Scott Roos
Special to the Herald
When Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk take the stage at the EA Rawlinson Centre on Thursday, Sept. 24, audiences can expect much more than a traditional concert.
The Canadian musical power couple is bringing An Evening with Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk to Prince Albert for a 7:30 p.m. performance that promises to be intimate, unpredictable and very much shaped by the audience in the room.
“We have a set list,” Maida says with a laugh, “but the in-between stuff is really like anything can happen.”
That may be the best way to describe the evening.
The pair plan to perform songs audiences know and love, along with new material and “probably a couple of cool covers,” Maida says. But unlike a conventional concert where the conversation between songs is carefully scripted, this show is designed to be much more freewheeling.
Maida says a previous run of shows on the East Coast demonstrated just how special that format can become.
“The audience were just so engaged and they just made it for a really lively evening,” he says. “There were a lot of times when we were just actually talking back and forth to the audience.”
Kreviazuk says that interaction is part of what makes performing together so rewarding.
“It’s really, really amazing that he and I get a chance to go out on stage together and have this sort of transformative experience with (our audiences),” she says.
And because the dialogue isn’t rigidly scripted, each performance has the potential to take on a personality of its own.
For fans, it’s an opportunity to see two accomplished Canadian artists in a setting that allows them to step outside the usual expectations of a concert and simply follow where the evening takes them.
Both Maida and Kreviazuk have plenty of musical history to draw from.
Kreviazuk broke through with her critically acclaimed 1997 debut Under These Rocks and Stones, launching a solo career that has included 10 albums, three JUNO Awards and a Grammy Award. Maida has spent nearly three decades as the frontman of Our Lady Peace while also maintaining a solo career. Our Lady Peace has earned four JUNO Awards, including Rock Album of the Year for Clumsy and Gravity.
Together and separately, they have also become sought-after songwriters, collaborating with artists including Kelly Clarkson, David Cook and Carrie Underwood, while Kreviazuk has worked with artists such as Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Gwen Stefani.
Their creative partnership has evolved alongside their personal relationship. Their 2019 documentary and accompanying music project, I’m Going to Break Your Heart, offered audiences an unusually candid look at both their marriage and their creative process. That story has now continued in the book I’m Going to Break Your Heart: A Rock and Roll Love Story.
The book revisits their lives and careers, but also explores what it means to maintain a long-term creative and personal partnership. Kreviazuk says their approach to working together has continued to evolve.
“When I write with Raine, when I get the chance to write with him, I mean, he’s brilliant,” she says. “And he hears completely differently than me. It’s always a different experience.”
That difference, she says, can actually be one of the strengths of their collaboration.
“I think that there’s a respect there,” Kreviazuk says. “He’s his own person and I’m my own person.”
That philosophy seems to carry over onto the stage, where two very different musical perspectives meet in real time.
For Maida, the Prince Albert performance carries its own significance.
“Playing places like Prince Albert are really special to us,” he says. “We don’t get (to places like Prince Albert) a lot, so it’s definitely, it’s not a once in a lifetime thing, but it means a lot to us. We can’t wait to see everyone.”
And judging by their description of the show, audiences should probably arrive without too many expectations and be prepared for the unexpected.
An Evening with Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk takes place Thursday, Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the EA Rawlinson Centre.
