Gord Bamford and Aaron Goodvin made Thursday night an awesome night full of great country music, fun audience participation, and hot tub give aways?

Prior to the start of the music on Thursday night at the Centrepointe Theatre in Ottawa, the hosts revealed one aspect to the concert that I had never experienced before, a hot tub give away! This is something that is specific to Gord Bamford’s Neon Smoke tour. 2 fans from every show are entered into the grand prize draw for a super fancy hot tub from Arctic Spas worth $30 000 (the same one Gord owns!). These two fans were lucky enough to be called on stage in the middle of Bamford’s set, gifted with a robe and grabbed a photo with the singer. Those not chosen for the deluxe hot tub, are still eligible for a draw for a tub valued at $10 000…nothing to scoff at if you ask me! Aaron Goodvin even joked that if the winner is lucky enough, they could get the hot tub with him in it!

Aaron Goodvin

Goodvin kicked off night 2 of the Neon Smoke Tour on Thursday. Playing fan favourites, such as “Miss Me Yet”, “Lonely Drum”, and “Woman in Love”, you could tell the Goodvin was enjoying himself on stage. Had he not told us he had a bad cold, and was well medicated on Tylenol to get through the show, no one would have ever guessed that Aaron was under the weather. He put on a great brave face and played an amazing set. Goodvin was full of jokes and funny one liners, including “I don’t drink any more… or any less” which caused the audience to erupt in a fit of giggles. We were lucky enough on Thursday to hear some of the newer stuff that Goodvin has been working on, and I promise country music fans, you won’t be disappointed! (My personal favourite was “Bar and Churches”). Goodvin told us that he’s back in the studio in March, and I can’t wait to hear even more from Aaron.

To learn more about Aaron Goodvin, click here.

Gord Bamford

After a brief intermission, the lights dimmed and the neon lights started strobing in a very disco-esque way. The 24 CCMA winner and multiple Juno nominee, Gord Bamford, took to the stage and dove right into the first three songs for us. When Bamford took a quick pause from playing to interact with the audience, it was to share a funny story at Goodvin’s expense. Apparently, when Goodvin decided to leave Fairview, Alberta and become a star he made one crucial error. He packed up his U-Haul, said his goodbyes, and headed to Nashville, TN. When he got to the border, he was asked for his passport… ya he didn’t have one of those. Goodvin turned his truck around and headed back to Fairview, tail between his legs. We’re happy he didn’t let that deter him, and we know that Gord feels the same way! Gord explained that when he was at Goodvin’s stage in his career, he had the opportunity to go on tour with George Canyon. Bamford is hopeful that he can do for Goodvin what Canyon did for him – give him the exposure and help his career sky rocket.

Bamford has a way of telling stories perfectly with his music. This is exactly what he did with his new song “That’s What Grandpas Do”. I fought back tears the whole song because it was so relatable! Bamford plays the type of the music that you just have to close your eyes and appreciate. Whether it’s his older hits, including “Leaning on a Lonesome Song”, “Disappearing Tail Lights” or “Don’t Let Her Be Gone”, or some of his unreleased newer stuff, Bamford’s music can be applied to everyone, at any stage. There’s something for everyone.

Bamford credited the start of his singing career to a time when he was sitting around a campfire. His buddy picked up a guitar and Bamford started singing along. Everyone on this trip told him to pursue music, so he did. As a bit of a tribute to this, and to not bore us too much with his new stuff (Gord’s words not mine!), they set up wood stumps and played around a fake camp fire. During this portion of the show Bamford played a verse or two of his newer songs and kept things rolling quickly, giving everyone a taste of what he is working on, and what is to come!

After the camp fire was put out, and put away, Gord got the crowd extremely excited for a duet with Jim Cuddy! Even gesturing to the wings for the grand entrance of Cuddy for the song “Ain’t It Grand”. Throwing it back to last year’s CCMAs maybe? This was all a fake out, and Cuddy was never meant to come out! But, Bamford’s bassist, Lisa Dodd, did treat us to her vocals as she sang Cuddy’s part to close out Thursday night’s show with this great Canadian song.

Check out more from Bamford here.