Friday, March 13th, Saskatoon’s The Sheepdogs pulled into Chatham, Ontario, to start their 2026 Canadian tour. The Chatham Capitol Theatre has become the launch pad for the band’s tours four times now, and Chatham loves their Sheepdogs!
The sixteen-song set featured a mix of old and new starting with the rocking “I’m Gonna Be Myself” from the 2015 album Future Nostalgia. Right from the first notes, the Chatham fans were standing in the aisles and in front of the stage rockin and boppin along, and stayed on their feet till the very end.
There were several songs from their latest release including Nobody But You, I Do, Bad For Your Health and the title track, Keep Out of the Storm. For the song Take A Look At Me Riding, keyboardist Shamus Currie stepped out from the keys to play some trombone. The bluesy tune shows the versatility of this band despite being known for a classic southern rock style. The vocal harmonies and upbeat rhythms are a joy to experience live, as well as the obvious fun the band has in performing in front of a live audience.
Playing live gives the guys a chance to throw in a lot of jamming during the songs, and they love to jam. During one song, even Keyboardist Shamus came out and played a guitar solo. None of it was excessive; it was a rock n’ roll party, and everyone was having a blast, including the band.
The show finished strong with several of their more popular songs, Feeling Good, I Don’t Know, and Nobody, and ended with one of my favorites, the heavy rocker Scarborough Street Fight.
Opening the night was Squamish, B.C. band Surf Hat with their unique West Coast soft psychedelic surf rock. Their performance befitted the music they were playing, decidedly carefree as they sometimes danced around the stage, occasionally laughing and joking with each other. Musically, they were good, a bit of a strange bedfellow for the Sheepdogs, I thought, but I liked them.
It was a fun night with two fun bands, and what more could you want on a Friday night in Chatham?
Sheepdogs Setlist
- I’m Gonna Be Myself
- Bad for Your Health
- Keep Out of the Storm
- Bad Lieutenant
- Southern Dreaming
- Downtown
- I Do
- How Late, How Long
- Nobody But You
- Take a Look at Me Riding
- Take Me for a Ride
- Feeling Good
- I Don’t Know
- Nobody
- The Way It Is
- Scarborough Street Fight
All photos by Dan Boshart