The new outfit, celebrating the music of Eddie Money, also played a few originals in their first ever concert before flying off to San Antonio for the season opener. A large group of fans gathered in the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Field parking lot for a special concert with affordable beer, comprised of the following Jackrabbit player members:
OF Luke Gregson - vocals, keyboards
SP Jacob Cruz- lead guitar
RP Ronnie Sprinkles - saxophone, rhythm guitar, backing vocals
2B Scott Bell - bass
CF Dan Flores - drums and backing vocals
The arrival of Ronnie Sprinkles via Rule V and Jacob Cruz via trade allowed bandleader Gregson to finally get his special musical project off the ground. "I've been wanting to put this band together for a while, but couldn't find the right guitarist, in or outside of the clubhouse," stated Gregson. "Cruz's arrival really got us kick-started. And having Ronnie round out the band with the sax added another element to do Eddie's music justice."
The band's set began with the band's rousing warm-up instrumental, "UMEBA Hooker Blues". Then Dan's drum extended drum intro got the crowd ready for a rocking version of "Shakin'". Next was Eddie's first hit, "Baby Hold On", and then a magnetic performance of "Walk on Water" that got the whole crowd singing along with the band. Continuing the water theme, they launched into the guitar-driven "Gimme Some Water".
After that, Luke introduced the band members of the band with huge amounts of applause, then said, "I didn't plan on this, but tonight we've got this lovely brunette in a Jackrabbits tank top really enjoying this show here in the front. And now I can feel it happening ..."
"Gimme that guitar lick Jacob, because I `Think I'm In Love`!"
After that terrific cover of the Eddie Money classic, the band played their first original song of the night "Lost in Mexico City", a tale inspired by a road series versus the Aztecs where many of the Edmonton players indeed did get lost and the team nearly had to forfeit the game.
Next came a great recreation of "I Wanna Go Back" featuring terrific sax work by Sprinkles. And then, a unique acoustic performance of the inspirational "Peace in Our Time".
The set then continued with Eddie Bunny's second original song "The New Frontier", an outright corny song of optimism about the team and hopefulness for winning seasons to come to try to brown nose management for higher arbitration offers and contract extensions.
But no one could possibly prepare the crowd for what was about to happen next.
"The thing is, we haven't been able to play Eddie's most popular song yet. You see for this one, we are going to need some extra-special vocal help. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the stage, the lovely and brilliant Miss Anna Kendrick ... Anna ... `Take Me Home Tonight`"!
Luke and Anna traded vocals with Anna revving up the crowd. The song concluded with the audience - mainly the male patrons - loudly chanting "Anna! Anna! Anna!". With a wink and wave, Anna then left the stage.
"This is our last song, and I've gotta leave real soon for San Antonio. Because Anna and I have ..."
"`Two Tickets to Paradise`!!!"
After their finale, the band stayed for autographs and pictures with fans for well over an hour. "Some of these guys were already popular," explained GM Mike Bauer the next day. "But this inventive new band has increased the popularity of these players. Social media followers have gone way up, mainly here but also through the BBA. I think we have the only player-based band in our league. Pretty cool, right?"
