The weather was less then perfect, with freezing rain and ice pellets, but a capacity crowd turned out to see the official release of Allister Bradley's "No Games" album, and they were far from disappointed.

The crowd crammed into East Side Mario's "Lower East Side" room at their King St. location, and played a few games of pool while the band prepared to play a two-hour show filled with the songs from the album and covers of popular songs by Matchbox Twenty, The Eagles, and The Boomtown Rats, among others.

With a line-up including Mike Kipper on drums, Phil Honsinger and Steve Robinson on guitars, Ian Tanner on bass and Debra Ropp on percussion and vocals, Allister and the band filled the room with an ocean of sound.

The first set followed along with the first half of the album, starting with The Words Are Free, and following with Ten Years On, If Ever I Cried, and No Games, before branching off into covers of Our Lives by The Calling and Live by Crush. Coming back to the album, the first set closed up with Goodbye, Bedford Falls and Fall Again.

The second set started off on an acoustic note with Bradley, Ropp and Robinson delivering up-close and personal arrangements of Matchbox Twenty's Disease, Five For Fighting's Superman, and a rousing rendition of Boomtown Rats' I Don't Like Mondays. Following those were Lennie Gallant's Pieces Of You, which Bradley and Robinson had prepared on a day's notice after seeing Gallant live in Kitchener, and a stunning performance of The Eagles' Seven Bridges Road. Bradley and Robinson performed one more cover, Edwin McCain's I'll Be, before Mike Kipper and Phil Honsinger joined back in for Remember The Simple Things, with Mike on congas. Tanner once again picked up his bass and joined in for the remainder of the show, with the aptly-timed The Lights Are On (For Christmas) and Song About Nothing. Singers Karen Bertram, Neil Bertram and Rob Bertram spontaneously reprised their album roles to join in on Bring Me A Beer to close off the show.

The humble Bradley hadn't even considered what the band would play for an encore, but when the show was over, he was forced to make just that decision as the crowd chanted and slammed their mugs on the tables, demanding more. The band outdid themselves with an even tighter version of The Words Are Free to finish the night on a power chord.

All in all, Allister says the night exceeded every expectation he had leading up to it. "The audience that showed up was ready for a great show, and the energy in the room was exhilerating, right from the moment we struck our first chord. The band played a superb show, the crowd was totally engaged, and everyone was having a terrific time. I could have played all night long."

Photography by Decision Support Services.