Flowers Falling From Dying Hands

Went to see The Appleseed Cast play at Richard's Tuesday night. The venue was kinda sparse, less than half-full.



Love And Mathematics opened. I'm glad I checked the set times before we left since the show didn't start until 2hrs after doors. The local trio had some dreamy guitar riffs and some nice layering to their songs.

The Appleseed Cast finally made their first ever Vancouver stop after releasing six albums. The Kansas based quartet had some solid guitar structures in their pieces, producing an epic wall of sound at times.

Drummer Aaron Coker was a bit off in keeping time during a few songs. I don't mind drummers getting flashy during performances as long as they don't get off beat, as it can throw everyone else off.....though he did get better as the set progressed. Some highlights from the evening included Hanging Marionette, Fight Song, and Innocent Vigilant Ordinary. Set lasted 1hr 30mins with one encore.

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Back at Richard's on Friday to catch David Usher play to a sold out crowd. The supporting band for David has been revamped. Gone are Julie Galiatsos on backing vocals and Lindsey Hilliard on violin. The new sleeker lineup allows for a more raw sounding rock feel.....though I personally liked the old lineup better as Julie and Lindsey added a new dimension to the songs and created a fuller sound. Also, bassist Jeff Pearce is now focusing more on producing duties and has been replaced by a guy that everyone thought looked remarkably like Ben Stiller.....No Blue Steel poses though during the show.

David mentioned that he lost his voice a few nights earlier at a gig in Red Deer and had not spoken for the last four days. For his first day back talking and singing, his vocals held up quite well during the set. Usher also had great interaction with the crowd, going and singing into the audience a few times in addition to walking across the nearby bar countertops to sing to the balcony and the other side of the room.

The highlight of the set for me was when they rocked out to Push, one way back from the early Moist days. They also did their attempt at Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. David did a really cool and hypnotic dance while covered in flashing lights at the end of Everything Is All Right By Me Now.....you could clearly see he was drained from the dancing as he transitioned into the next song.

My Way Out, Love Will Save The Day and Devil By My Side were also standouts. After finishing the encore with St. Lawrence River, he and his band left the stage one more time only to return again and end off with F Train. Pretty short performance for a 2 encore set that lasted just 1hr 15mins. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable show and is always a pleasure watching David Usher perform live.



After that ended, I headed off to do a show at The Media Club. Everyone did a fantastic job and I had a chance to work with Christian Thor Valdson, so that was pretty special for me. Christian is doing good and keeping busy with a few things, including working on a solo album and raising two kids.