Scott Radley: Hamilton’s Arkells picked to play Grey Cup halftime show

The guys in Arkells are as tuned in to social media as any band out there so they've seen the posts. The comments online saying they should be doing the halftime show of the Grey Cup game.

It just seems like every year around this time, for the past couple years, our name is in the running," frontman Max Kerman says.

The time has finally come.

In what many will say is a perfect choice for the occasion, the band will be performing at halftime next month when the 108th version of the big game is played at Tim Hortons Field. Bringing a little Hamilton to Hamilton. And then spreading it out to the rest of the country.

We're thrilled. We're honoured," Kerman says. It's an amazing ask to receive."

Though the news has been kept under wraps until now, it's hardly a complete surprise. Other names had been thrown around for weeks but the city's biggest band - which, for the uninitiated are not the Arkells but just Arkells - had been widely seen as the logical choice to perform on Dec. 12 at the biggest show of the year (Keith Urban's set in 2019 drew 4.1 million viewers). And they dropped a hint or two on social media over the past few days.

In fact, they've known for a week or two. So as the debate was going on, the guys had already begun planning for the 14- or 15-minute set.

Lots of meetings, lots of sketches, lots of voice memos being sent around," he says. Lots of ideas, some terrible, some awesome."

The song list is basically already chosen. He won't say what's on it. Won't even give a hint of how many tunes will be included. That's being kept a surprise. But since so many of their songs work as feel-good stadium anthems, there's no shortage of choices.

As for the performance itself, he says they've been watching halftime shows from other games and award shows to see what works and what doesn't in that format. Then they'll tweak and add their own creative spin.

Does this mean we could see Max Kerman riding out to the stage on a dog sled a la Shania Twain?

That's Priority Numero Uno," he quips.

Let's call that a solid, no.

The fact that they're getting the opportunity to do this at home isn't just special, it's unique. You have to go back to 2012 when Gordon Lightfoot was part of the show in Toronto to find an artist performing at halftime in their home town.

Truth is though, it wasn't until recently they started to think they might actually get a chance to do this. Here or anywhere else.

There's lots of different things as a band that you talk about and that you hope you get to do," he says. When we started, I don't think playing a Grey Cup was on our list."

Not because they didn't want to. They've done shows at the Olympics, the NHL Awards and the Winter Classic. They've even done a pre-game concert for the 2011 Grey Cup in Vancouver.

It's just that when they started, they didn't expect that music could be their full-time job. So playing the show many call the biggest stage in Canadian music? C'mon.

But with six albums, three No. 1 songs, seven Juno awards, 200 million streams, regular play on radio, in stadiums and on sports broadcasts, a huge fan base and a reputation as a great live act, it makes too much sense now not to have them do this.

Plus, Kerman isn't shy about the fact that he loves sports. Which makes this more perfect. And they have history at this stadium. Their Rally in 2018 was a massive success and they'll be back with another version this summer.

About that fandom, though. Does that mean he's competitive? And if so, does he need this halftime show to be the greatest ever?

I don't think I've gone that far," he laughs.

He says they simply want to do something special and memorable and something that exceeds expectations. Even though he knows expectations are going to be high.

Actually, playing at home and representing their town to the rest of the country, those expectations are likely going to be incredible.

We're going to try our best to make people proud."

Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com