If you had a million dollars, would attending a Peterborough Musicfest concert be on your list of things to spend some of your abundant wealth on?
Well, you can hold onto your money. Thirty-eight seasons on, admission to the summer concert series remains free.
Having co-founded Barenaked Ladies in 1988 with Ed Robertson, and subsequently enjoying much commercial success via a number of hit songs, “If I Had A $1000000” among them, it’s a pretty safe assumption that Steven Page has accumulated the wealth he fantasized having. If not, he has got be close, with his Musicfest appearance on Saturday (July 12) at Del Crary Park adding to the pot.
There’s no denying Page has well-earned the rewards, both monetary and personal, that have come his way as a member of Barenaked Ladies and the supergroup Trans-Canada Highwaymen, and as a solo performer since 2009.
Not unlike a lot of very successful and cherished pop/rock groups, how Barenaked Ladies came to be provides us yet another example of worlds colliding in the most random of circumstances.
Back in the late 1980s, Page held a grudge against high school classmate Robertson, who allegedly stole away his best friend. There things sat until after a Peter Gabriel concert when Page bumped into Robertson quite by chance and discovered he too was a huge fan of the English singer-songwriter. That shared fandom brought them together and ultimately led to the formation of the band that first took Toronto, and then Canada and beyond, by storm.
Struggling to get a solid footing on the music landscape, Page and his bandmates discovered there’s nothing wrong with a little controversy.
VIDEO: “Brian Wilson” – Steven Page with Barenaked Ladies
After contributing an upbeat version of Bruce Cockburn’s “Lovers In A Dangerous Time” for is 1991 album Kick At The Darkness, Barenaked Ladies was invited to perform at that year’s New Year’s Eve concert at Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square.
All was good, until a Toronto City Hall staffer complained loudly that the band’s name objectified women. That dissent gained traction, and media attention, and the band’s invite was withdrawn. But from that point on, with the help of their cover of “Lovers In A Dangerous Time” entering the Top 40, it seemed like everyone was talking about Barenaked Ladies in a good way.
In July 1992, Barenaked Ladies released Gordon, the band’s debut album. It topped 80,000 sales in Canada within 24 hours of its release, topped the Canadian charts for eight weeks, and earned Group of the Year honours at the 1993 Juno Awards. Besides “If I Had A $1000000”, the album’s singles “Enid,” “Brian Wilson,” and “Be My Yoko Ono” — all written or co-written by Page — garnered a lot of attention, as did the accompanying fun videos.
Barenaked Ladies would go on to record and release another 13 albums, right up to 2023’s In Flight, and win six more Juno Awards. In February 2009, shortly after the band released its Juno award-winning children’s album Snacktime!, Page announced he was leaving the band to chase a solo career.
Since striking out on his own, Page has released six albums, including 2010’s Page One, which produced the singles “Indecision” and “Over Joy.” It was Page’s first album comprised wholly of original material, most all of it written by him.
Come July 2016, Page found himself a member of Trans-Canada Highwaymen, a supergroup of Canadian musicians — including Chris Murphy of Sloan, which coincidentally is headlining Musicfest on July 16. Trans-Canada Highwaymen toured in 2017, but didn’t release its debut album until 2023.
And on March 25, 2018, Page performed with Barenaked Ladies for the first time in nine years at the Juno Awards in Vancouver, in celebration of the band’s induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.
VIDEO: “Indecision” – Steven Page
Page arrives in Peterborough having put his much-publicized 2008 arrest and conviction for drug possession well behind him as he handles bipolar disorder, something he revealed publicly in 2011.
Still producing music, with his most recent album being 2022’s Excelsior, Page continues to creatively flourish. While he recalls his time with Barenaked Ladies as rewarding and special in its own way, it’s clear that chapter of his life is well in the rear-view mirror as he tours and continues to thrive — as Steven Page, not Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies.
“I approach shows like it’s catching up with old friends,” said Page in a June 2025 interview with Roger Knox of The Chilliwack Progress.
“You’ve got to let them know where you’re at, where you’re going, and what you’re thinking, but you also have lots of time to reminisce and enjoy what we did together in the past. So you’ll get a real mix of stuff.”
The interview was done prior to a string of shows on the West coast featuring a trio comprised of himself, Craig Northey on guitar, and Kevin Fox on cello, and after a string of shows in the northeastern United States.
“I think it was some of the best shows we’ve ever done,” assessed Page. “The trio is really on a high right now, just kind of playing our best. I think the audiences are really anxious to get out there and connect, and to have a good, fun, positive experience.”
“I think I enjoy it (performing) more now than I ever have. I’m having a blast, and life is good right now. I’m really lucky to be able to play with the people I play with. I enjoy spending time with them on and off the stage. I feel like we’re on the top of our game.”
VIDEO: “Zoom” – Steven Page
All 11 tracks on Excelsior were composed and produced entirely by Page, with the lion’s share of the album’s material workshopped for audiences via Page’s popular pandemic-era virtual concert series Live From Home that he has conducted via Zoom since April 2020 from his home near Syracuse, New York. Appropriately, the song “Zoom” was the album’s first single.
This fall, The Steven Page Trio will open select North American dates for The Who — which Page says is the first band he “fell in love with.”
“We’re not using drums on the Who dates. We can’t compete with them, so the best thing you can do in that situation is to do the thing you do well.”
That will no doubt prove to be more than good enough for his Musicfest audience, who can expect to hear a mix of Page’s solo work along with some Barenaked Ladies songs.
This Saturday’s concert will be preceded at 6:30 p.m. by blues-roots rock singer and guitarist Emily Burgess performing under the Cogeco tent near the George Street entrance to Del Crary Park. The Maple Blues Award recipient is appearing as part of Musicfest’s new Future Sound Series featuring the talents of nine local performers this summer.
Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its 38th season, each staged on Wednesday and Saturday nights until Saturday, August 16th.
Overseen by executive director Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”
For more information on this concert or the 2025 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a headline sponsor of Peterborough Musicfest’s 2025 season.
