Zerbin (and others) - Joe's Apartment - March 28, 2013

Reviewed for Concert Addicts, officially published here.

Oh, the drama! Getting to this show (102.7 The Peak’s most recent “Almost Famous” showcase) was a little nerve-wracking. When I had originally put my request in for this show I had the right city but the wrong date. And I got a confirmation – by the time I noticed my error, it was the night of the show...did I have a pass for March 27 (Victoria) or the Vancouver show on March 28? Not wanting to risk it (it could've sold out!), I called the venue, Joe’s Apartment. Randy suggested I send an email, which I did. Half an hour later he texted me to ask if I’d sent it. I texted back to say yes and sent it again...finally, I just sent in my details by phone and he promised to leave my name at the door. True to his word, my name was there. Yay! Randy, you’re a star. Thank you! I'm sorry for what follows.

I arrived during Ali Milner’s set and heard about 8 songs. If there were more, I'm sorry to have missed them. She seems like a real sweetie: upbeat and bubbly personality, really friendly and sincere sounding when she’s speaking, looks part pixie / part sultry songstress. Musically, I can hear a bit of jazz, soul / r&b, ‘70s folk. Vocally, I compare her to Sara Bareilles or Lily Allen – usually light, clear-as-a-bell, likes to use a ‘catch’ in her voice and can hit the throaty lower notes too. She accompanies herself with a sturdy and reliable Korg keyboard (a baby grand wouldn’t travel well, I imagine). She was accompanied by her good friend Erik who played bass guitar and tambourine/snare effects with his feet. Amongst the songs Ali chose (that I could figure out the titles to) were Pieces (which is lovely and probably my favourite), Did You Forget To Call Me, Can’t Wait Forever (nice lilting rhythm to it - 3/4 or 6/8 maybe? – I liked the tempo changes), I Wanna Be Loved By You (cute little plays on words, kind of a fun song, had a vaguely Caribbean rhythm to it), The Portrait of Dorian Gray (written by her uncle back in the 1970s and could easily have been done as a country number. I’m glad she chose not to, especially with the literary references), and Fly (which has a persuasive groove to it, radio-friendly too. Little scat bit in the middle). All in all, a very enjoyable set. Although the room was sparsely filled for the majority of her set, the people near front of the stage were very supportive with their spontaneous clapping-along to some of her songs. From what I’ve heard, Ali participated in the radio station’s “Peak Performance Project” (industry boot camp for artists) and went as far as placing in the Top 20. For this particular show, she’d run out of CDs but her website offers a free download or two. Check her out at www.alimilner.com.

Ali’s set ended at 9:30 pm and within 10 minutes Victoria’s Acres of Lions were performing mic checks. Props to both for efficiency. By 9:45 pm they were ready to begin and they started with the song that begins their current CD Home(s): Bright Lights. They certainly brought the rock with them and a lot of energy. I thought the sound mix was off. Everything that came from the stage bounced off the exposed brick. Sound guy eventually got it under control but it was distracting. The second song was Old Town which has a grounded rock feel to it. It’s totally a ‘volume-up-and-the-windows-down kind of song, as you’re stuck in summer traffic on Cornwall Avenue (or is it just me?). It did rather trail off at the end. Next was Prairie Fire which has some good drive to it. I really like the piano bit in it. They tease the audience a little by holding a rest longer than they anticipated in the bridge before getting back into it. This song has softer bits and rock bits to it and it’s all good. We detour from the CD order with Home(s) which has a rather predictable structure to it, but it’s a nice enough song in a power-ballad sort of way. To illustrate: “may all roads lead you home” wait for it “to me”. Hey, it just might be what makes this song popular for the punters.

For Reaction, a song that I know has had a lot of airplay on Victoria’s The Zone (91.3, available in some parts of Vancouver over airwaves without having to resort to streaming), I expected more crowd participation. There was sporadic bopping/bouncing in the audience but the familiarity just isn't there (yet?). I think I prefer it live to the recorded version.

Great Escape starts out quiet and picks up in volume for the final chorus repeats before it goes down to that softer level. Miserable Together – lyrically not the most uplifting of songs and yet it has this great upbeat energy together with a solid rhythmic underpinning. By Never Let Me Go the mix was off again: the music was almost overpowering the vocals here. It has a good rock ‘n’ roll vibe to it. Sound guy must've thrown in the towel by the time the last song Signs and Wonders came on because the balance was about as bad as it was in the beginning. Too bad; this was their big finish number. I’m glad I bought the CD so I could listen to the song properly and I thought it was great!

Vancouver was the 1st stop on Acres of Lions’s cross-Canada tour and they’re going as far east as Moncton, Halifax, and Charlottetown (Dudes: St John’s – you won’t regret it!!!). I truly hope their tour goes well – they’re a tight little four-piece who play some solid alt-rock and visibly and genuinely enjoy performing – and they’re good at it. The baby boomers in the house left corner were rocking out from beginning to end. Tour details and more at www.acresoflions.com.

The efficiency fairies continued to assist for the switch-over between Acres of Lions and Zerbin. Good teamwork! The band were doing guitar checks within 10 minutes and while they’re waiting to begin the band is dancing along to the house music. The venue looks like they’re at capacity now and at just before quarter to 11 the 5-piece band begin with Hear Me, I think. It’s a little hard to understand the lyrics; hard to understand anything, really. I know Zerbin had trouble hearing themselves throughout their set. There’s ocean in the lyrics, so...maybe? It has a solid beginning and the audience is encouraged to raise their arms and sway them back and forth.

The next song could be Take Your Heart. It has good energy to it and nice syncopation, and buzz from the monitors. All in all, a fun song. Peppy, even, you might say. A brand-new song came next, it’s only a couple of days old, and Jason wasn’t quite at the microphone when he said the name as he was turning his head....sounded something like, I don’t know, ‘shoulder’ ‘older’? I really liked it though.

I Want You almost has an ‘80s vibe to it in the guitar parts but it doesn’t sound dated. Comes to a bit of an abrupt ending considering the build-up to it. It was introduced as an ‘action song’. The audience was taught the hand motions for the lyric “I want you more than life itself ...” (stage whisper: you know the thing with lifting the leg up that you ask people to do: it is an arabesque (at half height), not a pirouette. A pirouette is a one-legged, full 360 degree turn - you don’t want that. Health & Safety don't want that.).

The song that followed I enjoyed so very much I completely forgot to write down anything that could help me figure out the name of it. Something to do with colours? Your eyes? I don’t know. But, man, was it ever fully engrossing. Speaking of which, can I just mention how much I like Jason’s glasses? It takes a certain humility to pull those ‘look-at-me’ frames off without looking like a poser. Good thing he’s got an easy manner with the audience, can make a good connection and just seems so normal: friendly and chatty all at the same time.

The next song seemed very familiar in the phrasing but I couldn’t put my finger on it. “My heart is....” there’s a light....something about darkness. Could be Lift?

The next song is introduced as having some whistling in it. Awesome! Like I don’t know what song this is (for those who don’t, it’s New Earth). And there was zero blend of instruments in the mix. It seriously sounded like every instrument was in it for itself and vocals were weirdly affected. In a word: Bugger (because it could've been sooo much more and they were really playing their hearts out).

Jason tries to switch to ukulele and bassist pulls out a small hand-held keyboard (maybe 2 and a half octaves) that would be powered by a tube he blows into and sits at the drum kit. Drummer is on stand-by with a harmonica. There are some tuning issues, abandon the uke, and give it a go and it’s lovely. But for the beat-boxing I think it’s supposed to be Chicago originally recorded by Sufjan Stevens. Like Jason said when they called it quits: “you know it’s a party when everything falls apart”. What the folks at Lucky Bar in Victoria heard the day before was probably better, but Vancouver will have its own memories. Memories like ‘string theory’ – did you know that guitar (and ukulele) strings expand in heat causing them to go out of tune? Well, you do now and come to think of it, Joe’s Apartment was rather nice and toasty without being in the spotlight.

The balance finally was spot-on for In Your Arms. Yes! I think this one is single material. It ends almost unaccompanied showcasing Jason’s voice nicely. Not that the audience noticed much, many were already talking (where the drummer’s family/friends held court, they were so excited, they rarely stopped.). Nice echoey effect at the end and it trails off. What I'm noticing is that this kind of song doesn't necessarily work at a club gig when so few people know it. The average audience doesn't have that kind of attention span. There was going to be one final song but the band were told they were out of time, so it was a rather unceremonious end. No sour grapes on the band’s part in the least, but the DJ had to start playing a remix of C & C Music Factory’s Everybody Dance Now promptly at 11:35 pm, so guess who has priority. Hmmm, I swear the Wet Ape Productions page I checked earlier that day said they were on until 12:15 am. If I were Zerbin, I’d try for a Mulligan and book another show in Vancouver pronto somewhere else. I’d love to give them a proper review. I want to say “Now that’s more like it!”. I own the CD – I’ve listened to it twice since the show and I still couldn't tell you what songs I heard off that album more than I have already (I even resorted to tweeting the band for a setlist because I didn't want this review to suck as much as it does). Do give them a try at www.zerbinmusic.com.  

You know how there are songs that are instant mood lifters? They bring a smile to your heart, your spirit, your face. When I first heard Zerbin’s New Earth last year (or was it the year before?), that’s exactly what it did. Still does, if you’re wondering. I had wanted to see them play live since then which is why I jumped at the chance to review them when I found out about this showcase. Sound mix is definitely an issue at this venue, and it’s SO disappointing when you have SUCH great bands who work their butts off, are at vulnerable points in their careers, and are let down by the acoustics in this place. It works fine for canned music, but it was iffy at best for Jets Overhead last November and it was just bad this evening. Hang some baffles, get it looked at, hire a real techie, read what Overmined Entertainment has to say about the venue, you’re lovely people at Joe’s: please, I implore you, do something. Zerbin, and to some degree Acres of Lions, do not deserve to be remembered like this.

Poster image from Wet Ape Productions.

Mika – The Venue – March 22, 2013

Reviewed on behalf of Concert Addicts published here. 

I'm not sure what I was expecting for this Intimate Evening; I'm not sure the people attending Vancouver’s Venue on Friday, March 22 did either (somebody early on bemoaned no one was dancing before they shoved their way to the front). The place was certainly buzzing and looked pretty full (official capacity 350) when 2 guys emerged at just before 8 pm to begin fiddling with ‘something’ inside an open, smallish suitcase. I was assuming it was a computer or a turntable of sorts because they took turns listening to headphones and both intently peered into the suitcase. They don’t look at the audience, they don’t say anything to the audience, it all seems like a ‘first day at work’ situation where one employee shows the newly recruited employee around and how equipment works and that sort of thing. Meanwhile, music from bygone ages comes through the speakers – there may or may not be a correlation with what the two guys were doing. We heard harmonica sounds akin to spaghetti westerns suffused with Hammond organ, Disney-esque (like in the animated ‘50s classics) female voiced ooohs, to neutral electronica, French chansons...if this is supposed to be part of the show, I was utterly bored before 15 minutes had passed and yet it wasn't over!

Diverse suitcases and crates that had comprised the downstage area began to be removed. One of the two guys picked up a stuffed duck-in-flight and mimed flying it off-stage. By 8:30 pm whatever they were doing was done and the show was ready to begin. A few announcements about no filming as some of the material we were to hear was new and not ready to be released to the world via the interwebs (didn't stop people from filming on their iPhones, I just hope they honoured the request to not post their videos). New stuff was brought on stage (the obligatory piano amongst them), the DJ station gets dismantled. At this point the Venue is pretty full – well, it’s not like the ‘late-comers’ missed anything. Right, 20 to 9, Mika (for the record, it’s pronounced “mee-kah”), or as I like to call him, the tall one (I'm 157 cm on my passport, he's 191), comes on stage to sit down at the piano to play Grace Kelly. The audience sings the chorus enthusiastically with him*. To like Mika, you've got to like his falsetto – it is intrinsic to him, and even when it’s just him and his piano, he hits every one of those lovely high notes.  

For the next song, his two supporting players (the 2 dudes with the headphones and the uncompromising focus on the suitcase!) arrive and they've had a costume change (there is only so long one can hang around wearing wool cardigans). One takes a spot house left (stage right) and for the purposes of this review will be known as Blue Jacket Guy, while the other settles in on the opposite side, and will be Purple Jacket Guy (they aren’t introduced by name). The second song is Toy Boy. Blue guy plays the necessary clarinet and Purple guy plays organ. This song works very well in this intimate setting. Next is Lollipop for which the supporting instruments don’t change initially but the musicians eventually do some drumming. Crowd goes yay – happy singing along ensues. Blue Eyes is next for which Blue plays bass guitar and drum and sings backing vocals, while Purple is on keyboards. I really liked the ‘what’s the matter, matter’ parts in this version. 

Billy Brown – a light-hearted sounding song, but not the happiest of stories. Purple tries to replace the horn section with his saxophone. Popular is great in this atmosphere – you really get more of a sense of the lyrics. Blue is on tambourine and drum, Purple is playing keyboards. Audience is taught the “whoa” parts – if you know the song, you know what I'm talking about. Non-verbal participation is never easy to explain, is it?

After the song, amidst the cheers and whistles, some guy hollers “take your clothes off”. The audience seems to agree but Mika laughing says he didn't want to peak too soon. He does tease off his green velvet jacket and enquires after the name of the person who requested the strip. The next song was dedicated to him: it was Love You When I’m Drunk. Blue is on bass guitar and Purple is on keyboards. Lots of foot stamping and clapping for this one from the audience who also get to sing a couple of repeats of the chorus before Mika and his support launch back into the song to finish it. What I've noticed is that the three of them are very tight, they pay VERY close attention to what else is going on on-stage and do not miss a beat.

Afterwards he says something about the music we heard before he came on and called it “the old man from Futurama’s mix-tape”. Well, I’m glad we got that sorted. That first half hour was one “wtf” after another. Only Lonely Man was a treat. Mika says he hadn’t done it since he recorded it for his demo in a friend’s garage in Chiswick. I had to explain to the drunk buffoons behind me who misheard it all how to say it and where it was. It was piano chords and percussion-based and had a very peppy pace to it.

For Underwater Mika came upstage to sing at the microphone stand for a bit before jumping back to the piano. I say jump, but with his long legs, it was more like 3 steps. Blue is playing drums and tambourine and Purple is on keyboards. I adore the piano part in the beginning of this song.

The audience gets a chance to find out the genesis of the next song. The idea behind the rhythm of it was a tap shuffle which he demonstrates with left hand and right hand excerpts. When Mika was a child, he and his family lived in Paris for a number of years. His sister was taking ballet, so he got into tap. The song was Stuck in the Middle and at one point Blue and Purple flanked Mika and it became one big “1 piano, 6 hands” affair. It looked and sounded like a lot of fun! Mika got to use his French for Elle Me Dit which came right afterwards. Purple is on glockenspiel for this and Blue is on drum / tambourine. Clapping and stomping from the audience, including the staccato eights (?) underneath parts of the chorus.

Next was Hia Leah which is unrecorded – very mellow: lots of ooohs and finger snapping. Easy bass line and a little drum from Purple. Really chill. Thanks to the peeps on mikafanclub.com for the name who were ALL over this already!

Origin of Love - the funkiness I like about this song was maintained in this setting; it was just stripped of the techno bits and it was kinda wow like this. Blue played glockenspiel and bass for it while Purple was on keyboard. Big Girl was a song the audience was fully behind. For the first time this evening there I saw ‘happy crowd jumping’ for the chorus. Mika was on the piano only for the first verse and chorus, then Purple came and they played double-handed for a bit leaving Mika free to spend some time centre stage. Much crowd appreciation.

Before starting the next song, Mika played a little “good DJ / bad DJ” – Hmmm, I think the house DJ might double as the lighting guy? The stage was lit by at least 50 (could have been 80 for all I know) individually suspended bulbs at various heights which not only offered the necessary lighting, but also lent atmosphere to the show. Mika pointed – lights either went out or on. It was fun. I admit it, I giggled. The fun continued with Century Man. Blue was on bass, Purple played ‘drum’ (he played drumsticks against Mika’s piano for most of the song - I hope they didn’t scratch it).

It was nice to hear Celebrate with a piano and vocal focus. Blue and Purple helped too, the former played bass and the latter played keyboards. Technically, at this point Mika had run out of time but there was one more to go: Love Today, in full falsetto glory. Claps to the lah dee das started it off and Blue and Purple doubled up the drum parts. It sounded like the big finish it was. So good. 

Mika and his mates left the stage at 9:50 pm and the audience had them back within minutes. The encore was Over My Shoulder and it was gorgeous and perfect because it is just Mika and the piano and Blue and Purple providing back-up harmonies. As the end of the song neared, the lightbulbs slowly began to dim. What would have made it a lot better was if the people on the back third of the dance floor had had the decency to shut the f*** up instead of having conversations at levels you would normally if the music was loud. It wasn't. You were. I know it’s the end of the show, but sod off. Staff were even shining their torches at the ‘offenders’, to no avail. When Mika and his peeps left it was just before 10. The house music came on and, for the first minute or so, the audience was having none of it. The cheers and whistles continued, sadly, so did the house music. The techies were also beginning tear-down; it was clear we were done. Le sigh.   

I can’t remember when Mika confesses to having being incredibly nervous about this show. I’d never been to one of his shows before, so I have no basis for comparison. He’s a very good pianist and he writes good songs – they have energy, they have humour, they have sincerity, they have questions, they tell stories, they are interesting rhythmically and melodically, and vocally. Perhaps that’s where the nerves come from: this is very much a vocal showcase, his job is to emote, show his range, and entertain. So much talent and he’s not even 30! A job done well, I’d say.

On the surface, this may have seemed a scaled-down show. As Mika explained, it’s how he writes. Even the big brash sounding songs started with him on the piano just trying stuff out. The audience had the rare opportunity to hear the equivalent of a song’s ‘baby photos’.

But Vancouver, oh Vancouver: when you like a performer, you are wonderful, so supportive, overwhelming. When you’re ambivalent at most, you are rude beyond belief. $20 at the door isn't ‘affordable’, it invites the ‘why not, it’s only a twenty / seemed like a good idea at the time’ set who truly don’t care that there are real human beings not even 30’ in front of them who take that kind of behaviour in stride, but it ruins it for the rest of us; you know, the people who knew who the guy on the stage was. Next time, do all live music fans a favour: keep your money and keep walking.

* for this show, the term ‘audience’ only refers to people from the stage until about the middle of the dance floor. Ditto for those on the mezzanine. Everyone else probably should've stayed home.

Setlist:

Grace Kelly

Toy Boy

Lollipop

Blue Eyes

Billy Brown

Popular

Love You When I’m Drunk

Only Lonely Man

Underwater

Stuck in the Middle

Elle Me Dit / Emily

Hia Leah

Origin of Love

Big Girl

Century Man

Celebrate

Love Today

Encore:

Over My Shoulder

Image of Mika: an Intimate Evening from www.mikasounds.com.

Review: Mother Mother – The Orpheum – December 19, 2012

This is what happens when I don't have a deadline: nothing for weeks and weeks. For some faboo photos by Derek Robitaille on behalf of Concert Addicts, follow THIS link. My favourite from the show is the one just below and features Jasmin Parkin.

I like a punctual show, this evening, I thought it may have begun a bit early. In a darkened theatre, using a mobile phone is very noticeable so when I saw 8:08 pm on the Samsung Galaxy beside me, I thought either the songs were really short (we were halfway through the third song at that point) or we didn’t have the anticipated 8 pm start. Either way – Hannah’s set started with Elephant followed by Enemies. These two songs are similarly constructed when they start out, but Enemies has a lovely slow build in both sound and intensity. Next was Robotic, the song currently on radio airwaves. Live it has more vocal flexibility than the recording suggests. I thought it was better live than what I hear on the radio and that version is already very good. Chit Chat has a nice little rhythm to it and I enjoyed it. Lovers Breakdown was interesting because it had multiple levels to it, as if it were emulating a relationship’s life cycle. Fantasize was next and this was one of my favourite songs so far. It even came with a clapping invitation (I generally decline – I equate that with being part of the sheeple.) Millions was almost more rock than pop (nothing wrong with either) and has a really good energy. The band was introduced at this point: there was Richard on guitar, Luke on drums, and Andrew on piano keyboard. Her set was winding down at this point, Somebody was next and Hannah tells it as a song about falling in love with your best friend; the lyrics tell the story that this love was not returned and seems like a song from the vantage point of the knee-jerk pain that comes from that vulnerability. Structurally the song is well grounded with good rhythmic underpinning. The ballad Ode to Mom was the second to last song and Waiting Game concluded her set.

This was my first time seeing Hannah Georgas live and although she is not the most dynamic of performers, vocally she is strong and consistent. There isn’t a lot of interaction between band members, they tend to just stand, move along with the music they’re playing and generally just get on with it. As an observation for ‘the rest of us’ (those of us not blessed with a size 0 physique) it was refreshing to see some inner thigh jiggle as Hannah tapped her foot in time to the music. She has a slender build, but tapered trousers/leggings really ARE the great equaliser. For a person in the spotlight, with so much focus these days on appearance, it’s nice to see a singer and performer as a human being. YES! As a band, they have a noticeable respect for one another. During a longer introduction to a song that Hannah wasn’t playing in, she moved to the shadows of the stage as if to acknowledge her colleagues’ time in the spotlight.   

As so often happens with Vancouver, this was the last show of the Hannah Georgas/Mother Mother tour, and a lot of times a certain kind of energy comes with that. From Hannah, nothing but gratitude. Happy to be here, Mother Mother are awesome (they are friends, after all), sad that it’s over, but being at the Orpheum, in Vancouver, for this last show, was really special to her. Her set was approx. 45 minutes long.

From 8-year olds to moustachioed grey haireds, Vancouver was well represented this evening. Writing a review for a Mother Mother show for me is akin to carrying coals to Newcastle – redundant. After a show at The Commodore in 2011, I think it was members of the band Said the Whale who compared the show to a master class and I would agree. The vocal, instrumental, rhythmic, harmonic precision this band possesses is second to none. Only Franz Ferdinand come close with that kind of precise feel to their performance, but Mother Mother make it seem so effortless. They just ARE this tight and this good.

Fog began to fill the auditorium at 9 pm and 2 pairs of spindly looking trees (think the album art of The Sticks) were placed upstage, centre stage framing the semi-circular set-up of instruments. When the band came onstage Ryan Guldemond offered himself as host of the evening – “we’re here to serve you”, he said. I probably said thank you. The first song was the title track of the CD, The Sticks (a.k.a. the lah-dee-dah song - I don't know why I don't count Omen, but at just over a minute and a half, I think of it as an extended intro to The Sticks). Body of Years was next – the spotlights matched rhythmically, they even seemed a bit syncopated in the intro. What made this performance interesting is that Molly interspersed this song with another that I didn’t know (lyric search seems to indicate it MAY have been Cactus by David Bowie as well as the Pixies). Immediate segue into The Stand in which Molly and Jasmin were softer in tone than usual. Next came Business Man followed by Verbatim at which point it seems like everyone in the Orpheum is on their feet. Two songs from the current release are next: Cry Forum and Infinitesimal. There’s an almost Spanish guitar-sounding introduction to Ghosting which appears to also be an audience favourite – it was followed by sustained applause before the band continued with Hayloft. The song wasn’t immediately performed, it had a long introduction of Ryan noodling on guitar and Jasmin doing stuff that I can’t read on my notepad now, but let’s just say it took a bit before the band went back to start the song from the beginning and carry through. Simply Simple was next, followed by Bit by Bit, which featured an Ali Siadat drum solo as part of the extended ending.

On a more serious note, Ryan and the band did a bit of a song I didn’t know (the wind and the rain that makes you feel afraid) in memory of Amanda Todd, the 15-year-old girl from Port Coquitlam who was cyber-bullied to taking action: filming and releasing a virtual cry for help on YouTube, and then within a month, sadly took her own life in October of this year. I think it was out of respect to her memory, that they omitted Little Pistol and continued the set with Dread in My Heart, which went right into My Baby Can’t Dance and then Oh My Heart. Current single Let’s Fall in Love ended the set at about 10:35 pm. Happily the audience did not have to wait too long for the encore of Love It Dissipates for which Hannah Georgas was beckoned back on stage. The band took the opportunity to thank their entire crew  individually by name (I was impressed by George Gordon’s lighting skills), including the members of Hannah Georgas’s band. To round the show off, the intro to Wrecking Ball was given a very Sabotage-y by Beastie Boys undertone before it became recognisable.

The only fault to this show was mine: I hadn’t bought The Sticks yet so wasn’t as familiar with the songs they played from it as I was with all the others. All caught up now – let the music and the shows continue!

Setlist Summary:

Omen

The Sticks

Body of Years

The Stand

Business Man 

Verbatim 

Cry Forum 

Infinitesimal

Ghosting

Hayloft

Simply Simple

Bit by Bit

Dread in My Heart

My Baby Can’t Dance

Oh My Heart

Let’s Fall in Love 

Encore:

Love It Dissipates

Wrecking Ball

Imagine Dragons - Commodore Ballroom - March 14, 2013

Attended on assignment from Concert Addicts who published the original article here.
Photos here by Jamie Taylor.

I wasn’t expecting to go to the Imagine Dragons show at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom on Thursday, March 14. In the ‘bridesmaid, never a bride’ sense, I was someone else’s back-up. Fortunately for me (and I hope all is well with my colleague), the stars aligned and I got to experience a pretty special show.

Before we get to Imagine Dragons, Nico Vega, a 5-piece from California, got the show started. The floor was about ¾ full by the time Nico Vega started and when the singer and guitarist walked on-stage, there were a number of enthusiastic “woooos” from the crowd. The song they performed to just acoustic guitar and vocals was called Bang Bang. For the second song, a drummer and bassist join the two already on stage. It was a vaguely ska-sounding rock song featuring a lot of screeches, yeahs, etc. but not a lot of words that I could understand sufficiently enough to do a lyric search OR, the lyrics I was able to discern didn’t yield any results either. For this song and most of the other ones, fail.

The singer has a great set of pipes, similar to Bjork at times and can also sing with a Grace Slick-like edge, but rather poor diction. For the next piece the singer did some on-the-spot vocal loops to create vocal layers for a song about her childhood. It started out rather quiet and built to full-on rock. The singer uses stage levels quite a bit – there were three oil drums lined along the front of the stage (stage left, centre, stage right) that she likes to climb onto quite a bit (and the drums in back). In painted-on leather-looking pants, that can’t have been easy. She has a big voice and as a band they have a really big sound. She can do the vocal gymnastics, she has great energy and presence, and she sometimes even functions as a second drummer wearing what looks like a tenor drum and playing it with mallets. Coal Miner’s Song (Yay! I found a song title!) started a capella and reminded me of the Irish ballad She Walked Through the Fair. In the meantime, the other three members have taken up position at each of the oil drums with drum sticks and when they start she accompanies them on the tenor drum. At this point, it’s only percussion and it sounds like pure energy before the musicians go back to their regular instruments to finish the song.

I did like this band, quite a bit actually – they’ve got polish, they really showcased themselves with the 9 songs they chose to fill their 45-minute slot; I just wish I’d actually been able to understand what was being sung.

Imagine Dragons – what can I say? They impressed me. The 5-6’ vertical drum alone made me curious. There’s applause from the get-go and the excitement builds palpably before this touring 5-piece band based in Las Vegas go on stage. You can tell the difference, because that’s when the screams erupt. Imagine Dragons begin in half-darkness with 3 sets of drums against a chord-heavy synth track. Then, the electricity gets turned on and the audience participation for the first song Round and Round is just buoyant. A guitar solo begins Amsterdam and the audience participation again is a fully engaged one. Singer Dan Reynolds reciprocates – he looks at his audience, he’s not one to stare into a neutral point in the middle of the crowd – he does look like he’s trying to make eye contact with as many people as he can. Vocally, I can detect a little “Brandon Flowers School of Vocals” – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Tiptoe is full of echoes and sing-alongs for the audience who take advantage of every opportunity to show their appreciation. A genuinely floored Reynolds asks “How do you people even know about us?” of the crowd. His only answer is yet another round of deafening applause.

Like the Cincinatti band Walk the Moon, it looks as though this frontman may also have started his career as a drummer and now that he’s singing really likes to keep a hand in the percussion department. Hear Me was the next song and it sounds a bit Killers-ish in its pop-rock anthem qualities and overall vibe.

At this point, only 4 songs in, I am sold on this band. A CD of theirs must be bought. End of. They are capital G, double O, capital D GOOD! They remember when they played in Vancouver the last time. Reynolds describes it as having played across the street and looking at the Commodore and wishing they could some day play there. He thanks the fans, this show sold out very quickly, and acknowledges that everyone in the room really wanted to be there.

Cha-Ching starts off with a falsetto vocal and is definitely a rhythm-based song with 3 sets of drums in use in addition to bass guitar. I really enjoy that they are multi-instrumentalists. For Rocks I like the double percussion sound. The drums are the focus of the bridge and the audience is encouraged to clap along (try and stop them). For Radioactive the drums around Reynolds have been rearranged to surround him: a set of multiple drums (smaller than a tenor drum but not a set of bongos either) behind, the massive 5-6 footer to his left, a smaller 3’ (ish) vertical drum to his right and a different kind of drum in front. The band is fully immersed in the song as is the audience. They sing along from start to finish, they get the chorus solo, but they are with this band 100%. I have rarely felt like I want a video recording of any song as it was performed live, but if I had to choose one, this one would definitely be at or near the top of the list. Reynolds pretty much killed one of his mallets when the felt wrapping started to come undone. During the song, Reynolds and bassist Ben McKee (who is also the primary back-up vocalist) play both sides of the massive 6-footer. Guitarist Wayne Sermon takes the 3-footer beside Reynolds while drummer Dan Platzman is on the multi-set behind Reynolds until it’s time for him to jump back behind his kit and Reynolds takes over on them. I lost track of keyboardist Ryan Walker during this one. This song alone almost brought the house down. It was most definitely a WOW experience.

After a high like that, it was time to bring things down a notch or two. Reynolds and Sermon stay onstage with a spotlight on Sermon and the other three leave for the next song, Lay Me Down. It’s a gorgeous song and it would’ve been so much better had the majority of the people in the balcony behind me where I was sitting not been so busy being rude and talking throughout the entire song. Hello? Just because you can now hear yourself talk doesn’t mean you should. Anywho, the other band members return for Bleeding Out and it’s bassist McKee’s turn for a spotlight. Tool would be proud; he puts the guitar back into bass guitar. The spotlight then switches to Sermon and as the song continues the audience gets to finish choruses. Demons is next and on the whole I thought it was a bit short, but certainly not on crowd participation. As far as ballads go, it’s a pretty intense one lyrically and the melodic repetition puts the emphasis squarely on those lyrics. Brief conversation with the audience: this is YOUR night, no one’s judging you here. A license to let loose and have fun.

For Underdog it’s not just back to double percussion but also for Nico Vega to be invited back on stage and they grab every drum and mallet/drumstick they can find. Apparently it’s the first time they’d done that – they should keep it up as the tour continues because it worked. Nico Vega leaves a bit awkwardly and then Reynolds leaves for a brief spell. It’s the other Dan’s turn in the literal spotlight for a drum solo with the other band members supporting. Reynolds returns again for On Top of the World, a bit of a jumper for him and the audience. It’s impressive to the band as well I think because after the song ends Platzman takes a photo of the super-enthusiastic crowd. It’s Time is predictably a full-on audience crowd pleaser. They take over for the chorus and the band admits to being overwhelmed. There’s talk of beginning a love affair with Vancouver and the intent to come back again soon – the audience is loudly in support of this idea (and I really hope it comes to pass). At just after 11 the band leave and are persuaded back for an encore (they’re done by quarter after 11). The encore choice is Nothing Left to Say and it aptly finishes with a nice big juicy instrumental part.

There is just so much love in this room, it’s really quite remarkable. Reynolds made an odd comment about it ‘sucking for them in the US right now’ and he appreciated how people parted with their money to be there tonight (the couple I sat with had bought their tickets through a third-party reseller and cost them $150 total – a price tag they thought was worth every penny). I can’t imagine why things would be sucky – they’re sooo gooood! I went into that show mildly curious about what their other songs sounded like (knowing only It’s Time, Demons, and Radioactive) and before the show was halfway over I wanted to be in the front row for the next one.

Again, thanks to my colleague for affording me the opportunity of being here. This night, this show was exceptional!

Setlist:

Round and Round

Amsterdam

Tiptoe

Hear Me

Cha-Ching

Rocks

Radioactive

Lay Me Down

Bleeding Out

Demons

Underdog

On Top of the World

It’s Time

Encore:

Nothing Left to Say

Great Big Sea - The Orpheum - March 10, 2013

I attended this concert on behalf of Concert Addicts where this review was first published. You can see photos by Derek Robitaille from the show (including the one below) at this link.  

This is Great Big Sea’s 20^th anniversary tour – they had their first gig in 1993 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It took about a year or two for their music to permeate to Toronto, the centre of the universe, where I lived at the time. But they were different. Their music was positively infectious. I got caught up with it all and made some cracking good friends along the way. Together, we toured our corner of Canada and northern NY state, even driving as far west as Chicago on more than one occasion, drove as far east as Long Island, as far south as Baltimore, Maryland (that view across Chesapeake Bay was unforgettable),  but took the train to get to a Great Big Picnic in Charlottetown and drove the rest of the way to Halifax for the next one. Until I moved to Vancouver in 2002, when this band was touring, it was a HUGE part of how I spent my summer holidays, weekends, and some really short nights (as far as sleeping was concerned) driving across the border and back. In the same sense that you can never go ‘home’ again, you can never go back. Not really. And this is essentially what tonight taught me.

The backdrop of the stage were the two Roman numerals for 20 and the space between the Xes was used to display different images or film. The first thing shown was a retrospective of the band’s beginnings to the soundtrack of Great Big Sea – the first song from the self-titled first release. Crowd reaction to the Morse code of Ordinary Day as the band came on stage was something akin to pandemonium. This was the kind of applause you usually hear after a job well done, and this was how Great Big Sea was greeted at the Orpheum on Sunday, March 10.

Setlist *Set 1:

Ordinary Day

Billy Peddle (with the lovely and long instrumental introduction)

Captain Kidd

Heart of Hearts

Goin’ Up

England

Concerning Charlie Horse

What Are Ya’ At? (or phonetically: whaddya at)

The River Driver

The Mermaid

Beat the Drum

Alan said this song was for the next record. Lyrics included “There’s no place underneath the stars I would rather be” and “we’re all here where we belong”. If someone has a title, please advise.

Lukey

*Set 2

Let my love open the door

Love me tonight

The Night Pat Murphy died (a.k.a. Paddy Murphy)

When I am King

When I’m Up

Good People

Scolding Wife

Let it Go

Hockey Song (partial, in tribute to the recent passing of Canadian legend “Stompin’” Tom Connors)

Helmethead

Consequence Free

Mari-Mac

Run Runaway

1^st encore

Forever Light Will Shine (Paul Hyde cover)

Excursion Around the Bay followed by a set of jigs and

Fortune

2^nd encore

Live this Life

The Old Black Rum

Rant & Roar (abbreviated and a capella)

This was pretty much an all-ages crowd in the Orpheum and it looked like a sell-out right up to the back of the balcony. The first set began at 7:35 pm and went to 8:40 pm. The second set went from 9 pm through 9:55 pm. Six songs comprised the encores (three and three). A tired and happy band retired for the evening at 10:20ish pm. I went home singing Rant & Roar under my breath. I was sorry to not have heard General Taylor – one line in it, if Sean ‘went for it’, always gave me chills, but, with so many songs to choose from to make a setlist every night, I don’t think I’m alone in not having heard my personal favourite, but all in all, it was a good mix of old and newer (to qualify, in my very subjective books, everything from Sea of No Cares and later is ‘new’). Alan and Sean could still do a comedy segment with their banter alone,

Notes and Observations (from my seat in the house right balcony):

• People in the balcony sat for Heart of Hearts. It featured Sean on guitar and “Bobby on the squeezebox” but no visual aids between the XX set.
• To introduce Goin’ Up Alan thought it pertinent to mention they were “without professional obligations” tomorrow, so were encouraged to leave it all on the stage. During the first verse or two, Murray and Sean ganged up on Alan blowing in his ear trying to make him lose it. He didn’t and managed to soldier on.
• There was some reminiscing about their first gig in Vancouver at the Town Pump. They opened for a band called She Stole My Beer and it’s an unforgettable name to him. And apparently, the Pump had a low ceiling as well as a music appreciating rat, so that was the first thing whoever was standing centre stage would see when looking at the audience. Fact or fiction? With Alan Doyle, it’s always a bit of a crap shoot.
• England – Murray joining Alan with guitar, nice whistle interlude from Bob.
• Chat about how Vancouver has such a coffee culture. Sean though his heart pounding a bit stronger and faster than usual thanks to a triple venti something (from Café Artigiano (I like the place too – but mine is always a Spanish Latte. Delish, but I digress). And then they were trying to think of something else Vancouver was famous for. Puzzled humoured looks. Deep inhale. Wink.
• Concerning Charlie Horse had Bob on fiddle and Sean on guitar.
• What are ya’ at? was introduced via the Newfoundland telephone company commercial that got their names ‘out there’ when they were first starting out.
• The Central Newfoundland song The River Driver was a capella but for Sean playing bodhran. That scaled-down sound just amplifies the different textures the man can bring into song interpretations and the multi-part harmony for the chorus sounds so full and rich. 
• The Mermaid continued with Sean on vocals as well as tambourine, Bob was on button accordion.
• For Beat the Drum the balcony audience got back on its feet, at least those to the left of me. House right balcony people were comfy enough, thank you. Bob was on bouzouki and Sean bodhran.
• The next song is one I didn’t know. Alan said it was for the next record if I heard him correctly. If it helps, Bob played banjo as well as harmonica (via head gear) for it and Sean starts out on guitar and switches to tambourine. There’s an invitation to clap along for the lyric “we’re all here where we belong”. Suggestions welcome.
• Lukey – shocked that I still remember the lyrics. They’re not terribly difficult, but if you haven’t had occasion to utter the words in over 6 years…; GBS, you’ve taught me well. Sean on bodhran and shaker, Bob on button accordion.
• For the second set, Sean at least had made a costume change: looking less like a Jehovah’s Witness without the tie and suit jacket and more “let’s have a fun show” with an untucked shirt (I know, the things I notice, eh?). Let My Love Open The Door had Bob on button accordion and whistle for the bridge and Sean on guitar. 
• Love Me Tonight has that lovely whistle to accompany the verses (Bob switches to bouzouki for the chorus). Musical detour to I’ve Got A Feeling by Black Eyed Peas in between and it works; surprised to come to the realisation that Love Me Tonight sounds quite mainstream, less surprised that it works. This ain’t Great Big Sea’s first time at the proverbial rodeo.
• Paddy Murphy – what can I say? The audience was back on its feet in a hurry, everyone I saw on the balcony knew the words (even to the verses). Fun.
• When I Am King – the music video for it played in the background. As upbeat a number as it is, it wasn’t enough to keep my side of the balcony standing. For this one, Alan switched to electric guitar, Sean manned the acoustic, Bob on the bouzouki.
• Safe Upon The Shore, written by Murray Foster (way to go, Murray!) was sung a capella with Sean taking the lead for verses and multi-part harmony from the others.
• When I’m Up had a few solos: Bob on the fiddle and the audience for the first half of the last chorus. Good audience participation.
• Good People showed the results of the Good People Project – photos sent in by the fanbase were shown on the screen. Lots of happy smiley couples. Is this a “date night” band or what? Alan plays banjo for the song.
• Scolding Wife – Kris comes out to play – accordion! Sean alternates between bodhran and shakers. Bob on button accordion. Everyone but Kris has a solo verse for the song.
• Instrumentation for Let It Go is Bob back on bouzouki and Sean’s on the guitar.
• The first verse and chorus of Stompin’ Tom Connors’s Hockey Song played in tribute to the passing of “a Canadian legend”, in Alan’s words. Most of the balcony got up to sing along. They elected not to stay up for Helmethead, sung by Bob (the one who used to MAYBE, on OCCASION, be persuaded to sing Blister In The Sun as an encore. – I’ve only ever heard it once and I’ve been to A LOT of GBS shows in my time. He’s obviously gotten over it.). Sean is on guitar for it, Bob accompanies himself on button accordion. Classic hockey footage is shown in the background.
• Consequence Free – the balcony is up on their feet again. For a song that’s about letting one’s hair down it’s remarkably restrained.
• Mari-Mac – always a favourite. The video for it played in the background and Sean timed it perfectly so it ended exactly the same time as the head drop at the end of the end of the video. Again, not their first time at the rodeo, but it was cool enough that I noticed.
• Run Runaway – video played in the background, Sean was on whistle, Bob on fiddle. Audience got to sing one of the choruses – full crowd participation for it and the crowd stayed on its feet to cheer for the encore after the band left the stage.
• Staggered encore: first song was Alan and Sean. Sean introduced it as a song from Paul Hyde’s Big Book of Sad Songs called Forever Light Will Shine. Sean does lead vocals and accompanies himself on the guitar, Alan takes lead vocal after the bridge, he plays bouzouki for the song. These two have such complimentary voices – it’s a treat to hear them showcased. Don’t get me wrong, when the other band members sing, it doesn’t take away from them, it only adds. My point is that simpler sounds have their virtues and should never lose their place. This band can do complex and they can do simple and they can make it all sound effortless.
• Excursion Around The Bay – a capella with Sean on the bodhran. Audience get a chorus (or was it two?) by themselves with fists up for the “hey”. The song finishes with a jig set – Kris had got himself ready with accordion during excursion to back Bob up as he starts out with fiddle and then switches to button accordion when Kris goes back to the drums. Now that’s teamwork! Sean has an easier task, shakers. The jigs segue into Fortune and that concludes the first encore.
• Between the first and second encores the first people started to depart the balcony. They missed a good encore if all they were trying to do was beat Sunday night traffic (what Sunday night traffic?). Encore #2 starts off after less than a minute’s wait with Sean singing lead vocals for Live this Life and Alan and Bob each playing bouzouki at full volume. The ‘boys’ only do harmony for this one (in other words, Alan and Sean aren’t switching off to take turns on lead vocals).
• Alan does a little diddy on Vancouver (not foolish enough to think that was 100% improvised) with him playing the guitar oddly reminiscent of Heart & Soul. Thank yous to the crew at this point, and individual band introductions – how do you take a bow while you’re playing the guitar? If you’re Sean McCann, you get down on your knees first, take the bow and get back up again – without missing a beat.
• The Old Black Rum – Alan and Sean - 2 guitars, going full on accompanied only by bouzouki and drums. It’s a wonder they still have strength in their fingers, never mind the voices.
• The night winds down with a verse and chorus of Rant & Roar, the band downstage centre, side by each, singing completely a capella. I admit it, my eyes were wet.  Outside, I heard people talking about it, obviously noobs, and that’s okay. This has always been a band about sharing the music, sharing experiences and stories, sharing the joy. You can never go home, you can only go forward, and cherish the memories. The noobs now have memories too. Welcome to the club. 

Summary and Thoughts: White Collar - Series 4, Episode 1

Because writing it down helps me process. 

Neal’s gone – it’s been 6 weeks since he fled New York City. Peter is grilled by Kyle Collins played by Mehki Phifer from the Office International Affairs. 

Surrounded by art (turns out they're copies) Neal appears to be in a warm and Spanish speaking country – viewers don’t know where, they have to wait until someone figures it out. Clues include an archipelago, situated on the Atlantic, and without a US extradition treaty. Neal is also making friends with the locals, including a young boy selling fruit named Hector. Using aliases Neal is James Mayne and Mozzie is Barry Satoro. Mia Maestro, who I last saw in Alias, is the latest object of Neal’s affections as a local coffee bar owner. Their stay in their island paradise costs them $25,000 a month as it’s owned by / under the control of an entrepreneurial American whose own stay has been almost 20 years long but he owns law enforcement, so for Mozzie and Neal, he’s a good person to know. 

Back in New York, Peter follows Collins because he has access to information he doesn’t: Witness Protection files and Ellen’s whereabouts. Remember the Season 3 finale with the impressive escape from Roosevelt Island with the alleged Raphael? Yes, that Ellen. Collins strikes out, so Peter gives it a shot. Ellen blows him off too. Elizabeth, who’d brought Peter a sandwich for his stake-out, gets that look in her eye.   

Neal has a romantic evening with Maya on the beach orchestrated by Hector who has been paid for all the papayas that Dodds’s man stole from him. She finds out that Neal was the one who got it arranged, and she softens towards him. Neal permits her 20 questions about New York but the scene ends before she gets very far. 

Peter comes home to find that Elizabeth has persuaded Ellen to come to their house. In conversation he finds out she was Neal’s father’s partner and convinces her that he really Neal’s friend. She tells him that in cases of emergency she and Neal had exchanged pagers and they were the only ones with the numbers. She gives Peter the number.   

Neal in bed with Maya – the pager goes off. Neal and Peter talk as friends. Neal enquires after Peter’s career and Elizabeth’s well-being. Peter warns him about Collins. They hang up as friends, but Peter is bound and determined to find him and records the call. The team come to the brownstone and analyse the information contained on the tape to figure out where he is.

Mozzie does some research on Collins, he’s bad news – his record as a government bounty hunter is more dead than alive and does not bode well.

The team find something in UTC-1, they cinch it to Cape Verde and circle the islands on a map. Glee – next job: figure out how to bring Neal home. BUT, oh my, unexpectedly, Collins exercises a search warrant on Burke’s place. Turns out he was watching Burke follow him and used Burke to lead the way in narrowing down Neal’s whereabouts. He finds the map. Elizabeth looks worried. 

Burke is put on leave when he goes to complain about and finds out Collins has left. He’s kind of / sort of given the opportunity to go after him, without protection from the agency. 

Switch back to the island, Hector arrives to tell Neal and Mozzie that Collins was in town. They decide to take the next flight out while Collins scopes out the main city. Meanwhile, Peter arrives – he was on the next flight after the next flight. Who knew that Cape Verde had SUCH good flight connections with New York. One would’ve thought there may be flights a couple of times a week at most, but multiple flights a day. Astonishing! Peter’s first stop on the island is the church that he had heard on the recording of his conversation with Neal. En route he finds the hat shop (so much for Neal being able to reinvent himself wherever he goes) whose owner tells him about his love of coffee. Peter flashes a photo of him and Neal to Maya (I’m a friend, really) when Collins arrives. He throws a wrench in Peter’s nice-guy tactics by in turn flashing a wanted poster of Neal and offering a reward of $500,000 dollars for Neal. He doesn’t mention alive because he doesn’t care. The cafe empties, all the men who had been sipping coffee had their marching orders for such a substantial reward. Peter looks worried. Collins looks triumphant. Maya looks worried.  

Hector steals Peter’s wallet, a chase ensues. Turns out it was a ruse so he can get him to where Neal is (and Mozzie) to talk uninterrupted. Hug. Brief discussion and they decide to flee. The locals catch on, as does Maya, another chase. Maya comes to the rescue with her Vespa after Neal separates himself from the other two to give them the chance to escape. She drops him off at Dobbs’s house. 

Peter and Mozzie secure transpo off the island and begin a long night’s wait, dum-da-dum-dum: Neal is stuck at Dobbs’s house when Dobbs decides the best thing for his own skin is to leave Neal to Collins to get the feds off ‘his’ island. End episode. 

I don’t know. This was never the most cleverly constructed show, it was always a vehicle for the friendship tests of Neal’s con-man-with-a-heart-of-gold core and Peter’s law-enforcement-to-the-core/smart-as-a-whip-but-how-much-has-Neal’s-con-man-charm-worked-on-him sensibilities. It’s a successful archetypal device: one character is very black and white – absolute, the other operates in the grey, the nebulousness: Sherlock Holmes / Dr Watson; Dean Winchester / Sam Winchester; Kate Beckett / Richard Castle; heck even Magnum / Higgins, when you come right down to it. Maybe because I have this so often I am starting to get bored. The eye candy that Matt Bomer is and the overall entertainment value (not to mention the selling point of the Willie Garson factor) might not sustain me to the end of this season. My PVR might be glad of the break if I do decide to call it quits. Question is: would I miss it? Hmmm.   

Sarah Slean - The Rio Theatre - Wednesday, March 6, 2013

I attended the show on behalf of Concert Addicts where this review is posted.

What a treat this show was. It was my first time at Vancouver’s Rio Theatre and from my spot in the first row of the mezzanine I had a good vantage point of the stage, albeit, it was a tiring one for my back because in order to see over the uncomfortably high concrete wall, I had to sit ramrod straight. But many times, it was just as well to sit back and let the music wash over me. 

I arrived in time to see Sarah Slean come on stage. Due to a previous commitment, I was unable to make Ian Kelly’s set (more on him later), and the musicians were finishing up their tuning when I found my seat. There is Sarah’s grand piano on stage right and centre stage by my count are 3 cellos, 2 violas, 6 violins, 1 contrabass, as well as a percussionist and a keyboard player (who also plays the piano and sings harmony) of towards stage left. The lights went down and I could hear the first shushers. Really? I was at the bleedin’ SYMPHONY last weekend and I didn’t hear a single “shush”!

Sarah Slean introduces her songs not necessarily by title, more by the story that inspired it or where she felt it came from. The first song Cosmic Ballet was described as being the “pulse of the universe”. With the song the sweeping sounds of the string section set the tone and Sarah’s sweeping vocals are not in competition with them. And that is how the evening continued. I’ve always enjoyed Sarah’s voice. She oscillates between sounding like a smoky jazz singer (but in a ‘good girl’ way, not a “whatcha doing later, I could be persuaded” way) and a chanteuse in the French tradition (not Celine Dion, think vibrato a la Edith Piaf). Her vocal strength doesn’t necessarily lie in her range (although she’s got that too), but more in the way she can flesh out notes and make them seem multidimensional.

Even after all these years, Sarah’s still a little impish, a little pixielike, but more settled. She doesn’t talk much per se – she whispers conspiratorially to her audience. She’s one of those people who has really grown-up thoughts but has a Peter Pan air about her – still quirky and still perky. The last time I saw Sarah Slean, it was at the Rivoli (the Riv) in Toronto at least 11 years ago. Sarah had been given a laryngitis diagnosis but she didn’t cancel the show – friends called singers and musicians in the community who in turn each learned one of her songs pretty much overnight. Armed with a small whiteboard, magic marker and her piano, she called the evening the “Cute Mute” night, and she accompanied each singer on the piano. It was a unique night – the music was great and it was grounded in community spirit and support. 

More than a decade later, Sarah still carries a good sense of community with her. A charity she supports, Environmental Defence, had a small table set up in the foyer of the theatre – if a patron signed up to be a monthly donor, they received her latest release, the double-CD Land & Sea as a thank you from Sarah (not from her personally, the gentleman at the table had a supply of the CDs). That’s putting your money where your mouth is. Also, the orchestra: the touring orchestra was violin, viola, cello, contrabass, concertmaster – every other string player was a local Vancouver musician. Respect.     

Intros/Observations: 

• Napoleon was introduced as a visit to his grave and his mummified heart stirring back to life – the song has a great Danse Macabre by Saint-Saens feel to it. Visually, the silver screen behind Sarah and orchestra had beach and ocean scenes on them – they didn’t move fast, they would last a song or more, for other songs nature-inspired animation was super-imposed on top. 
• For The Devil & the Dove there was a yellowish-orange plant on which leaf tendrils changed into blossoming butterflies. 
• For Lucky Me and California, Karen, the keyboard player moved over to the piano while Sarah ‘merely’ sang – California’s climax gave me chills: the strings in full bow, the tight harmonies of Karen with Sarah, and the honest emotion coming through on the song. Just gorgeous. 
• Parasol was introduced as “circus music”. 
• For The Rose, Sarah related how this song came about a good 20 years after she first understood mortality: of a pet, of family down the road, her own; and how the present is one of “spectacular richness”. 
• Chuckles from the local strings when she whispered that “classical musicians were so intimidating”. But in the dressing room, she had learned that one of them had a tattoo. She giggled then, saying she found it hot. You had to be there (why weren’t you?). She then explained how she admired TS Eliot’s works (as I do too) and that they were very sad/reflective and that he had “needed a girlfriend”. There were falling drops super-imposed against the beach scene on the screen for the actual song. 
• We’ll Meet Again was actually a song of Ian Kelly’s and Sarah had him come on stage to sing it with her. That was the first chance I had to hear his music and his voice – it’s got a warm and soft tone to it – complimentary sound to his honey-coloured guitar, reminded me a bit of Gordie Sampson. 
• For the next song, Life, Ian stayed to provide guitar back-up, but left a bit awkwardly while Sarah was thanking her orchestra again. 
• Sounds of Water had strings to the max – it was great, lively, not symphonically boring (it’s instrumental solos I generally find boring, this was a string orchestra used to its potential), they added depth and aural interest highlighting different aspects of the music. It was the big finale, I could tell. Well, until the encores. 
• I adore the first song of the encore The Right Words – it could be someone’s Rainbow Connection or Someone’s Waiting for You and it was very personal to Sarah – sent by the universe just when she needed it. Truly beautiful song – absolute poetry set to music.       
• Pilgrim introduced as "spicy tango". At its conclusion the entire house stood up for a standing ovation (a good 360 people, and then some). 
• For the second encore, her touring musicians accompanied her with their voices during the song’s chorus. Nothing too challenging (Sarah did mention they may have been mildly terrified that singing was going to be a requirement for the set of gigs, but by the last show, it looked like that had become less traumatic). 

Full setlist:
Cosmic Ballet
Duncan
Everything by the Gallon
Beauty Lives
Napoleon 
The Devil & the Dove
Lucky Me
California
Parasol 
The Rose 
The One True Love
Eliot
You’re Not Alone
We’ll Meet Again
Life
Sounds of Water

Encore:
The Right Words
Pilgrim

2nd Encore:
Attention Archers

With stories and songs, Sarah Slean and her orchestra brought a great 75 minute show. The two-song encore was under 10 minutes. Second encore was about 5 minutes or so. The lights went up again at 20 after 10. This was the last show of the tour – Sarah said that after having a string orchestra with her, how was she going to get used to touring with a band again? I think as long as she keeps on making music, the audience knows it’s going to get one aural treat after another. 

The balcony was the perfect place to get the full acoustics of the show. I spoke with a couple afterwards and they were towards the middle of the ground floor and they only heard music from the house right speaker. They had issues with how the sound was mixed (Sarah apparently sounding a bit shrill to their ears and they mentioned sibilants) – I had none of that where I was, I had backache instead, but what a show to have received it at. No regrets.