Snow Patrol / Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds / Jake Bugg - October 25. 2012 - Vancouver

Oh, Vancouver, how you disappoint me sometimes. This entire evening can be summed up with the question: Vancouver, why were you even here? There was a chance this could have been my first review for www.concertaddicts.ca but under the circumstances, it's just as well it isn't.
 

To wit, the opening act was a young man by the name of Jake Bugg whose interaction with the audience could best be described as "minimal". He did make the effort to introduce each song, mostly with a "this song is called such and such from the CD". But, when he introduced one song as one being inspired by his home town, he did not elaborate. What, pray tell, is the name of your home town? Where is it? What aspect(s) of the town prompted you to write the song? Nope, just the song, with depressing lyrics, so that combined with the way he pronounces his "U"s, I'm thinking he's a northerner.* To his credit, he spared the audience the clichéd "it goes something like this" type introduction, which has always irked me: if you tell me it's an approximation of a song you supposedly wrote, why should I consider you a professional, or part with my money to purchase your CD? 

Back to young Jake, singer/songwriter playing a plugged-in acoustic guitar producing wonderfully warm and rich tones. As a musician, he's certainly proficient enough, with influences from the likes of Dylan (who Noel Gallagher has compared Bugg to) through to bluegrass. With the single Two Fingers, I thought he was almost channelling a bit of Noel Gallagher himself, so I'm not surprised he considers himself a fan. I don't understand why Mr Gallagher is supposed to have said Bugg represented "the future of music" - Dylan meets Arctic Monkeys was another comparison I've heard recently. Really? Arctic Monkeys don't twang! Nuff said. Although Bugg is benefitting from a lot of "buzz", the venue really didn't suit him. Biltmore Cabaret - yes! Media Lounge - sure. Studio 700 at CBC - I didn't overly love this guy's music but I wouldn't do that to him. Rogers Arena, mmmmkay. Maybe, with more of a show and backing musicians. He didn't own his stage, but then technically speaking, it wasn't his - even if the acts he's supporting are virtually pushing him into that spotlight with their support of him. My verdict: reserving judgement.
 

To Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds. To be honest, I felt a little sorry for the guy: the "bring on Snow Patrol" catcalls, the requests for Oasis songs "Oasis? That was years ago!" Might be par for the course, and he's got a thick skin, but even if a fraction of what I was hearing in my 15th row seat registered, it wouldn't have been a pleasant experience. They registered with me and I thought it was really rude.

The Setlist:
If I had a gun (performed with some great drive to it. Sounded great!)
The Death of You and Me - I swear that upright piano was either out of tune or pianist got his keys wrong - I can handle jarring chords, but that was ridiculous.
Supersonic (after audience cajoling and "what the F**k" responses, people were treated to the Oasis tune)
Dream on (very nice)
AKA...What a Life! (Great beat for this one, almost disco-like, but wonderful energy)
Talk Tonight (totally forgot this was an Oasis tune - live it had a really nice groove to it)
AKA...Broken Arrow (dedicated to the ladies, performed with a bit of a scowl (or maybe that's permanent). It struck me how incredibly radio-friendly this song could be.)
Half the World Away (again, forgot this was an Oasis song. I really don't remember their entire catalogue, but I'm glad he didn't just regurgitate single after single. On an observational note: is it because it's a two-step that virtually every coupled-up pair was prompted to simultaneously put their arms around each other's waist/shoulder? Looked odd. Does that song have subliminal signals that are lost on 'singletons'?)
Stranded on the Way Down (is it just me or is this song reminiscent of Supersonic?)
Whatever (Another one from the Oasis back-catalogue. The chords and the piano part sounded so much like Handbags and Gladrags by Stereophonics (otherwise known as the theme song to The Office, original UK version) it was distracting. Good tune though.
Don't Look Back in Anger (I thought it was an interesting choice, given what's always been circulating in the media, because he can't, really, can he (look back in anger, that is)? Besides, the CD he's promoting only has 10 songs on it and he was the chief songwriter for the band from years ago. Stark contrast to his brother singing Wonderwall at the Closing Ceremonies for the Olympic Games in London. Lawyers talking to lawyers for permission perhaps? But I digress.)

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds's set was done by 9:15 pm and the 20-minute tear-down/set-up break gave me the chance to reflect on the seated row arrangement. 

A huge drawback to having assigned seats and rows is that there's no huddling of the masses. No ambient body heat from the person fewer than 6 inches away. If there's no dancing, no people close by, and you're in a T-shirt for example, you're seriously screwed, and in my case, shivering as you type. Bloody'ell, it was cold, even without sitting on ice. Another drawback is that the people in the front rows can legally (sanctioned by the arena stewards) spread out along the stage and aren't made to say in their assigned seats. The rest of us who actually were there for Snow Patrol weren't so lucky.

The Setlist
(comments minimal as this was the third time this year I'd seen Snow Patrol in concert):
Final Straw
Take Back the City
Hands Open (hadn't really noticed how much of a grounding influence Nathan Connelly's guitar is - it seemed to control the speed, not the rhythm section)
Crack the Shutters (dedicated to Jonny Quinn and his wife's impending parenthood) 
This isn't everything you are
Run
The next song was going to be something Snow Patrol have rarely played outside the UK and the sound karked out so we fast forwarded to the next one. Haven't a clue what it's called as Lightbody only got a line and a half into it.
Shut your eyes (audience participation: boooooo)
Chasing Cars
Called out in the Dark
Fallen Empires (holy, mad ukulele skills there, Mr Connelly)
Open Your Eyes
Just say Yes
 
And then it was over. No encore. Off the stage at 10:50 pm and I think I was home within half an hour.

Considering how many people were doing the "get Snow Patrol on stage" catcalls, there was remarkably little dancing. In the area immediately around me (beside and in front of me), people left in between sets and did not return. Those remaining in the stands did not dance, did not stand (we on the Floors had to), didn't really do much of anything. What little participation Gary Lightbody asked of the audience was lacklustre, to say the least. On the whole, they were "kind of lame", and I'm being kind. They cheered nicely enough when the Wookie said "good night", but that's about it. If I'd thought of it, I would've unofficially polled the audience with the question: So, why are you here? Who did you want to see? I'm guessing in many cases the answer would've been: "because I could" / "it seemed like a good idea at the time". Guess what, it wasn't. By contrast, when Snow Patrol played The Orpheum in May of this year, it was pandemonium. It was so much fun because every one of the close to 2800 people there, were there for this band. I'm not saying that this 12,000-14,000+ venue was too big for them, but what would have made it so much better if people hadn't been so frustratingly passive. I therefore shouldn't have felt cheated about not getting an encore - Vancouver did not deserve one this time.    

* Wikipedia tells me he's from Clifton, Nottinghamshire.
Jake Bugg photo from www.gigwise.com
Photo of Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds from www.atlanticmusicguide.com
Photo of Snow Patrol from www.straight.com