David Clayton-Thomas Tickets

This is a man with a voice you can not forget. He wrote so many songs that are etched in the minds of those of us from that era. He has a smile from the inside out, that reflects from his eyes. It is obvious that I am under his spell, so suffice to say I loved every minute of his show and if circumstances permit I would hope to meet him one day.

My BFF Kathy and I sat front row Saturday night, and witnessed celestial performances by all!

The show as excellent, The band played very tight and the vocals were still strong. Spoke about each song before singing giving some back ground. really enjoyed it.

He sang great. His band was dead on that night. To see someone like that in a relax setting (a bar) was a treat!

We should all be grateful that David Clayton Thomas still wants to share his distinctive,blues based voice and songs with us.The horn section was tight and awesome. David Clayton Thomas is a national treasure to be appreciated and enjoyed.Great Show. Thank You David for sharing your gift.

From the moment he sang his first note, I was enthralled. Loved every minute of it!

Even after a recovery following a significant health challenge, David still pipes out the classics. David is a performer and loves it. He loves his fans and doesn't take them for granted. His backing band is reliably incredible. David is recommended.

David Clayton-Thomas hit town last night, making his debut appearance at McPhillips Street Station, and his first in Winnipeg since his show at the Red River Exhibition grounds back in 2009. Though performing only a handful of live gigs in the interim years, the former lead vocalist/songwriter extraordinaire for Blood, Sweat and Tears has kept plenty busy since his last stop, penning an autobiography called “Blood, Sweat and Tears, releasing 2 new CDs - The Evergreens and Soul Ballads, receiving a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2010, and, most recently, making a 2nd appearance last month on CBC’s Cover Me Canada. Clayton-Thomas entered to rousing applause, still looking youthful for his years, sporting a charcoal grey suit, blue open collar dress shirt, and matching suspenders a la Larry King. Although maintaining the “must play” hits, the Grammy Award winner varied the set list from his previous visit, opening with the 1-2 punch of his self-penned, 1968 BS&T smash Spinning Wheel, followed by his 1970 Carol King/Gerry Goffin penned hit “Hi-De-Ho.” The Canadian Music Hall of Famer’s voice, though huskier, is instantly recognizable.The songs lacked none of his trademark power and emotion. The former BS&T frontman is still fully capable of wringing every ounce of emotion out of a slow blues, flexing his vocal muscle on a pop rocker, or scatsing through a jazz number with the best of them. His super tight 10-piece backing band, consisting of some of the finest jazz players in Canada, demonstrated their impressive chops throughout the night, and were given plenty of solo room such as on the DLC’s song “Mornin’ Blues” from his 2009 release Spectrum, that featured a fine solo baritone sax solo from Colleen Allen. Demonstrating great rapport with the audience, Clayton-Thomas told some extremely entertaining anecdotes about the background of some of his biggest hits. Introducing BS&T’s 1969 Laura Nyro penned hit “And When I Die,” he tell told how he met the then totally unknown singer-songwriter, who sat at the piano and tried to interest him in a few of her “unrecorded” songs, and proceeded to pick his jaw up off the floor after being played “Wedding Bell Blues,” “Stone Cold Picnic,” “Eli’s Coming,” and “When I Die” – future smash hits for the 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night, and, of course BS&T. A tale of “losing his ass” in Vegas after BS&T played a 7 night engagement at Caesar’s Palace, preceded his punchy 1971 hit Go Down Gambling, followed by a song inspired by car accident in Wawa, ON, which marooned the band for a week and led to meeting “a bad ass woman” - the prelude to his 1970 hit Lucretia McEvil, which featured some fine scats singing by DLC and a great tenor sax solo by Michael Stuart. A soulful cover of Sam Cooke’s classic “A Change Is Gonna Come” from DLC’s 2010 studio album Soul Ballad, preceded the funky drunky “Gimme That Wine.”(a personal fav). In the home stretch, his romantic ballad You’re the One, a song he wrote for his former wife, preceded his 1969 BS&T monster hit ~ You Made Me So Very Happy, and, after following a thunderous standing ovation, DLC returned and finished with his stirring reading of Billie Holliday’s God Bless the Child.

David Clayton Thomas tours only sporadically these days. As lead vocalist./songwriter extraordinaire for Blood, Sweat and Tears back in the glory days when they ruled the charts with classics such as Spinning Wheel, When I Die and You Made Me So Very Happy, he has long ranked high on my “Catch Him While You Still Can” list of must see performers. So when news leaked out that he’d be making a rare appearance here in Winnipeg, I was overjoyed. My dad was huge fan of swing jazz. So as a child, I was teethed on big band 78 rpm recordings of Glen Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Stan Kenton until the Beatles came along obliterating everything and forever changing my world. But in 1969, Beatlemania did not stop me from taking notice of the most powerful jazz fusion sounds ever to explode onto the pop airwaves, and note especially, the gritty, powerhouse lead vocalist whose voice thundered overtop that popping brass and rhythm section. That unique voice belonged to a fellow Canadian, David Clayton Thomas. Blood, Sweat and Tears 1969 self titled album won 3 Grammy Awards, beating out the Beatles Abbey Road at the Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and earned the band 3 US Billboard Top 2 singles including Clayton Thomas’ own self penned smash Spinning Wheel. Clayton Thomas has since gone on to sell 40 million records worldwide and was inducted into Canada’s Music Hall of Fame in 1996. Though David has slowed down his live performance schedule, he’s still been hard at work writing, and has recorded a brand new CD called Spectrum. Though the sky threatened rain, a good size crowd was on hand at Central Stage in the Exhibition grounds to welcome the group. They opened the night with a solid rendition of the Laura Nyro classic When I Die from the 1969 B,S&T self-titled album. If anyone thought that David’s new backup group might not be up to B,S&T standards, their fears were quickly allayed. Having retired from B,S&T in 2004, he now tours with a slick 10 piece orchestra from Toronto billed under his own name. Clayton Thomas looked professional in a dark suit and blue open collar dress shirt, and he quickly proved he still had the pipes. His voice was perhaps slightly more husky and raw than the old days, but this worked to his advantage given his bluesy style. The songs lacked none of the trademark power and emotion. His only concession to his senior citizen status, was a stool he used occasionally while allowing the band members to solo. He quickly followed with another track from the same album, his self-penned smash hit Spinning Wheel. David talked freely and easily to the primarily middle age crowd, apologizing for not having visited Winnipeg for over 30 plus years. He next introduced a selection from his new CD Spectrum that featured a fine baritone sax solo from the sole female musician in the band, Colleen Allen. Though the band now bears his name, David wisely gave his musicians plenty of time in the spotlight. Ever the consummate entertainer, Clayton Thomas introduced a local high school marching band who were to perform a couple of his songs in an upcoming European band tournament. As a tip of the hat to them, he performed the songs back to back and revealed the inspirations behind the two songs. “This song was written about a bad ass woman I met in a motel in Brandon, MB.” The song was the B,S&T hit Lucretia McEvil, followed by Go Down Gambling, a song he explained was inspired from at time he, “lost his ass in Vegas.” Slowing down the pace, he next performed the beautiful ballad You’re the One, a song he wrote for his former wife. He then picked things up again with the funky and raucous Gimme Dat Wine (one of my fav songs of the night) followed by the slightly self indulgent 40,000 Headmen from BS&T 3. Commenting wryly that he wanted to let the Winnipeg crowd get home “before it snowed,” David wrapped up with B,S&T’s classic hit ~ You Made Me So Very Happy. After a well deserved standing ovation, he returned and finished with his stirring reading of Billie Holliday’s God Bless the Child. What the show lacked in length (performing only an hour and 15 minutes of an expected 1 ½ hour performance) Clayton Thomas and the band certainly made up for it in quality and content. He made the crowd and this reviewer VERY happy. Don’t wait another 30 years to bring your band back David!