This Show Will Change Your Life

Went to see The Shins play a sold out show at the Commodore Monday night. There was a lineup of people still hoping to grab some last minute tickets outside the venue when we got there.

Viva Voce opened. The band consists of husband and wife duo Kevin and Anita Robinson. The two piece from Portland had a big sound with Anita on vox and guitar, and Kevin manning vox, drums, keyboards and acoustic guitar duties. They had some groovy guitar riffs and were really impressive as openers.

The Shins came out and started with Sleeping Lessons. They continued playing the first four songs off their new album before rocking out to Kissing The Lipless. The stage was decorated with some hanging lights and the backdrop displayed the cover art to Wincing The Night Away.

There wasn't much in-between song banter with the crowd except for simply thanking the audience numerous times. The guys did go over and talk to each other a few times before songs, possibly changing up the setlist on the fly.

Vocalist James Mercer did a solid job hitting the high notes and making us feel the lyrics he was conveying. Marty Crandall and Dave Hernandez were quite energetic, bouncing around the stage. Anita from Viva Voce came back out and helped on vocals and tambourine during a few songs, including Phantom Limb and New Slang. We also had a few crowd sing-a-longs going throughout the performance.

Some other highlights from the 1hr 20min set included Australia, A Comet Appears, Caring Is Creepy, Gone For Good, and So Says I.

Split The Difference

Gomez and Ben Kweller played a sold out show at the Commodore Friday night. Ben Kweller started off the evening and performed a very impressive set filled with some catchy, upbeat riffs and a few slower singer-songwriter numbers. I really liked the harmonies in his performance. It was a co-headlining show so Ben's 1hr 10min set also included a brief encore.

Gomez hit the stage and kicked things off with Rex Kramer. The six piece from Southport, England sounded strong with a full percussion backing. I thought drummer Olly Peacock was sporting a pretty excessive drum kit, and didn't really need 5 crash cymbals for his setup and playing style.

What's kinda neat about Gomez is their songs rotate between three different main singers, plus the added harmonies involved. One of the vocalists, Ben Ottewell, kinda resembles Steven Page from Barenaked Ladies. Their extended version of How We Operate sounded amazing. I also really enjoyed Chasing Ghosts With Alcohol. Some other highlights for me from their 1hr 45min performance included See The World and Girlshapedlovedrug.

Setlist:

Rex Kramer
Hamoa Beach
Love Is Better Than A Warm Trombone
See The World
Nothing Is Wrong
California
Silhouettes
Bring Your Lovin' Back Here
Notice
Girlshapedlovedrug
Ping One Down
Charley Patton Songs
Blue Moon Rising
These 3 Sins
Silence
How We Operate

Chasing Ghosts With Alcohol
Get Myself Arrested

***

Went to see Grizzly Bear play at The Plaza Club last night.



Papercuts opened the show. They played a mellow rock set with some dreamy tones.

Grizzly Bear came onstage and put on a nice display of their experimental and artsy rock sounds. The Brooklyn, New York natives had quite a few instruments at their disposal, including a recorder, flute, clarinet, and loop pedals amongst other things. The Guild electric with only a single coil neck pickup was neat, as was the really beat up Danelectro with the interestingly laid out tuning pegs on its headstock.




Easier and On A Neck On A Spit were favourites of the set, which also included a cover song called He Hit Me. Set lasted 1hr 5mins with no encore.

Up to 5!

Enter music store.....Hours later.....

I have a new guitar. Fender Telecaster.



So I'm now up to five.....

Star Witness

Went to see Neko Case play at the Commodore Tuesday night. We arrived to catch the final song from opener Eric Bachmann, who played a solo singer-songwriter acoustic set. The crowd for the night was diverse, with an indie-hipster meets adult contemporary feel.



Neko Case and her five piece backing band came on and opened with Things That Scare Me, followed by Favourite. The last time I saw her perform was at last year's Sasquatch Music Festival, where she was about 3 songs into her performance when the hailstorm of the century hit and ended her set.....thankfully we were indoors on this night so we didn't have to worry about being pelted by marble-sized hailstones.

The part-time New Pornographers member has such a striking and captivating voice that could be heard throughout the entire sold out Commodore crowd. The supporting band sounded tight and the harmonies were fantastic. Neko and company also cracked a few jokes, including one about Sting's leather vest apparel during The Police Grammy performance.

The encore included Neko singing a song written by filmmaker, actor, and media personality Sook-Yin Lee.....who has actually released a few albums. Some other highlights from the 1hr 25min set included solid performances of Hold On Hold On, Maybe Sparrow, The Tigers Have Spoken, and John Saw That Number.

Midnight Bicycle Mystery

Things have been busy in the dragon household.....it kind of becomes a problem when you have too many hobbies combined with such little time.

***

Went to see Deerhoof play at Richard's last Friday. Arrived to catch the last two songs from Hot Loins.

BlackBlack were the next openers. The LA three piece came out dressed in some sweet costumes and played a nice set filled with mellow tones and catchy pop hooks.




Deerhoof played a solid set that displayed their artsy, experimental rock sound. Singer and bassist Satomi Matsuzaki is quite petite onstage, but has great charisma and offers a very interesting dynamic to the band with her unique vocals.




I was mainly focused during the performance on the insane drumming skills from Greg Saunier. He uses such a basic drum set, but was beating the hell out of his kit. It was quite an impressive sight. I'm starting to think maybe him and Pat Steward went to the same drum school together. Their set lasted just over an hour including one encore, but their high energy showing and strong musicality left me completely satisfied.

***

The Gunther Christmas video has been completed.

Broken Toy

Keane played the Orpheum Wednesday night. They were originally scheduled to perform here last October, but the show and their whole North American tour was rescheduled as Tom Chaplin was battling some personal problems at the time.

Rocco DeLuca And The Burden opened the evening. Rocco reminded me of Wil, with his big voice and rock sound that had some twang to it in his songs. He had some nice riffs and put on an impressive opening set.

Keane finished off their North American tour with the last stop being in Vancouver. Keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley came out first and played The Iron Sea, before his band mates joined him for Put It Behind You.

The set design looked really nice. It had six screens spread across the stage featuring artsy videos intertwined with live performance footage of the band being recorded during the show. The lighting for the evening was solid, especially during the climax in We Might As Well Be Strangers.

Singer Tom Chaplin has excellent stage presence, using the entire surface of the Orpheum stage to convey his lyrics and emotion. Tim Rice-Oxley is such an entertaining keyboardist to watch live as he energetically taps his left foot and swings his head, rocking out to the melodies. Tom also strapped on an acoustic guitar for a different version of Your Eyes Open. It would be the only guitar we'd see on stage for the duration of their performance. For the bass sound, Tim lays it down on the keyboards.

We actually had a surprisingly good Vancouver crowd in attendance for the evening, which greatly added to the atmosphere of the show. Hamburg Song sounded fantastic live. A poem which inspired A Bad Dream was read before they performed the song. Tom also jumped off the stage and sang in the crowd during Somewhere Only We Know. Some other highlights from the 1hr 30min set included Leaving So Soon, Nothing In My Way, and Crystal Ball. At the end of the last song, Bedshaped, all three guys hung their heads down beside their instruments for a few moments and let the lights take over and envelope the stage....it was an awesome way to end a terrific night of music.

Setlist:

The Iron Sea
Put It Behind You
Everybody's Changing
Leaving So Soon
We Might As Well Be Strangers
Nothing In My Way
Bend And Break
Try Again
Your Eyes Open
Hamburg Song
Can't Stop Now
A Bad Dream
This Is The Last Time
Somewhere Only We Know
Is It Any Wonder

Atlantic
Crystal Ball
Bedshaped