuring members of Creed). The Age of Electric – rounded out by Todd’s brother John Kerns on bass – decided now was a good time reform with some new releases and a tour.

In February of this year The Age of Electric released a four-song EP called The Pretty EP along with a limited re-release double vinyl of Make A Pest A Pet which includes four additional unreleased tracks.

The L3 Nightclub in downtown St. Catharines hosted the return of The Age of Electric, presented by Indoor Shoes. The night got under way just before 8 p.m. with two bands – Reasonance & Reason and New Love. The crowd for the opening acts was sparse but the club filled up by the time The Age of Electric came on stage around 9:30 p.m.

They began their 18-song set with I Don’t Mind (off Make A Pest A Pet), Motor (off the self-titled album), and Show Me Your Weakness ( off The Pretty EP). The other three songs from the new EP also made their way into the set – Kids Break Bones, Elephant and Keys.

The Age of Electric played a good mix of songs off their albums The Age of Electric (1995) and Make A Pest A Pet (1997). One other new song that made its way into the set was Th13teen, one of the four previously unreleased songs recorded during the Make A Pest A Pet sessions but never made the final cut. It can be found on the re-released vinyl.

Other tracks AoE played included Belly Up, Nothing Happens, Untitled, Enya, Mad At the World and Ugly. For the encore The Age of Electric added some Niagara flavour with a cover of Honeymoon Suite‘s New Girl Now. They played a portion of the song before going into Getaway and ending the night with Remote Control.

The band sounded great and the crowd was very receptive. Let’s hope it’s a lot sooner than 20 years before we see The Age of Electric come back.

Setlist:
I Don’t Mind (Make A Pest A Pet)
Motor (The Age of Electric)
Show Me Your Weakness (The Pretty EP)
Belly Up (The Age of Electric)
Mad At the World (Make A Pest A Pet)
Kids Break Bones (The Pretty EP)
Enya (The Age of Electric)
Nothing Happens (Make A Pest A Pet)
Th13teen (Make A Pest A Pet vinyl re-release)
Don’t Wreck It (Make A Pest A Pet)
Elephant (The Pretty EP)
Blow Up (Make A Pest A Pet)
Untitled (The Age of Electric)
Keys (The Pretty EP)
Ugly (The Age of Electric)