Passenger – The Vogue Theatre – December 12, 2012

Thank you to Concert Addicts (and Nettwerk, I think) for the reviewer privilege - this tome was sent to both and is now posted on the Concert Addicts website. 

It is 8 pm, the lights in the Vogue Theatre are dimmed, screams erupt. Shades of the Ed Sheeran show from early October, I thought. A young man in a sport blazer and cap appears on stage and takes his place at centre stage where acoustic guitars, and two microphones were set up (he also plays harmonica). The audience seemed to have some familiarity with Colin Bullock’s songs. I liked him. He has nice colour and clarity to his voice. The audience was super appreciative and he in turn was grateful for the support. He’s got great vocal control – doesn’t need to be right at the microphone to make himself heard. Bit of an estrogen frenzy afterwards as the first few rows tried to get a handshake or some kind of acknowledgement from the not unattractive Australian-accented artist. As long as Colin was on stage, doing ANYTHING (even unplugging his equipment), hoots and hollers followed him.

Setlist included: Driftwood, Fearless (clappy audience, used his guitar percussively), “Now I Believe In Love” (had the audience on their feet and whooping), Rattle & Bone (a cover, wee bit country in a Copperhead Road way), New York Minute (his iTunes single, audience clapped along for the chorus and a few woos for the quieter bits), Left to Right (his final song, the audience had stood for it and it turned into a standing ovation at its conclusion). 

Next was Joshua Hyslop taking a turn for his half-hour (-ish) set. Again hoots and hollers accompanied him throughout his set. Audience members around me wanted to adopt him or marry him – repeated catcalls of “you’re adorable” rang through the auditorium (his mother in the audience would likely agree). His performance was unaffected by this – even with a candid admission that this was the largest house he’d ever played in front of. He has an easy manner with the audience and a sense of humour. His voice is on the breathy side, his songs are rather lyrical and for all but the last song he was accompanied by a good friend of his with a cello. Unsurprisingly, he also received a standing ovation. His is the kind of music that would be the perfect soundtrack to make a dreary, rainy day feel less dreary. His setlist included: I Wish I Was, Nowhere Left To Go, cover of the Bob Dylan song Shelter From The Storm, a song not introduced with the lyric “I Will Wait For You”, and a cover of the Cat Stevens song The Wind which a number of people in the orchestra recorded on their iPhones.

After about 20 minutes, it was Passenger’s turn. Also a bit breathy in sound, his voice has nice resonance, with a bit of a crackle to it and really nice imagery to his music. He’s a storyteller and he tells them well, but I do have a couple of suggestions. Michael: please drop the “goes (something) like this” at the end of a song intro. It’s a cliché and it’s redundant. You know how the song goes. The audience knows you know how it goes. It’s unnecessary and even a bit awkward. You are better than that. Also, with longer sets come longer stories. The thing he’s forgetting is that he’s a storyteller – by all means, put the story in context, everyone LOVES context, but don’t tell the story and then essentially tell it again in the song. The entire house of 1,000+ people is paying attention to your every word – and, you might fit a song or two more in. The show including encore was 75 minutes in length.

The set: 

• Fear Of Fear – rather short song. Hoots and hollers for the interludes.
• Life’s For The Living – huge audience response and singing for the chorus. I can totally imagine this as a closing song some day, when he can leave and the audience keeps singing.
• Bullets – clappy, clappy from the audience. This is one of the ones he told the entire story as a backgrounder before repeating it to music.
• Caravan -  whistle along song for the audience (collectively, we’re very poor whistlers, but he takes it in stride)
• Sound Of Silence – the Simon & Garfunkel song but he makes it his own. Very evocative, plaintive even, halting phrasing lends effect. The audience hangs on every pause. What the guitar plays is familiar, what he sings is his own.
• Part 1 and Part 2 are introduced by a long story about a former girlfriend. This is one where context is useful.
• 27 – in essence it was dedicated to the dreamers of things other people in their lives deem impossible. The house gets to their feet and this time clapping is solicited.
• An as yet untitled song but “The Only Song I’ll Sing” would get my vote. Really lovely.
• Feather On The Clyde – tries to imitate the trombone during this one. The audience finds his attempt funny as does Michael. The audience sings softly in the background, the soft female voice accompaniment is a nice touch to the feel of the song.
• Let Her Go – hoots. The house stands up again and sings along full voice through the entire song, receiving solo lines for parts of the chorus.  
• Hate Song – last song of the set. Audience again sings along full voice. Michael invites audience to sing along from the beginning, and I got the impression that even people who normally wouldn’t sing did for this one.

Encore:

• Travelling Alone – story about people he met in Copenhagen and Switzerland told. The audience is spellbound for the song’s duration. Even the chatter in the foyer eventually stopped.
• Holes – audience gets to their feet even before the final song is announced and they are asked to clap and sing along after they’d been ‘taught’ their parts. It was unnecessary. They already knew it. 

An evening of great singer/songwriter talent. One would think it would be an evening of sameyness, but maybe that is just what I hear on the radio. The three musicians were varied and each brought something different to the stage. This wasn’t so much a concert as it was a meeting of the ‘mutual admiration society’. The audience, predominantly female or coupled up, was very receptive to the three, young, under-the-age-of-30 musicians singing about love and loss and they ate it up. Michael Rosenberg a.k.a. Passenger was most likely correct in his estimation that 98% of the people were there because he had opened for Ed Sheeran back in October, but he’s doing himself a bit of a disservice. He’s had good exposure since then, I know The Peak was only too happy to have him perform live in-studio earlier in the day and who knows how many other stations have supported his music on air and via satellite. The Vogue Theatre was the third venue for this show, the previous two smaller ones had sold out quickly and this show, too, was sold out weeks in advance. 

This evening restored my faith in the singer/songwriter. In recent years, I’d disliked most of them that have enjoyed popularity and success and frankly, they usually bore me to distraction with their monotony and dross. I was beginning to wonder if I’d gone off them as a genre. Turns out I was missing quality. Tonight, I’m relieved to say I saw some of that again in Bullock, Hyslop, and Passenger. I had a really nice time this evening. Not every show needs to be a ‘dance ‘til you can’t move anymore’, ‘so loud I can’t hear myself think’ kind of night. It’s good for the soul to be able to sit back, contemplate, and watch this up-and-coming talent show what they’ve got to offer, which, as I see it, is quite a bit.

My iPhone photos below - better photos taken by Charles-Mathieu Seguin here.

Colin Bullock

Joshua Hyslop

blurry Passenger. Seriously, you need to see Charles-Mathieu's photos.

The Killers - Pacific Coliseum - December 3, 2012

Attendance at this concert was courtesy of Concert Addicts where this review is "officially" published.

 

The Pacific Coliseum likes punctual starts, I think, because at exactly 7:30 pm, the house lights went out and Tegan and Sara (and band) began playing. At this point in the evening, the General Admission floors are about ¼ full and the seated sections are loosely filled, the lower down, the sparser. The ages are diverse – I see children that look to me to be about 8 years old dancing with their mums, people who definitely remember the ‘80s (maybe even the ‘70s as well), and one guy with a pointy Santa-ish beard I swear had seen his 60^th birthday come and go. A further scan of the crowd, and especially in view of my recent Delhi 2 Dublin experience, and I’m thinking this is not where this city’s multiple ethnicities come together musically – this is a predominantly Caucasian audience with just a little diversity. I am seated just off the equivalent of centre ice, on the house left side of the arena. It’s been awhile since I was here last – so long, I can’t remember. Tegan could (if you have trouble telling twins apart as much as I do, she’s the chattier one of the two), she saw Velvet Revolver here. No reaction from the crowd though. Huh. Who would’ve thunk it? The seats are tight on all sides: my knees had less than an inch of room before they touched the seat in front of me, and I’m a rounded up 5’2”!

I knew a number of Tegan and Sara’s songs before-hand so could sing along to a few choruses. What I didn’t know is that with the twins and the band, there are essentially 5 keyboard players and there are usually 2 keyboard players per song, by Tegan, or Sara, or the bass player, or the guitar player, in addition to the actual keyboard player. All in all, it sounded really good balanced against two guitars.  

The setlist included Back In Your Head, The Con, Walking With A Ghost, Hell, Living Room, Alligator Tears, Where Does the Good Go, Now I’m All Messed Up, Feel It In My Bones, Closer.   

Observations: The Con sounded very strained, Tegan was definitely having problems; Walking With a Ghost was slightly slower than I’m used to but the pace worked nicely; Feel It In My Bones – a full-on synth-pop number and they went for it; Closer I found was a little off-key, flat in parts and a little painful to listen to, which I thought was sad because it is the current single and it’s a really fun song, and with the new CD Heartthrob coming out in January, not the best promotion for it. If I counted correctly, they played 11 songs during their 45-minute set.

I like Tegan and Sara, I really do. I like how their songs can be quirky, I like that they’re not overly long and that they have an ending not a “repeat to fade”. I like the way the twins sound together, I just don’t think this was them at their vocal best. They tried and soldiered on; they made no excuses either, it was what it was and it fell a bit short. I don’t know how long they’ve been on tour, how recently they finished recording their new album, but if this is what normally happens, I would definitely recommend seeing them, albeit earlier in a tour after they’ve had a bit of a rest. They’re absolutely proficient musicians, multi-instrumental, but if you can catch them early enough, you’ll get a more satisfying experience. If you’re not familiar with their music and can navigate pigeonholes, let’s put them in “Indie Synth Pop” for now and see how we go. 

They were both very appreciative of the audience and I do think it was reciprocated – there were even some “I love yous” from audience members, not just those in the front few rows on the floors. The audience, I felt, was there for The Killers, some were even wearing T-shirts from past tours like badges of honour (Hello Mr “Europe Tour 2008”).

Confession time: this was at least the 3^rd time I’d seen The Killers in concert. The first time (that I can remember, I really don’t keep score) was at V-Fest at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium in 2007, the second time was at UBC’s Thunderbird Arena in 2009, and now, Pacific Coliseum, late 2012. This is truly one of my favourite bands to see live, they understand the audience needs to be a part of the show. From the very first song, Brandon Flowers engages the audience – he greets them right off the bat, there is opportunity for participation with simple ‘sing-it-back-to-me’ phrases, which is good for new or casual fans who don’t know the lyrics to every single song, even if it is the most recent CD release. They play with the audience – there’ll be an intro that doesn’t sound like the regular/from a CD introduction, a pause, and Flowers asks if there are any guesses as to what’s next – at a Killers show, it is virtually impossible to be passive. You have to stand up because everyone around you is standing and you definitely want to see what’s going on. The lightning bolt from the Battle Born cover is centre stage and the back of it functions as the stand for Flowers’s stacked keyboards. A great way to combine form and function (not to mention the branding!).

The Killers also bring an arena show to an arena tour – their designers are not small thinkers: background imagery (cosmos, earth motifs in white fluffy clouds as well as planetary orbiting, what looked like magma drops sputtering in the heart of a volcano, high-speed highway travelling), multi-coloured lighting effects both from lights above the stage and from elements of the set, pyrotechnics - as upwardly directed flames and the kind that resemble welders’ sparks, confetti, during Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine, it seemed like the spotlights (pure white light, no gels) were on speed.

As songwriters, they tend to favour the storytelling tradition, and one of the things that makes Flowers stand out from other front-men is that he’s not only a good storyteller, he’s a credible one; it may not be his own story he’s telling, but he emotes and evokes and it doesn’t seem overblown. He sings it like he means it and the audience believes it. As musicians, they don’t believe in ‘dead air’ – even when Flowers is providing anecdotal background to a song or introducing individual band members, or telling the audience how much they enjoy touring with people like Tegan and Sara – whose music they enjoy and also like them on an inter-personal level, he is being accompanied instrumentally.  

The setlist: A Matter Of Time, The Way It Was, Smile Like You Mean It, Spaceman, Heart Of A Girl, Bling (Confession Of A King), Miss Atomic Bomb, Human, Somebody Told Me, Here With Me, For Reasons Unknown, From Here On Out, A Dustland Fairytale, Read My Mind, Runaway, Mr Brightside, All These Things That I Have Done. Encore: Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine, When You Were Young, Battle Born.      

Observations (I’ve got a few of them): long thunder-like intro between the time the Coliseum goes dark (8:45 pm-ish) until the band comes on stage; spotlight on drums to start The Way It Was; full red effects on set and background and everything for Smile Like You Mean It; Spaceman visuals were suitably cosmic, phrasing was a little more relaxed and ‘off-the-cuff’; Flowers plays the upright piano located upstage for Heart Of A Girl; Bling had gorgeous fiery yellow and brown visuals in the background, very kaleidoscopic; Miss Atomic Bomb had a super nice build to the story, volcano imagery on the back screen; Human had the audience singing along full voice and they keep the energy up for Somebody Told Me (audience cheering erupts for the opening chords and the cheers continue well after the song is done); Here With Me – fabulous storytelling “don’t want your picture on my cell phone”, yup, audience believes it; intro to For Reasons Unknown is unfamiliar, almost a heavy metal sound, that’s one of the ones Flowers asks the audience if they had any guesses as to what the song is going to be; From Here On Out sounded a bit country with Bluegrass-style tight harmonies, audience didn’t know the song well enough to respond to sing-along cues; Dustland Fairytale starts out so lovely and quiet with only the piano as accompaniment then full band brings on full light show, pyrotechnics and on the screen wildly spinning figures via stop-motion/freeze-frame technique – I experienced a bit of sensory overload at this point, stark contrast to what Flowers said the song was about: the loss of a parent; crowd got up again for Read My Mind and for the majority of it, Flowers looked like he wanted to speed it up a bit, but it just trundled along and the vocals for Dave on guitar were up way too high; for Runaway I hadn’t seen the audience this excited since Somebody Told Me and the energy stays right through Mr Brightside during which Flowers is emoting for all he’s worth; audience had a bit of trouble with their bits of All These Things... they eventually got going and when the band came back in the confetti guns exploded and it was a nice bombastic way to end the show (at quarter past 10). The encore began after about 4 minutes of cheering and the departure of the “beat the traffic” folks. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine had me thinking the operators of the white spotlights were under some kind of influence; I felt the bass reverberate beneath my feet for When You Were Young and there was more pyro to cue ‘the beginning of the end’ of the song; the audience didn’t know what to do for Battle Born, they sat back down, it seemed the safest while the full band was introduced one by one during the extended bridge, each getting their turn at a wee solo and to end the show the crowd surged to the front as Flowers went into the moat to high five what looked like every audience member of the first three rows. It took a bit, but he was determined to make it across the entire width of the audience and he did. Does Flowers have a bit of a musician crush on his guitarist Dave Keuning? To me, it seemed like he was hauling him out into the spotlight every few songs for some reason or another and he’s a good guitar player, with a hairdo reminiscent of Brian May’s and vocals up so high he was actually louder than Flowers a few too many times, but I really don’t get it (the anthem-like melodic phrases that elicit ecstatic reactions from the crowd come from keyboards, not the guitar, and to my ears, he doesn’t do the hooky riffs or anything, does he, so....why?).   

Overall, this wasn’t one of those shows where everyone knows the words to every song. For the vast majority of the people attending (capacity is approx. 16,000, there was no “in the round” seating, so my estimate is between 14 and 15,000 people), they came to see the hits and they got what they came for, for the most part. They knew the words to all the songs but the ones from Battle Born – it was almost like they were auditioning the CD by way of a live performance. At this size of audience you get the fans and you get the lookie-loos. For me personally, I have always liked that The Killers keep me engaged, on my toes a bit during a show, that it is something for most of the senses – as a fan, on a pure personal level, I was disappointed that they didn’t play Bones or Shadowplay, but I still left a happy camper.

Delhi to Dublin - The Commodore Ballroom - November 30, 2012

My thanks to Jamie for the opportunity of reviewing this show for http://concertaddicts.ca.

I’d never seen the Commodore look festive before: the lights and decorations around the pillars on the long sides of the dance floor and garlands strung along the railings made for a really nice atmosphere. The room was comfortably warm and every available seat was taken. The balcony was not open that evening, and as the house right staircase to it was where I chose to 'park', I had the pleasure of advising patrons of this fact over and over again.

At 9:30 Portland’s DJ Anjali came on stage to start her set and there were perhaps 60 people gathered in front of the stage and more trickled onto the dance floor as it progressed. I have to say, the DJ experience is an unfamiliar one for me. For the first 25 minutes I felt like I was watching a music fan dance to the music they like to listen to. Is that what DJing is? Seriously, is it? She did no effects or distortions or anything, she just played one song after another. I will say this for her, and this is an observation, not a critique: Anjali had more energy than the music she was playing, or maybe that is the style.

At about 5 minutes to 10 another DJ takes over (at the end he is introduced as “The Incredible Kid”) and then it becomes more of a show because Anjali then takes left of centre stage and begins to dance for real for about 15 minutes. Then she goes off-stage for 15 minutes and I’m watching a dude head bang and flip through his CD collection. The dance floor is about ¾ full by this point, so I do think it’s me. Anjali comes back briefly, to confer with her colleague and to grab her purse, and comes back to dance during the last song which ends an hour of cool music. She has great energy and has a lot of fun dancing – she obviously enjoys what she does, I’m just not sure I enjoy it as much.     

As a bit of a backgrounder, I had become interested in Delhi 2 Dublin’s music during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics when there was such great buzz surrounding them (even the guys from the Ethiopian delegation I was volunteering with saw them perform and loved them) and since then this “little band from Vancouver BC” continued touring and making music and this is the first time I got to hear them again.

Delhi 2 Dublin begins at quarter to 11 with 4 band members drumming and an electric sitar. As the name would suggest they are a multi-cultural group, one would expect an East Indian contingent from the Delhi side, a European one from the Dublin side, the surprise was the rocking Korean guy on electric sitar and electric guitar in the utili-kilt! Nicely played, I’d say. I also think calling them ‘multi-cultural’ does them a bit of an injustice – it’s a pigeon-hole into a category, and personally, I’d prefer to see this as an example of what ‘normal’ looks and sounds like. It’s reflective of the population in ethnicity and musical taste so why can’t the same go for music production? I’d love to hear this band on mainstream radio.  

The first several songs were in what I presume is Punjabi (but what do I know?), then they went bilingual, then spent some time in English, and just generally mixed it up a lot, I even heard Spanish. It gives me some pause for thought – at the end of the day lyrics are ‘just’ words to the beat and/or melody, and does it really matter what language they’re in? I’d argue no. You either feel a connection to it or you don’t, kind of like the people who play Green Day’s “Good Riddance” as a wedding song because they like the line  about having the time of one’s life, despite the “I hope it was worth it” tone of the song.

Enough digression, I really liked this show. Everyone is multi-instrumental – we start the show with 4 drummers and the electric sitar, and then one of the tabla drummers morphs into the MC taking care of the electronics (Tarun), one tabla drummer is the fiddler (Sara), the other two stay put as they’re the drum kit (Dave) and the dhol drummer (Ravi). Frontman and singer Sanjay also takes a turn on tabla later on in the show. They have elements of coordinated choreography, which when you’re playing an instrument at the same time cannot be easy, but it works really well for them. They have a lot of fun on stage – the fiddle/guitar-off is playful and they can also play ‘proper’ rock (si-/guitarist Andrew crowd surfs when D2D do Fat Boy Slim’s Praise You and it gave the crowd an opportunity to sing as well). Sara takes a turn at a vocal solo song with the traditional She Moved Through the Fair accompanied only by the electric guitar which supports her mostly in the song’s mood, underscoring her strong voice and excellent control. Even when she sings softly, nothing happens by chance. For Love is the Hero, it’s like she’s channelling Dolores O’Riordan a bit.

When it’s 4 drums and the fiddle it sounds incredibly cool. The channel the fiddle was on was sadly inconsistent, so that could’ve been better because if not from the electronics, many times that’s where the melody comes from.  There was full crowd participation for the last song Turn up the Stereo and the tables had emptied long, long before. Delhi 2 Dublin’s set was done after about 90 minutes of playing non-stop (maybe 17 songs or so) and they didn’t make the audience wait long before coming back for a three-song encore which included a special introduction to Dave, the drummer from Brooklyn, who is featured with a drum solo. 

This band seriously impressed me. They show an awareness of the issues Canada is facing, among them food safety, knowing where your food comes from and if it was ‘engineered’ – whatever people’s opinions are about it, and the importance of inner balance to life in general. There is really good positive energy from every member of this band and lots of it. I respect that they also put their money where their collective mouth is: $2 from the sale of their CD “Turn up the Stereo” on sale for $5 went in support of UBC Farm. Sanjay gave it the motto “good beats and good eats”. He is a very good frontman for the band – and with those amazing arms (remember, I was at the back of the room), it’s hard to take your eyes off him. Nice voice too - as polished as you’d hear from an overproduced R&B group – except that it’s just as smooth and polished live as it is on CD (yes, I bought one). Also visible from the back of the room was the smile on Ravi’s face – from start to finish, this guy grinned and drummed his little heart out. 

This was a sort of homecoming for Delhi 2 Dublin – it’s the last show of the tour, the last show of the tour, and there was nothing but heartfelt gratitude and appreciation emanating from Sanjay and Tarun as they shared that with the audience. All’s I can say is “welcome home”. See you again – in the meantime, I’ll be spending some time with the band’s back catalogue and hope to be somewhere in the thick of it when they perform next.  

Image from the band's website at http://www.delhi2dublin.com/bio

Photos from the show by Jamie Taylor can be found here.

Jets Overhead – Joe’s Apartment – Thursday, November 29, 2012

My thanks to Jamie for giving me the opportunity to review this show for http://concertaddicts.ca/

I don’t know why this piece gave me so much difficulty. I have opinions (plenty, usually), that’s why I review events, but this time, I’m left ‘unwowed’ - if anyone reading this had a similar experience or can help me put my finger on it, I’d welcome some insight.

For anyone who’s never been to Joe’s Apartment (this was my first time), it is a narrow rectangular space (maybe 25’ by 120’) – there is a stage at the far end with the word ROCK in solid marquee lights with a balcony above it, for artist gear, and stuff, a quasi-backstage area. There is a huge chandelier hanging over the centre of the dance floor and a few tables and stools in front of plush upholstered benches along the bricked walls. To balance the room, there is a balcony above the foyer/entrance with tables, chairs, the requisite TVs. Although I didn’t like the music that was playing, the space has good sound and an equally good sound system. I was sitting far house left, right by what became the Jets Overhead merch table. Judging by the bannering below the stage, this was an “Almost Famous” showcase presented by The Peak 102.7.

The first band was called “In Bliss” who started at 9 pm with about 50 people in the place. They are a four-piece, acoustic guitar/bass & back-up vocals, electric guitar and lead vocals, drums, and a female singer. The two main singers have a really nice tonal blend to their voices. The four are rather young – university-age, and when performing look rather serious, but not uncomfortably so. That being said, it did rather take a while for someone on stage to crack a smile. Their music is rock/pop and pleasant sounding. The vocals can sound very soft; controlled not weakness. They do a great cover of the Paolo Nutini song New Shoes and really make it their own. Not a lot of song introductions so I can’t report on the names of many songs – one I knew, and one other was introduced as Dust and Bones. They did encourage the audience to come to the front and a few actually listened. By the time their 30-minute set was done, they had played 8 songs and about double the number of people were in the audience. So, a good beginning to the evening.

Next was/were Kytami who had the oddest set-up I’d ever seen on stage: 2 turntables, a Mac AirBook, a drum kit. I knew there was a fiddle because Kytami had done a photo shoot against the brick wall earlier in the evening and she doesn’t let it out of her sight. She came on-stage wearing a costume feather eye-mask that I think may have been passed to a female member of the audience to take turns wearing after a few minutes. But back to the music: DJ, drums, and fiddle totally works! Watching her bowing, I’d say she was classically trained and her music blends DJ beats & drums with traditional (as in East Coast/Celtic) styles, but also classical as she did include Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D, albeit a very rocked-up version of it. It’s hard to tell how many songs she played because as in traditional music, she does ‘sets’ going from reel to reel, jig to jig, moods ever changing by slowing things down and then ramping the energy and speed right back up. She is the one to watch, by her band, by the audience. Kytami oozes confidence – she’s this dark-haired, cafe au lait skinned tiny slip of a thing with a rock chick vibe, which becomes more evident when she uses the microphone like a DJ/MC. She makes use of sampling – plucking and melody overlays to make her sound like a 1-person string quartet, and even while you’re watching her do it, you don’t actually pick up on it until she’s presented you with the finished melodic product. Calling her set “impressive” is an understatement. She played for 45 minutes and had the room under her spell for the duration. And I learned the Ky- in her name is pronounced to rhyme with “pie”.     

Jets Overhead came on just after 11 pm. I really like their music – I bought the CD No Nations years ago and bought Boredom & Joy at the show. I’ve seen music journalists call their music “atmospheric rock”, I prefer to call them almost “ethereal” for certain songs because Antonia’s and Adam’s voices blend so perfectly well and I was glad to hear that this wasn’t an engineered phenomenon – they actually do mesh that well together. This was my first time seeing them live and as much as I truly enjoy their music, their voices, their sound, and maybe it was an off-night for me or maybe it was the problems with the microphones Adam was experiencing, not due to any fault of the band, I felt underwhelmed.

The audience (at this point in the evening personal space on the dance floor was a luxury) seemed to be more familiar with the songs from the No Nations CD than Boredom & Joy (there was a really enthusiastic fan close to me who whooped every time they played something from that CD – which was most of the 15-song set – who I found amusing).

About the set: Love Got in the Way had this very cool borderline disco feel to it, complete with falsetto from Adam; the song I don’t know the name of (it is from Bridges) was difficult to get any lyrics for but it was a nice rockin’ tune for them; I Should be Born was gorgeous and on the CD you don’t hear the wonderful undercurrent from the bass line; the guitar part in the CD’s title track Boredom & Joy had an almost Caribbean feel to it rhythmically and it was really kind of cool; Heading for Nowhere – my favourite bits have always been Antonia’s long phrases on the lyric “we got the time”, but she didn’t do that. Maybe that’s normal, maybe because it was the last song.     

The setlist: Sink or Swim, Beach Dream, Love Got in the Way, No Nations, Sure Sign, Always a First Time, (the aforementioned song from Bridges), Time and Place, Saved by it, Breaking to Touch, Your Desire, Butterflies, I Should be Born, Boredom & Joy, Heading for Nowhere.

There was no opportunity for an encore as the house DJ (who jumped behind their on-stage stations between sets and it seemed to me were loathe to give up the stage for the music-playing talent) was right there on hand to start his set within seconds of the band saying “good night” at just after midnight.

Like I said before, technically there was nothing wrong with the performance, and despite my ‘meh’ overall feeling, Boredom & Joy will be spending time in the CD changer and on the old iPod. 

Image: Cover of Boredom & Joy courtesy of http://jetsoverhead.com/

TV I like: Inspector George Gently - Series 2, Episode 4

Gently Through the Mill

Year: 1964 / Place: Durham County

General election is in a few days’ time, Bacchus is a Conservative, Gently doesn’t declare either way. Within the first 15 minutes of the programme, we see Bacchus having forgotten his wedding anniversary, getting distracted by the dead man’s pretty, dumb, young secretary Julie, and impatient with the mill owner (probably because he’s the Labour candidate standing for election). Upon interviewing the widow, he learns the dead man, Patrick Fuller, used to own the mill up until a year before, but sold it at rock-bottom pricing after the mill’s debts became too much to bear. The company continues to be of interest as Gently learns from Pershore that there were holes in the accounts, sequential money notes totalling 500 pounds mysteriously appearing in the safe the night of Fuller’s death. And then there’s the affair Fuller was having with a married woman, and the suspicion that Draper only got the job as foreman because he may have been blackmailing Fuller. And more sequentially numbered bills are found, right before Draper’s body is recovered. And apparently Fuller was a Freemason which makes things a little tetchy on more than one front. And Gently finally meets Lisa, the Chief Constable’s daughter and Bacchus’s wife. The mill of the title can also be viewed as the wringer Lisa and John’s relationship is in.

Interpersonally, Bacchus exerts pressure on Gently for his approval to take a course in London. Gently doesn’t see any value in it, but Bacchus is full of attitude and really tries it on with him. Gently doesn’t react, just like he doesn’t when Draper mock salutes him with a “Sir, yes sir”. Although they still work the case together, there are definitely unflattering mutterings to be heard underneath the breath.     

A few familiar names from the ‘guest list’: Tim McInnerny plays Rhodesian businessman, owner of the mill & Labour candidate Geoffrey Pershore, Tom Goodman-Hill is the apathetic & unsympathetic foreman Sam Draper, Nicholas Jones is Henry Blythely, the manager of the mill in which the body was found. A familiar face is that of Alan McKenna playing Morris Hilton, but I haven't the foggiest where from.

As far as a season finale goes, this doesn't pack as many punches as some of the previous episodes. The only question that is left open by the time the credits roll is whether Bacchus will return from the course he went over Gently's head to get permission for. It breaks from the pattern of seeing a hanging (and hearing that crack to represent the neck being snapped) to end the programme, which is nice, to say the least - as there was no outright murder in this episode, an execution would not have been punishment appropriate to the crime, and justice is still served. Makes for a pensive ending to a subdued episode. 

Context:

1964 – the choice of Rhodesia as Pershore's former home because Wikipedia tells me it issued Britain a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965. 

TV I like: Inspector George Gently - Season 2, Episode 3

Gently in the Blood

This must be the longest year in John Bacchus’s career as we’re still in 1964 and it starts in a graveyard in South Shields where the duo and their colleagues are as a result of a tip-off they received about trade in stolen British passports. They lie in wait to witness the transaction, but only the person selling them shows up and in the inept-looking chase their suspect gets away. The investigation takes them to the passport office where Bacchus develops a suspicion about one of the employees, Maggie, a single mother with a bi-racial child. Someone else must have too because the very next day, she is found dead on a beach, strangled after having been raped, and a survey of the surrounding area results in the location of a baby-basket where the baby has been exposed to the elements all night and is seriously hypothermic.

As the episode unfolds, it becomes clear that the word ‘blood’ in the episode title refers to race. The dead girl’s parents had disowned her the day they found out they had a coloured grandchild. Her boss seems to have had an unhealthy fixation on Maggie. She also seems to have had a boyfriend, Jimmy Cochran (who is a white, small-time criminal), but the police also receive information about a middle-aged Arab man she may have been involved with. Jimmy was the one supplying passports, the audience learns it was to a young man called Hamid, head of a gang of young Arab men and there is definite racial tension between the two of them. Even though they have known each other all their lives, they are little more than business acquaintances - if they didn’t have to ‘deal’ with each other, they wouldn’t. They keep to their cultural cliques - Hamid has his gang, Jimmy has his - but how far do you go to protect those you consider your ethnic 'family' in relation (or opposition) to those you consider 'outsiders'? The exception is an Arab looking man who earns a living sharpening knives for the women of Shields, who steps in and enables Jimmy to escape when there is a Sharks vs Jets kind of fracas on a beach. 

It’s not just Jimmy, when Gently visits the club the group of Arab men like to frequent for a game of pool (they might actually own it), they try to get him to leave. The police have to navigate the waters of the investigation carefully, and for some that means reining in their own prejudices. At the end Gently asks, “why do we find this so hard”? Why indeed. That is one of the salient questions at the root of race relations even today, but now, like then, there are no easy answers. 

But as is this second season has been wont to do, the real end comes with the murderer getting ‘the drop’. There is a definite sense of "Crime and Punishment" in this series - Gently and Bacchus get their man and then while the rest of the episode begins to wrap up, it doesn't actually wrap until the murderer himself gets final justice, which is interesting because it begs the question "Why?". This show only takes place in the mid-'60s, it was shot in 2007 - the current 'tradition', as it were, when it comes to crime drama mimics reality: sometimes the criminals get away. So far in this particular show, this has not been the case. Why is there this need to present this show being tied up in a neat bow: justice for the victim by ensuring 'justice is done' to the person responsible, personal and/or professional growth is seen in Bacchus, and Gently as the mentor, asking the right questions, and generally functioning as both the rudder and keel of the investigation. There is still one episode left in Series 2, so we'll see if it veers away from the new 'norm' established thus far.

One very familiar name from the ‘guest list’: Andrew-Lee Potts (Primeval, Band of Brothers, Dalziel & Pascoe, Alice) is Jimmy Cochran, the dead woman’s long-time boyfriend, who remains in her life.  

Context:

1964 – racists apparently had a different name then: ‘racialists’. 

TV I like: Inspector George Gently - Series 2, Episode 2

Gently in the Night

It is still 1964, the place of the crime is Newcastle, and the subject this episode tackles is what ‘goes on in the night’ – sex and attitudes surrounding the subject. Gently needs a bit of translation from Bacchus with the witness who found the body laid out in the church and, as it happens, Bacchus had met her briefly in a gentlemen’s club he had been ‘curious about’, that he had bought a membership to, taken a bit of a shine to one of the cocktail waitresses at (which could compromise the case), and enjoyed champagne he couldn’t afford at (which causes some friction between the duo). When she ‘turns up missing’, Bacchus is concerned, especially when he finds out from the abortion doctor that that same cocktail waitress may have information about a possible motive for her friend’s murder. The investigation looks at the dead girl’s father, boyfriend, lover, lover’s wife, employer, coming up with a theory that her rapist and murderer do not necessarily need to be the same person.

In many ways, the ‘60s are not that different from the 2010s. There are repressive attitudes towards sex (whether within or without a marriage) as well as progressive ones with a view to changing the laws and protecting women, especially those ‘in trouble’. Only now, there are people moving to change the laws back to the repressive ones, except people don’t change. Men and women will always be having sex and there will always be unwanted pregnancies. Knitting needles and dangerous chemicals are not the way to go; they weren’t then and they aren’t now. In my view, people die when religion dictates law – then and now. What this episode is careful about is not overtly dealing with sex, nor does it tell its viewership what to think. It lays the subject bare and it opens the door for frank discussion and equally I hope, some open listening.

The ‘sideshow plot’ is a charity boxing match between the Chief Inspector and his protégé. The bet is three rounds for Gently (who used to box in and for the Army) or three touches for Bacchus (who thinks his DCI is past it). No spoilers here. 

Familiar names from the ‘guest list’: Brendan Coyle (with a consistently wonky American accent) is the club’s American owner Patrick Donovan and Mark Williams is Joe Bishop, a lawyer, married to one of the “God Squad” protesters with connections to the club and the dead cocktail waitress Audrey.  

Context:

1964 – It is illegal for doctors to prescribe oral contraceptives to unmarried women.

Walk the Moon - The Venue - Saturday, November 24, 2012

This review is also available on http://concertaddicts.ca/2012/11/26/review-walk-the-moon-venue-november-24th-2012/ (or for the shorter URL: http://goo.gl/tEMDl
Photos below are copyright to me. 

Every so often the concertgoer is rewarded for arriving early with a find. For me, over the years, these have included Three Days Grace, Guster, The Push Stars, Ed Sheeran, and recently, Walk the Moon. When Walk the Moon opened for Kaiser Chiefs in Vancouver earlier this year, they distinguished themselves by being “the opening band I actually liked”. Now it’s 6 months on, I’ve heard both Anna Sun and Tightrope on Vancouver and Victoria radio (thank you, The Peak and The Zone), I wanted to see how they’d grown and if Vancouver would follow them to a headline show.

But first, we got to know Family of the Year a bit: they’re based in Los Angeles, the lead singer and the drummer are brothers, the latter even attended UVic for a year (then he dropped out to join a band), this was the last night of their tour together with Walk the Moon, and they all sing and play instruments: lead guitar (electric and acoustic), rhythm guitar, drums, piano keyboard, and bass. They were all lined up in a row parallel to the front of the stage (partially because WtM’s gear was upstage), but they’re all so very animated in their performance, I hope they never put the drummer Sebastian in the back – the fun he has playing, and the others too, is infectious. Stylistically, they are modern, roots rock-influenced melodies with a tinge of pop (or, as iTunes tells me “Indie Rock”). They were grateful to the 100ish people who came out early (you’re very welcome, by the way). I quite liked them; they were toe-tapping, body-moving, head-nodding cool. For the 5^th song they played, Walk the Moon came on stage halfway through and finished it with them. For Hero (the only one of their songs I’d heard on the radio before), I saw a few people two-stepping, which was kind of cute. There was great audience participation for Stupidland as the drummer moved up to share a microphone with his brother playing two tambourines which he then handed to audience members so he could jump back behind the kit when the time came. By the time Family of the Year were done (they played 10 songs for their 45-minute set) another 200 or so people had arrived, many of them painted, and even the balcony had started to fill. 

The CD they were promoting, Loma Vista, which I bought, doesn’t do them justice. Comparing the recording to the live performance, I’d say if you’re expecting the borderline folksy band you hear on the recording, you’re not going to get it, not even if you turn it up real loud. They have a great energy live, singing and playing their collective hearts out, and it fleshes the songs out to give them much more body.    

Setlist included Buried, The Stairs, Diversity, St Croix, Hero, Stupidland, Living on Love, In the End.  

Here’s what I know about Walk the Moon: they’re a four-piece and from Cincinnati, Ohio. Also, it’d been 6 months to the day since I saw them perform for the first time. They mentioned playing across the street when they were here with Kaiser Chiefs. Since then, they’ve toured Europe opening for Fun. (when they wrote Young Shoes) and their songs have achieved some radio exposure. The very first thing I noticed that was different is their level of confidence. Although far from home, immensely grateful, and just a little overwhelmed at times at the positive audience response, this was a headline gig in support of their self-titled CD and they “brought it”. If this is how much energy they have for the final show of a tour, then up until now, it must’ve been “off the hook”.

The other thing I noticed, and it probably goes hand in hand with confidence, is that audience participation is assumed. They just do something – clapping, hands in the hair, arms over your hard swinging side to side, singing back (not solo, we’re not there yet) – the audience was there for Walk the Moon. Literally. They have such energetic performance styles and upbeat songs that are pop, with great hooks and super fun syncopation. The lead singer Nicholas is multi-tasker as keyboardist and 2^nd drummer.  

Stand-outs were Jenny, almost a ‘ska meets disco’ number’ that the audience quickly learned some of the words to I’m not going to take it from you, I’ll let you give it to me – very kind, in an audience context sort of way. In another stylistic marriage, I liked Shiver Shiver for its ‘70s throwback falsetto with the keyboard punches prevalent in the ‘80s, Iscariot because it shows this band’s harmonising abilities and that they can mellow down a bit and live, it has a more of an R&B feel to it as it begins to build intensity around the middle. I also really enjoyed I could lift a car, most notably because Family of the Year came on stage to ‘return the favour’ of a collabo to bring the show to a really fulfilling close at 10pm.

Setlist: The Liftaway (from I Want I Want), Quesadilla, Last in Line, Shiver Shiver, Blue Dress (from I Want I Want), Tightrope, Lisa Baby, Young Shoes, Iscariot, Fixin’, Jenny, Anna Sun, I could lift a car.

As a “twofer”, Family of the Year and Walk the Moon were a great combination. Aside from the on-stage collaborations, I think they have a genuine admiration and affection for one another – band members from both bands watched their counterparts during their respective sets. From start to finish, occasional feedback notwithstanding, this was a great show. If Walk the Moon keep doing what they’re doing, next stop, who knows? Maybe they’ll headline the Commodore or a larger venue next time they’re here. When I enquired about the house count, security assured me the capacity of The Venue is 350 and there were certainly no fewer people there – mostly people in their 20s, but some looked like they’d seen 30. Whenever they return, I plan to do the same. Until then, my newly purchased Walk the Moon CD is going to be spending some time in the car’s CD changer.

         

TV I like: Inspector George Gently - Series 2, Episode 1

Gently with the Innocents

Series 2 marks the introduction of opening titles, a brassy theme song, and the programme changes its name to “Inspector George Gently”. But we’re still in 1964 and very much still in Northumberland.

The episode opens with Bacchus, talking uncomfortably to teenagers in a classroom, setting the stage.

The murder they are called to is of an elderly man found in his garden who was selling a large house. The house was scheduled to be demolished as per the town’s planning committee but the order appears to have not been above board as too many of them had something to gain from the sale and demolition. Bacchus’s ego feels a bit threatened by the uniformed Sgt Blacksmith on-scene, eliciting a chuckle from Gently as he echoes the same words that Bacchus had pooh-poohed “I like to get to know the community I serve”. 

I laughed out loud when Kevin, the young man with the extensive vocabulary from the classroom presentation, visits the station and within the first few sentences has Bacchus consulting his dictionary. He’s looking for a connection with Bacchus but Bacchus isn’t having any of it. Before the halfway mark, it becomes clear that the “Innocents” in this episode are children and that is when the case starts to get sinister. 

A dinner date with ex-girlfriend Laura Fenick, who happens to be a clinical paediatrician, provides Gently with valuable information about the injuries the befell the children in the home in 1945. He is deeply troubled by what he learns: “be careful where this case leads you, this stuff is corrosive, children are so vulnerable”, Laura warns. 

Another visit to the house results in the discovery of a bookcase of files hidden behind panelling, the knowledge that the house had been an orphanage, and review of the home’s medical records brings to light that a young female age 10 named Cora experienced ‘bleeding in the night’ (1939-48 – 137 reports of unexplained injury and illness among the children). Suddenly, Cora Davidson’s desire to pull the house down is seen in a different light, and the Peachments’ son emigrating to Tasmania right after his 18th birthday also makes more sense, and to the viewer, Harry Carson crying uncontrollably through the night. This, contrasted with Bacchus’s classroom experience, and actually attending the poetry reading Kevin invited him to, starts to bring home the delicacy of the children, even teenagers too smart for their own good.      

In the midst of this, Bacchus leaves his Inspector’s exam without having written a word, prioritising the case over his career. His father-in-law ordering the case shut down when Gently brings some of his suspicions to the Chief Constable, who shuts it down after the cellar is discovered, orders a psychiatry exam for Gently, suspends him, and has him escorted from the premises, presumably to discredit any of his findings. It’s all up to Bacchus now, with some unexpected help from Sergeant Blacksmith, and Gently, of course.   

To me the only familiar face in the cast was Jill Halfpenny plays Miss Cora Davidson, a woman interested in buying the house and property for redevelopment who found the body, and who has a history with the house.

As far as episodes go, it was very well written and it hits hard, over and over again. It goes places where few programmes dare go. One of the lessons imparted was “children shouldn’t be asked to take grown-ups on trust, and they shouldn’t learn to be silent”. And doing nothing is the worst crime of all. Sleep does not come easy after such an episode, nor should it.

Context:
1961 – Attempted suicide is decriminalised. 

Photo from www.imdb.com

TV I like: George Gently - Series 1, Episode 2

The episode’s title “Bomber’s Moon” refers to a very bright full moon that was used by WWII pilots to increase the accuracy of bombs dropped during air raids. Under such a moon, in 1944, a man’s wife and child died when a bomb dropped on Sunderland caused a watermain to rupture, resulting in their drowning deaths. This is not how the episode begins, it’s the motive. The man whose murder Gently and Bacchus investigate did not drop that bomb, but he is punished for what happened 22 years before. It’s odd, but then we humans are odd creatures, plain and simple. 

Having recently observed Remembrance Day, I am very aware of the position I find myself in in relation to the war that is the subject here: As a German passport-holder, this day is always awkward for me personally because it was my countrymen fighting against the people of the country in which I live. I’m also aware that my generation is pretty much the last generation with direct contact to WWII veterans. This episode addresses post-war British/German relations in a balanced manner. 

In the episode, Bacchus is trying to sell his MG and Gently is on leave, until the latter drives by the harbour, sees people gathered at the water's edge, and arrives on scene. A German couple is also there to report their father missing, the body of whom is found shortly thereafter. The dead man was an ‘important man, the owner of a pharmaceutical company in Bremen’, his unsympathetic son shares with the investigating duo. By halfway through the episode, the son has become a suspect as his father was in the process of disinheriting him by changing the company structure and the police had discovered he was siphoning money from the company. An unsuccessful attempt to flee the country doesn’t help the optics of innocence and guilt. 

On an inter-personal level, Gently has some advice for his young sergeant upon sussing out he has debt problems: “a copper in debt is open to temptation”. When Bacchus comes close to jeopardising his career in connection with the debt he carries, Gently acts. He is keeping his promise to keep Bacchus on the ‘straight and narrow’ very seriously and it does go as far as dipping into his own wallet.    

I think one of the other reasons Gently gets the nickname St George is because he treats every case equally. He’d served in the war, saw action as part of the Middlesex Regiment, and yet, when the former PoW Gunter Schmeickel is murdered, he investigates it just like any other case. There’s plenty of anti-German sentiment to be uncovered in many a quarter and a few red herrings follow. China, still played by Tony Rohr, turns out to be useful more than just as a snitch and more of his history is provided: he had been captured at Dunkirk, spent 5 years in various stalags and in connection with the case is able to act as translator. 

As a German, I appreciate it when German people are portrayed by German actors (Christian Oliver, Wolf Kahler, and Nathalie Boltt), especially when the ‘native tongue’ is spoken. This is universal: actors are paid to be proficient with accents, but rarely do they actually speak the language their accent belongs to.

1964 Contextualisation:
Nothing really, as fingerprinting is not new as a forensic tool.

Familiar faces amongst the guest performers: Kevin Doyle as bird-watching Robert Stratton, Wolf Kahler as the pharmaceutical magnate Gunter Schmeickel, and Tim Healy as salt-of-the-earth Old Jim Hardyment.

Cold Specks - St James Hall - November 21, 2012

This review can also be found on http://concertaddicts.ca/2012/11/23/review-cold-specks-st-james-hall-november-21st-2012/?doing_wp_cron=1353698350.7617120742797851562500 (or if you'd prefer a shorter version: http://goo.gl/rSouB).


The crowd at St James Hall on Wednesday, November 21 was very diverse: all ages, multiple ethnicities, a 50/50 split of men to women, and from conversations I overheard whilst waiting to be let in and waiting for the show to begin, a good number of supporters from the local Rogue Folk Club. The venue appeared to be converted from a keelboat framed church to a concert venue, with the front half of rows comprising individual chairs and the back half made of pews. Their website tells me it’s called the Sanctuary Hall and has been part of the building for approx. 100 years. 

Ah, border crossings. Bane of the musician’s travelling existence. In this evening’s case, the show was delayed by an hour. The waiting crowd was good-natured and patient and by the time the grumbling started, the doors opened at 8 pm. This was a full house – every seat was taken, and people were standing at the back and on the west side of the hall. I spoke with a staff member and she and I guesstimated there were a good 300 people there. Not a bad turnout at all!

The opener was Christopher Smith, a toqued and cardiganed singer/songwriter from Vancouver. He played pleasant and melodic songs, sometimes the lyrics got edgier, but Smith lets them stand on their own instead of having the melody follow them to darker subjects. He has a higher than average voice, breathy but not falsetto. Smith’s songs tend not to be structured in traditional verse/chorus conventions, more like poetry set to music – which sounds nice (and his imagery is interesting as well), but it makes it a little difficult for the audience to recognise when a song is over (cue the applause). Not much audience interaction, but every song was introduced in turn and Christopher Smith has a nice sense of humour. Although certainly not an unpleasant way to spend 20-ish minutes, there isn’t a lot to take away with you, unless you purchase a CD. 

Waiting for Cold Specks to take the stage, my brain got some exercise in remembering the names of less seen instruments: tenor saxophone, bass saxophone (that at first glance I mistook for a bassoon), and baritone saxophone. Beside the piano was something that looked like a zither, but it had hammers mounted to one side enabling the piano player to enable playing of the instrument by pushing keys – very pianolike. 

The first song was Peace in the Valley, sung a capella which then segued into a piece I didn’t get the name of featuring bass saxophone, as well as rhythm and lead guitar, the vibrations of which set the snare off, which was a really, dare I say it, neat effect. Next was Blank Maps, the first song of the night to give me chills. The sound seemed to fill the room, and I mean every nook and cranny of the room. It was a nicely rhythmic song. Heavy Hands had a memorable echoey effect on lead guitar. Winter Solstice begins with Al a capella and showcases the power and expressive range of her voice with great drive from the drums when the rest of the band comes in, giving the song even more intensity. When the Lights Dim is another one of those songs that builds drama. Al starts with just her voice and the lead guitarist and when the rest of the band come in, it’s almost like they’re providing the colour to a song that started out in black and white. The next song I didn’t catch the name of and the lyrics were difficult to hear. The band was almost too loud and Al’s voice was virtually drowned out except for during a quiet bit in it. Reeling the Liars In is a short-ish, mellow song. Again, it starts out with Al singing, lead guitar, drummer playing tambourine as well as drums before the rest of the band comes in. Send Your Youth starts with Al singing, lead guitar and piano. After a while the saxophone, female background vocalist and drums lend their support. Very sad lyrically with a lonely, yet lovely sound. Elephant Head was next, the lyrics from which the album I Predict a Graceful Expulsion gets its title. It has Toronto-specific lyrics, and a haunting line about “1000 stillborn thoughts to cradle”. It’s Al and guitar for the first verses, then a focus on vocal harmonisation over intricate instrumentation when the rest of the band comes in. She shows she can hit the higher notes as well with this one. Incredibly moving song; I got chills again, and something that could be viewed as getting a lump in one’s throat (it was borderline). She then began an a capella / gospelly Fresh Prince of Bel Air with just vocals and drums which was abandoned after about a verse. I didn’t understand why people were tittering when she began it (I’d obviously not made the connection), but eventually clued in. Holland was the next song played, and again it begins with Al’s voice and guitar with focus on vocal harmony over instrument use until the drummer starts with the mallet on the tom driving the beat and the song swells into another “nook-and-cranny-filling number” before scaling it down to the level it begins with. Lay me down starts with Al on voice and guitar, and has a slow, steady, gorgeous build to it. In this setting, I’m thinking the drums are both her best friend and her worst enemy because it is the first instrument to drown her out and when the other instruments are full on, she doesn’t fight it, she doesn’t push harder to make herself heard but it’s bass, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, drums, piano, saxophone, backing vocal against her, and she just doesn’t come out the winner in that contest. A standing ovation concludes the set. Al comes back, not to the stage, but to the steps that go to the floor where she sings Old Stepstone completely a capella and unamplified, an inkling of why she was nominated for the Polaris Prize. And that song concluded the evening’s musical festivities at 9:50 pm.     

Observational note, the bass player had one of the hardest tasks to perform – he played on only a handful of songs (he didn’t even come on stage until When the Lights Dim) and instead of repeated exits/entrances, he did his best to be invisible, crouching down on one knee, instrument across the other knee, head bent away from the audience, everything to imply I’m not actually here when he wasn’t playing. The other musicians did the same, but for the crouching, when they weren’t playing, which is de rigeur and it usually works but sometimes you may as well just hang a marquee above your head for all your attempts come to nought.

Al said this was either the first time they played together as that band or the first time they played as a band in Vancouver. Considering how little interaction there was between band members, I’m guessing it’s the latter because they just ‘got on with it’ – everyone knew what they were doing and when. Very professional; very proficient. Al’s singing style does not lend itself to the clearest diction, but what a voice! I’d first heard her music on an episode of CBC Radio 2’s The Strombo Show and recorded she sounds great. Live, even better. A church hall was a great and atmospherically, super suitable. That’s not to say Cold Specks wouldn’t do well in a larger venue, they’ve just got a bit of a ways to go.

These photos are by me. Photos taken by Jamie Taylor can be found at the http://www.concertaddicts.ca link above.

TV I like: George Gently - Series 1, Episode 1

At the end of the pilot, viewers knew there was a show. Gently informed Bacchus he was no longer retiring and was staying on, ostensibly to keep Bacchus on the ‘straight and narrow’, the latter having shown his “the end justifies the means” philosophy/habit that Gently is determined to break him of. He tells the story of one police officer who he didn’t take under his wing and that officer is now one of the most corrupt currently serving in the Met. Whether viewers will ever meet the man, remains to be seen. In the meantime, we have this episode, entitled The Burning Man, based on Alan Hunter’s book “Gently Where The Road Goes” and set in Northumberland of 1964. 

A burnt body is found and a young woman reports her father as missing. It draws the interest of a Commander Empton of Special Branch, who befriends and cultivates Bacchus as a potential new recruit, a position Bacchus would be eager to fill, who although he has good instincts, just doesn’t have the experience to navigate slippery Special Branch tactics. Gently keeps his distance and is none too impressed with the budding rapport between his Sergeant and the Special Branch man. An IRA connection is quickly found, and Gently’s objective is to stay ahead of what Special Branch is up to and solve the case properly. After about one hour into the episode, Empton finally shares what he knows and why he’s interested in the case – one that turns out involving an actively serving man from the IRA with the nickname “the Sniper” working undercover in Northumberland in an effort to procure weapons for the Republican cause using a contact at RAF Huxford and there’s another half hour of shenanigans that follows.

The guest cast listed in the opening is again substantial – I recognised Robert Glenister (playing Commander Empton) and Pooky Quesnel (playing Wanda Lane, a middle-aged Irish woman with ties to the missing IRA man and who tries to seduce Gently) immediately, but other names listed were not familiar at all: John Kavanagh (playing Doyle) and Tony Rohr, who played China, previously played by Sean McGinley. Faces I recognised were those of Finbar Lynch as Ruari O’Connell and Tom Beard playing the RAF officer Campling in charge of Huxford.

Contextualising 1964:
* Forensic science of the day also includes analysis of dental records

As much as I like spy stories (I liked the Bourne films, even parts of Bourne Legacy, I like 007 films, one of my favourite television programmes is Spooks), I find double agent storylines a bit tiring. What has also already begun to wear on me is Bacchus’s frequent need to say “I’m sorry” – is this just because a position at Special Branch was dangled in front of him, or is this going to be the overall tone of the show? What about the next time someone presents him with a carrot? Is he going to be the young guy falling for it every time but managing to redeem himself by making connections between clues etc. showing his boss he’s not completely incompetent? 

Viewers knew from the get-go that this 'pairing' is not between equals – it's definitely more of a mentor/pupil dynamic, at least from Gently’s side. Bacchus wants to be viewed as an equal partner, but will the show support growth in that direction, and maybe even more interestingly, will Gently accept him as such, assuming the writers decide to go that way. 

Next episode: Series 1, Episode 2 - Bomber's Moon

TV I like: George Gently - Pilot

The opening episode from 2007 begins in 1964 London with George Gently, a Chief Inspector at Scotland Yard, attending his wife’s funeral, the accident that took her life playing in his mind during it. Based on a story by Alan Hunter entitled “Gently Go Man”, he transfers to Northumberland following a lead that he thinks will bring the man he believes to be behind his wife’s death to justice. Once in Northumberland, he effectively poaches the case from the local police and works with an ambitious and keen Det Sergeant, John Bacchus, who, despite his youth is very confident in his abilities but lacking in experience and what also becomes clear, incredibly middle class (very homophobic, borderline racist, materially focussed, a bit of a social climber, with a disdain for the wealthy and privileged, but I don’t think he’ll be too conservative to engage in adultery) and very eager to work with someone of Gently’s stature. Nicknamed “St George”, Gently is concerned about corruption in the police force which I think will be a recurring theme for this programme.   

The cast in this episode is impressive: Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby all have fairly established careers. In addition, Sean McGinley as Gently’s Irish snitch China who Gently brings to Northumberland; Richard Armitage is Ricky Deeming, the leader of the “Durham Defenders” motorcycle gang and, as it turns out, knows Bacchus from grammar school; Phil Davis is Joe Webster, the London gangster Gently was investigating and who disappears north after Gently’s wife’s death with Durham connections; and Clare Rushbrook plays Valerie Lister, mother of a youth who is at the centre of the case that brings Gently north were listed as guest stars in the opening credits. Other familiar faces included those of Neil Watkins, Shaun Evans 

Contextualising 1964: 
* Forensic science is being used in that blood analysis is mentioned and
   Northumberland has a forensics department.
* The amphetamine “speed” is already in circulation. 
* World War II ended only 9 years previously. 
* Murder is a hanging offense

This cohesively structured episode was shot in Ireland and directed by Euros Lyn, a name I recognised primarily from Doctor Who. The dynamic to drive the plot forward will undoubtedly come from these two characters. Gently and Bacchus have different views on morality and on what constitutes justice and since their professional purpose is to enforce the law, this is clearly where much tension and drama will originate from.  

Photo from blogcritics.org.