Of all the bands at the 2025 Sommo Festival, it was St. Paul & The Broken Bones who felt like one of those pinch me moments, as they are a band that would be a great fit for something like Harvest, or the Halifax Jazz Festival, but never once did it seem like a remote possibility that they could end up on a stage in the Maritimes. That is, until September 2025, when the band was booked to perform on the mainstage ahead of the legendary Alanis Morrisette.
When the lights came up, the Broken Bones were on stage and started to warm things up with their fusion of blues rock and soul, then Paul Janeway made his way to the stage, and we were off to the races. Janeway and company worked through a set loaded with cuts from their recently released eponymous album, including the infectious “Sushi & Coca-Cola” and “Ooo-Wee”, but there was one point of contention that fans of the band may have had at the onset of the performance. That point was that Janeway looked more the part of a southern preacher than the frontman for a renowned soul-R&B band who happens to have a penchant for ostentatious capes and colourful cloaks that sparkle and shine like a disco ball. The only sparkle early on was from his sequined Nike Dunks, which perfectly matched his Navy Blue suit.
This was a set I would have loved to stick around for its entirety, but the final act on the Nova 7 stage (Rich Aucoin and his final show of the Parachute era) awaited, so we listened intently as we made our way back up the hill one final time for Day 1. St. Paul & The Broken Bones were everything I could have hoped for, and you can bet that this will not be the last time I see Paul Janeway and the crew. In watching clips from the tail end of the set, Janeway eventually busted out the sequined cape and looked like a sparkling pane of stained glass in the process. It was a great way to fire up the crowd, who were now anxiously awaiting Alanis Morrisette’s arrival.
