ESTEVAN - A large crowd gathered at Affinity Place Thursday night to enjoy live music courtesy of three well-known Canadian acts.
Trooper, Sass Jordan and the Northern Pikes brought nearly four hours of rock music to the events centre, with Trooper serving as the headlining act. Attendance for the concert wasn't initially available, but most of the crowd watched from the arena floor, with people clustered rows deep around the stage area or watching from tables. There were also fans watching from the main seating area and private boxes.
The Northern Pikes performed first. The veteran Saskatoon-based act opened with King in his Castle, and followed that up with Hopes go Astray. Kiss me you Fool and Girl with a Problem. Several of the songs were from their newly-released album, Time After Time, which has three new songs and re-releases of their previous favourites.
Early on the band noted they played their first-ever show in Estevan at the Beefeater Inn (now the Days Inn) back in 1984.
Their set wrapped up with a rendition of She Ain't Pretty, which is arguably their best-known song, with fans singing along for the chorus. They also incorporated snippets of a couple other songs.
Sass Jordan was up next. A singer who had several big hits in the 1990s, Jordan took to the stage with a band and her powerful vocals echoed throughout Affinity Place throughout the show. She also danced and swayed during the show.
Jordan started by singing Damaged, played other songs like You Don't Have to Remind Me and the Feeling's Gone, and covered a couple other songs, including Johnny Winter's Still Alive and Well. She repeatedly reminded fans about the importance of love and kindness before her songs.
Jordan wrapped up her set with her best-known songs like High Road Easy, I Will Make you a Believer and So Hard. It was I will Make You a Believer that generated the biggest reaction from the crowd.
Trooper, which was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame earlier this year, wrapped up the concert. They didn't wait long to play one of their most popular songs, as they opened with We're Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time) to the delight of the crowd.
From there, the group, known as Canada's Party Band, kept the crowd going with such songs as Two for the Show, Boy with a Beat, General Hand Grenade, Janine, and two other hits, The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car and Raise a Little Hell. Lead singer David Steele often interacted with the crowd. A couple of Trooper band members had solos during the night.
After a brief break, Trooper returned to the stage for an encore that included one last rendition of Here for a Good Time.
The concert marked the first concert at Affinity Place since country music singer Dallas Smith performed a free show in September 2022 as part of Estevan's prize for winning the SiriusXM Music Towns contest.
