GORD DOWNIE, THE SADIES, AND THE CONQUERING SUN - LIVE AT 6 O'CLOCK

When Tragically Hip front man Gord Downie teamed up with The Sadies in 2014 to release their one and only collaborative studio album, And the Conquering Sun, it was a true match made in heaven. Taking Canada's most versatile backing band since, not surprisingly, The Band, and pairing them with arguably one of the most powerful, dynamic, and poetic vocalists to come out of this country seemed like an absolute no brainer. While the musical results of that album were impressive, and arguably the most interesting output to come from Downie since Phantom Power, the real chemistry of this unlikely musical pairing wouldn't reveal itself until the super-group hit the road and started playing live in front of the sweaty, unassuming masses. The raw, unbridled intensity of both Downie & The Sadies giving their 110% every night on stage is what is immaculately captured on Live at 6 O'Clock.

Rather than simply re-hash live versions of the ten songs that comprise And the Conquering Sun, the set list here includes six wide-ranging cover songs and only two Downie/Sadies originals, "Demand Destruction" and the excellent "It Didn't Start to Break My Heart Until This Afternoon." The choice of covers is the true revelation here, and poignant in ways that none of the principle players  could have appreciated at the time. Kicking things off with a cover of Roky Erickson's "If You Have Ghosts," a song that hangs on little more than the prophetic lyric  "If you have ghosts, you have everything." Surely Downie could not have fathomed at the time that grappling with his own mortality and legacy would become his principle concern two years later. Nor could Sadies guitarist Dallas Good have appreciated that six years after Downie's terminal cancer diagnosis, he too would find himself six feet underground.

A rollicking cover of The Who's "So Sad About Us" keeps the momentum moving along, but it isn't until the positively deranged and electrifying cover of Toronto hardcore legends Fucked Up's "Generation" that the true power of Downie & The Sadies is revealed. In a further nod of approval, 2014 would also see Downie contributing backing vocals to Fucked Up's fourth album, Glass Boys, on the contemplative "The Art of Patrons," alongside other generational heroes as Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis and Alexisonfire's George Pettit.

However, the true centerpiece of Live at 6 O'Clock is the take-no-prisoners cover of Neil Young's "Grey Riders." A song that also originates as a live recording, initially performed by Neil Young & The International Harvesters in 1985 in the middle of his doomed Geffen era in support of the blatantly country album Old Ways, the version performed by Young revealed that the rocker was still alive and well, hiding in plain sight behind a cowboy character while he painfully exhausted his five-album contract with Geffen. Here, The Sadies sound closer to a fully electrified Crazy Horse as they furiously tear through the five-and-a-half minutes of the song as if their lives depend on it. Likewise, Downie channels his most possessed mad man persona as only Gord Downie can, a trademark move he would employ most effectively with The Hip during live versions of "New Orleans is Sinking."

Live at 6 O'Clock wraps up with a wildly unhinged cover of The Stooges "I Got a Right," a Raw Power outtake that likely would have been suggested by Dallas Good. In an alternate universe where Downie had decided to front a punk band instead of joining The Hip, "I Got a Right" gives a clear snapshot of what the results would have been. Beautifully messy, impassioned, and fast as hell, Downie the punk is yet another compelling persona of the enigmatic performer.

2015 would see Downie return to The Hip, performing Fully Completely front-to-back each night in support of that classic album's twentieth anniversary. If you were lucky enough to catch one of those shows, it was immediately apparent that performing with The Sadies the year prior had re-ignited a spark in Downie that seemed to have been fading in years prior. 2016 would mark the release of the final Hip album, Man Machine Poem, and subsequent final tour, to say nothing of the career-defining release of solo album Secret Path, all while actively going through aggressive cancer treatments.

Likewise, The Sadies would continue to tour and release excellent albums relentlessly, with the untimely passing of Dallas Good in 2022 resulting in the band touring their excellent Colder Streams album as a three-piece. The 2014 Downie/Sadies tour that gave us Live at 6 O'Clock was just a blip on the timeline for each respective act, but the long-lasting importance of this musical pairing is beyond measure.

-Leks Maltby