It was a raucous Tuesday night at the Fox Cabaret, as Elliott BROOD stopped by Vancouver on their current BC tour.

With no opening band, Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet, and Stephen Pitkin took the stage and kicked off with “Nothing Left” from their 2014 album Work and Love, weaving through songs from their illustrious career. From the ode to their hometown of Windsor, Ontario with “Rose City” off their latest double album Town & Country, going all the way back to Tin Type with “Cadillac Dust” and everything in between. Highlights included the infectious, boot-stompin’ “Without Again”, the rollicking Rodney Crowell cover “Blueberry Wine”, and “Oh, Alberta”, which even featured a brand new verse, finally namedropping BC!

The show had very chill vibes, with the crowd often joining in, stomping & clapping, singing along to songs like the soaring “Northern Air”. And the band was having lots of fun too, often chatting & joking between songs… except for one very important message from Mark: how his CPAP machine saved their collective sanity while touring. Which lead to Casey introducing the next song as “Mark Stepped in the Toilet”.

After the band got the whole room clapping, nearly non-stop, to a rare anti-Californian song “Wind and Snow”, they took a very brief break, but were back out quickly for a few more; first “Dried Up” then their cover of the Cheers theme song. And finally, they brought the evening to an end with a bang with one last singalong, everyone in attendance shouting HEY HEY HEY along with perennial favourite “Write It All Down For You”.

Over the last 17(!) years I’ve seen Elliott BROOD about a dozen times, and they are always such a fun band to watch live. Incredibly tight musically, with loads of energy and charisma. And as an added bonus, the early show with no opener meant it was all done before 10pm!

setlist
Nothing Left
Dig A Little Hole
Bird Dog
Without Again
Out Walkin’
Bluebird Wine [Rodney Crowell cover]
Rose City
Wolfgang
Oh, Alberta
Northern Air
Paper Money
Stay Out
Mark Stepped in the Toilet Only At Home
Cadillac Dust
The Bridge
The Banjo Song
Wind and Snow
(encore)
Dried Up
Where Everybody Knows Your Name [Gary Portnoy cover]
Write It All Down For You