Carole’s still got buckets of attitude and wry charm (Photos and graphic by VA).
Carole Pope’s appearance was the first of three Aeolian shows over three months by very different but wholly distinct, legendary female artists.
I’m a longtime Carole/Rough Trade fan going back to their direct-to-disc live-in-the-studio debut which remains tied with Avoid Freud as my fave RT disc. I am so happy I grabbed a CD copy way back when it was available for a blink of an eye. I never get tired of it.
Ditto, Avoid Freud. Actually, they didn’t make a bad album.
I’ve seen Carole and Rough Trade a few times each, but it had been a while. So, Cublet and I and our group of friends were pretty stoked about this show, at the always wonderful Aeolian Hall. (Aeolian has been knocking it out of the park this year!)
And third row centre seats to boot.
Waterloo’s Awake and Dreaming opened the show. I enjoyed this four-piece’s ethereal and tuneful set. The material was good, a bit Lana Del Rey-ish (her slow, spare, quieter material).
Awake and Dreaming as trippy silhouettes on the Aeolian Hall walls (All photos by VA)
Accompanied by guitar player Tim Welch, Carole arrived on stage to an excited welcome. She kicked off the night with a Rough Trade classic, All Touch. It was clear from the off that she still possesses a great voice plus loads of charisma and humour.
Indeed, she was a hoot, as usual, punctuating her set with witty, wry observations. Her skills as a raconteur are wonderful, and those same skills are part of what made her autobiography, Anti-Diva, such a page-turner.
She told many hilarious tales about her life, first years in New York, and writing process.
She has been working on a musical about the career of Rough Trade, and did a few tunes from it during the evening. Carole also did other, more recent numbers such as the hilarious “Lesbians in the Woods” and “Play Fisty for Me,” her ode to fisting with a great intro story: “The thing about fisting is that it hurts, and I’m not even receiving it—it hurts your hand!”
She concluded the night with “Shaking the Foundations,” something Carole has always tried to do and continues to.
Later on, she also announced that the new documentary about her, Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions, directed by Michelle Mama, would soon be debuting in Toronto, opening the 2026 Hot Docs festival. It just went live on CBC Gem a few days ago, and I can’t recommend it enough. I’ll be watching this one several times.
I’m glad that Kevan Staples was still alive when they started filming the doc and could contribute to the film. k.d. lang, Peaches, Rufus Wainwright, Jann Arden, and many other talking heads appear as well, noting the impact that Rough Trade and Carole Pope had on them.
I’ll eventually be podcasting about this show down the line in the mylifeinconcert.com series as part of Concert no. 99, Birds of A Feather: Rough Trade, Barrymore’s, Ottawa, Ontario, Saturday March 10, 2001 + Carole Pope, Ottawa Pride July 2002.
I have already written and/or podcasted about seeing Rough Trade open for David Bowie at CNE Stadium in September 1983 as well as her solo set at 2011 Toronto Pride.
NEXT SNAPSHOT: The legendary Judy Collins returns to Aeolian Hall, and I finally get to see her live.
SNAPSHOTS no. 226. In My Life: Judy Collins, Aeolian Hall, London, Ontario, Canada, Monday May 25, 2026
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