CREDIT: MOUDY DAVID
Tim Hicks, Jason Blaine and River Town Saints shook the walls of the Budweiser Gardens on Jan. 21, with impressive and stellar performances.

The RBC theatre at Budweiser Gardens was the main stompin’ ground on Saturday as fans came out to see Canadian singer, songwriter Tim Hicks on his Shake These Walls Tour Jan. 21.

The theater, which was roughly cut to half of the arena, was filled with a mixed audience of both young and old, while a sea of plaid and the occasional cowboy hat could be spotted in each corner of the venue.

Pembroke-raised, Nashville-based Jason Blaine and Ottawa Valley’s River Town Saints accompanied the tour of the same name of Hicks’ latest album.

The show began with the latter five-piece band, complying of Chris Labelle, Chris McComb, Jeremy Bortot, Jordan Potvin and Daniel DiGiacomo.

CREDIT: MOUDY DAVID

Backed up by another drummer, since Potvin and his family were about to welcome a baby, River Town Saints, a rock, country band, opened the show with six songs, including their three successful singles, “A little Bit Goes a Long Way”, “Cherry Bomb” and their current catchy single “Bonfire”. All of which were crowd pleasers and had fans singing along.

The Interrobang was able to speak with River Town Saints before their performance, where besides being funny and laid back, were enthusiast to chat about their success thus far.

River Town Saints are no strangers to London, having played Rock the Park, opening for Brad Paisley and were in town for the Canadian Country Music Association Awards (CCMA), where lead singer Labelle laughed that he was denied a fist pump from Sam Hunt during the awards show.

CREDIT: MOUDY DAVID

The men even stopped at Fanshawe in the past while on their first tour.

“I think we can say a lot of big memories for us have happened in London,” DiGiacomo said.

Touring with Hicks and Blaine is an all-around good time.

“Tim’s like our tour mentor because the first time we went out on the road, was with him and we were idiots at that time and he was really cool about showing us the ropes and keeping us out of trouble, [and] getting us into a little bit of trouble,” Bortot said. “So it was a lot of fun. It’s a really small community, and everybody’s super cool.”

According to DiGiacomo, it’s nice to be touring with Tim since both acts have a rock vibe to their sound and are compatible. It also allows both acts to gain a few more fans.

“It’s peanut butter and jelly, shower gel on the body, it’s good,” Labelle said.

With an EP in the works, the band said it would not only include their three current singles, but some new material, which they tend to test live first.

According to McComb, London is great for fans and with each tour stop, they have more people singing their songs than the last, which is an “unreal” experience.

“It’s been a rocket ship ride,” McComb said.

While performing at the Boots & Hearts Festival last year, Labelle said it was insane having people sing “Cherry Bomb” back to them.

“Fans, friends, family, they’re all listening to it and it’s actually making an impact and we got to thank country radio for doing it because without them, we’re nobodies and our labels and management, we got a good team surrounding us,” Labelle said.

Next up, Jason Blaine, who also had the crowd’s full attention, mentioned how he wanted to sing many more songs for the crowd, but there wasn’t enough time.

Blaine, who mentioned how glad he was back to be in London sang nine songs from his multiple albums, including “Country Side”, “Cool”, “Rock it Country Girl” and  “They Don’t Make ‘Em Like That Anymore”, a single that’s personal to him and family, with the video featuring the story of his grandparent’s life and love story.

Blaine said it’s amazing to see where music can a person, with this song having reached over one million views.

The crowd sang proudly with Blaine and amazed the singer-songwriter as he took out his phone and captured the lights of each cellphone swaying back and forth with his music.

“Oh my gosh, look at that London,” Blaine said.

A four-piece band accompanied Blaine and he kept the crowd upbeat and showed his slick guitar solos from time to time.

Next up, the main attraction of the night, Tim Hicks, took the stage with the crowd cheering and showing their love for him.

CREDIT: MOUDY DAVID

Along with a five-piece band, including a mandolin and banjo and with a ramp that extended from one side of the stage to the back where the drummer was placed, Hicks worked the stage with a strong presence and had full control of the audience.

With his guitar in hand, Hicks began his set playing “Shake These Wall”, getting the crowd pumped and ready for a night they wouldn’t forget.

Hicks played roughly 16 songs, including “Slow Burn”, “Stompin’ Ground”, “Hell Raisin’ Good Time”, “So Do I” and “Slide Over”, a song in which Hicks says describes society as a whole is “living in an age of distraction”. It represents just taking a break and “sliding over” to reconnect with each other.

Hicks also brought out Blaine back on stage for a rendition of “Got a Feeling”, which also included getting the audience to play a singing game as well.

Hicks impressed the crowd with his strong, almost electric vocals, along with playing both electric and acoustic guitars.

Hicks came back to perform an encore which included his well-known song “Stronger Beer”, which Hicks joked was never even supposed to be a song in the first place, and “Forever Rebels” a song that was one of the most favourite songs he’s written because of his honesty. Hicks said he was told he wasn’t good enough for the music industry, but he kept going and that’s what this song is all about: keep following one’s dream.

The audience was fully engaged with each performer, and though there was some technical difficulty with guitar cables not working properly, mainly for Blaine, by the time the concert ended, the walls were shaken to the core.

CREDIT: MOUDY DAVID