Tom Cochrane leans into the microphone and utters: "Let's do that road song."
And then, in the split second before the music can even start, the crowd jumps to its feet with raucous applause.
They all know "that road song" is 'Life is a Highway', Cochrane's international No. 1 smash hit.
Photo credits: Steve MacNaull/NowMedia GroupTom Cochrane kicked off the Summer Concert Series at Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna on Wednesday night.
The dancing starts and everyone sings along:
Life is a highway
I wanna ride it all night long
If you're goin' my way
Well, I wanna drive it all night long
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This scene happened Wednesday night in the outdoor amphitheatre at Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna.
Cochrane was the kick-off show for the winery's Summer Concert Series.
The other two concerts are Burton Cummings ('American Woman', 'Stand Tall' and 'These Eyes') on July 22 and Amanda Marshall ('Birmingham', 'Let it Rain' and 'Beautiful Goodbye') on Aug. 6.
A few tickets remain for each show at:
https://www.missionhillwinery.
'Life is a Highway', which topped the charts in 1991, was the 13th song in Cochrane's non-stop 14-song set.
He also received a surge of applause, hoots and hollers when he changed one line of the lyrics in 'Life is a Highway' from 'to Vancouver's lights' to 'to Kelowna's lights'.
The evening started quietly enough with Cochrane striding onto the stage and telling the sell-out crowd of 1,000: "What a beautiful night and you're beautiful people out there."
He launched into the hits right away with 'Mad Mad World', 'Victory Day', 'Sinking Like a Sunset' and 'Untouchable One'.
Then things got serious as Cochrane introduced his second-biggest hit 'Big League'.
He dedicated the song to the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus tragedy and everyone sang along:
My boy's gonna play in the Big League
My boy's gonna turn some heads
My boy's gonna play in the Big League
My boy's gonna knock 'em dead
Shifting gears, Cochrane, who now lives in Kelowna, introduced his dentist — Suzanne Degner of Kelowna's Love It Dental — who is also a talented cellist.
She accompanied him on the ballad portion of the concert through the songs 'Ocean Blue', 'Bird on a Wire', 'Napolean Sheds His Skin' and 'Good Times'.
Another shift in gear happened when Cochrane commented: "You guys are getting rowdy."
And the dance portion of the evening picked up with 'Human Race', 'White Hot', 'No Regrets' and the aforementioned performance peak of 'Life is a Highway'.
Cochrane's summer tour continues with performances at the Medicine Hat Stampede on July 22, Bear Creek Folk Fest in Grande Prairie on Aug. 15, the Canadian National Exhibition Bandshell in Toronto on Sept. 5 and the Barnside Harvest Festival in Delta on Sept. 13.
Ironically, I also saw Cochrane perform just one day before on Tuesday when he was the half-time show at the World Cup match between Switzerland and Colombia at Vancouver's BC Place stadium.
Another chance to hear 'Life is a Highway' live and recognize Cochrane as a Canadian music icon.
