Hometown Holidays

Barenaked Ladies to Perform Christmas Concert

From Christmas classics to their own hits, Barenaked Ladies are bringing a show to Thunder Bay this month with something for everyone.

“People are in the mood at holiday time to listen to music,” drummer Tyler Stewart says. “To me, that was always the best part of the holidays. Sure, it’s great getting presents and all that, but I always thought the music was the best part of the season, and that was really a big part of us deciding to make a holiday album in the first place— we were all fans of holiday music.”

That album, Barenaked for the Holidays, was originally released in 2004. However, in November of 2022, the band re-released the album as a deluxe edition, complete with nine bonus tracks. “During the pandemic, we recorded a holiday special that we put out as a webcast,” Stewart says. “Luckily, we could get into the studio and make that, and we had a great time doing it. It turned out that some of the recordings from that are really quite good, so we decided to add those as bonus tracks to the rerelease of Barenaked for the Holidays.”

The band is bringing those songs on the road with the Hometown Holidays with Barenaked Ladies tour. It kicked off in Vancouver on December 1, and will wrap up in Toronto on December 22—with a stop in Thunder Bay along the way, of course.

“We like to leave people with a smile on their faces, so we’ll definitely be playing some of our Christmas hits,” Stewart says. “The other thing is, we’ll be playing our hits, so people will get a chance to hear some of their favourite Barenaked Ladies songs. Mostly, we want to put on a fun show. There’s always surprises. Every Barenaked Ladies show is different, so we pride ourselves on surprising people and giving them a fun, energetic show that they’ll remember for a long time.”

Hometown Holidays with Barenaked Ladies stops at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium on December 13.

For more information, visit tbca.com