Georgia Harmer @ Biltmore Cabaret -- November 22, 2025

A couple months ago, Georgia Harmer released her sophomore album Eye of the Storm, and now the eponymous tour stopped in Vancouver at the Biltmore Cabaret. I had seen Georgia a couple times live opening for some powerhouses — Dan Mangan & Tim Baker — and I was looking forward to seeing her on what turned out to be her first headlining tour!

I was also excited for the opener, Vancouver’s Sam Lynch, who took the stage alone armed with her guitar. She started with “Teeth” from her latest album Outline, released almost exactly a year ago and focused mostly on that for her set, hitting two of my favourites early; the emotion-filled “Hurt” and “Doing My Best” which ending with Lynch letting loose on vocals. Partway through Sam brought a friend on stage, with Haley Blais joining her for a new song they recently wrote together (and teasing something more?). After “Moth” built to a big finish, she closed out with her latest, “Dog Song”, for a lovely set.

It wasn’t long after that Georgia Harmer hit the stage with her guitar, alongside Matt Kelly on guitar & pedal steel, as she opened with the first track from Eye of the Storm, “Can We Still”. From there she went through the new album, nearly in order, her gorgeous voice driving songs like “Little Light”, the heartbreaking “Hazel vs Coyote”, and “Take It On”, where she was joined by Sam Lynch for backup vocals. She also dipped back into her previous album Stay in Touch with the more upbeat “Headrush” and the breezy “Top Down”.

Between songs, Harmer chatted with the crowd, opening up about some of the backstories and thanking everyone for connecting with them. And after about an hour, she closed out the main set with “Farmhouse”, but introduced it with a wink and was shortly back out for the title track “Eye of the Storm”, both Lynch and Blais joining in, beautifully backing her up on vocals for my favourite song of the night. Harmer was about to wrap up the set when someone yelled out a request for “Know You Forever”, which she took a moment to consider, then played with the caveat that the crowd help out, which they were more than happy to.

In fact, the crowd was quietly attentive and locked in the entire night, to the point that Harmer was incredibly appreciative and I believed it when she said it was a show she would remember, thanks to everyone in that room. And I’m sure everyone at the Biltmore that night felt the same way toward her.

Georgia Harmer setlist
Can We Be Still
Talamanca
Little Light
Slow Down
Last Love
Hazel vs. The Coyote
Homes
Austin
Headrush
Time To Move On
Take It On
Top Down
Farmhouse
(encore)
Eye of the Storm
Know You Forever

Sam Lynch setlist
Teeth
Hurt
Doing My Best
Getaway Car
[New song w/ Haley Blais]
Keeping Time
Moth
Dog Song

PHOTOS: Elliott BROOD and Great Lake Swimmers @ Biltmore Cabaret - October 23, 2025

Elliott BROOD, Great Lake Swimmers
Biltmore Cabaret
October 23, 2025

See Kirk’s review by clicking here.

Photos by Christine McAvoy

Great Lake Swimmers & Elliott BROOD @ Biltmore Cabaret -- October 23, 2025

Two Canadian folk rock powerhouses joined forced earlier this month on a jaunt through western Canada for The Ballads and Badlands Tour. And since Elliott BROOD is always a fun, raucous show, and the last time I saw Great Lake Swimmers was more than ten years ago when they played a secret show at the Vancouver Aquarium in front of the beluga tank (no, really!), I wasn’t going to miss it when they hit the Biltmore Cabaret in Vancouver.

I got to the venue just before Elliott BROOD was supposed to go on, and to my shock a Vancouver show was running early. But luckily it was still their first song, “Need to Know”, as the band joked they were getting a slow song out of the way first. And the trio of Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet, and Stephen Pitkin stuck to that promise, ramping up the energy with “Dig A Little Hole” and hardly looking back.

They hit songs off their recent dual EP project, Town & Country, like “Blueberry Wine” and a rollicking ode to Windsor, Ontario with “Rose City”. As well as digging back to some fan favourites, with people singing (or yelling) along with the breezy “Northern Air”, the soaring “The Valley Town”, and of course, the cacophonous “Write it All Down for You”.

The band whipping the crowd into a frenzy as they wrapped up their set with “Wind and Snow” once more getting everyone clapping along, a dedicated few in the crowd going for the entire song!

After a quick turnaround, Great Lake Swimmers took the stage, singer & guitarist Tony Dekker joined by Ryan Granville-Martin on drums & bass and Colleen Brown on just about everything, both chiming in on backup vocals as well. (I forgot Brown was with the band at the moment, so that was a nice surprise!)

The trio kicked off the set with the first three songs off the newly released Caught Light, starting with the gorgeous harmonies of “One More Dance Around The Sun”, and weaved through most of the album throughout the set; Tony’s soft voice filling the room on the title track and stellar “A Distant Star” being standouts. They also delved into the band’s two-decade history, with “Your Rocky Spine” which recently (finally) went gold, “Still” off the Lost Channels album, and even all the way back to the first release, with Tony playing “Moving Pictures, Silent Films” on his own.

The main set ended off with the classic “Pulling on a Line” and the crowd softly joining in on the chorus. At that point, I’m not sure if there was a miscommunication, but moments after they left the house lights went up… only for Tony to jump back on stage to say they had one more treat for the audience. That being both bands teaming up for a fun cover of “End of the Line” by Traveling Wilburys, which ended the night with one last giant singalong.

Seeing either one of those sets on their own would have been a good night. But putting both bands together, especially with them joining up at the end*, was quite the treat!

*and you know I consider ‘both bands jam together for a cover song’ one of the only acceptable versions of an encore!

Elliott BROOD setlist
Need to Know
Dig A Little Hole
Bird Dog
Owen Sound
Northern Air
Without Again
French Exit
Bluebird Wine
Rose City
C'Mon Let's Go
Stay Out
The Valley Town
The Banjo Song
Write it All Down for You
Wind and Snow

Great Lake Swimmers setlist
One More Dance Around The Sun
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong
For You To Come Around
Changing Colours
Everything Is Moving So Fast
Caught Light
Your Rocky Spine
Moving Pictures, Silent Films
Youth Not Wasted
Endless Detours
Still
A Distant Star
Pulling on a Line
(encore; both bands)
End of the Line [Traveling Wilburys cover]

Kathleen Edwards @ Biltmore Cabaret -- November 23, 2024

It’s been a minute since the last time I saw Kathleen Edwards perform live, so I was very excited to see she was coming back to Vancouver. Especially since the show would be at the Biltmore Cabaret, which (unsurprisingly) sold out almost instantly.

Opening the show was folk singer-songwriter Ken Yates, as I arrived a little bit into his set, his smooth voice crooning out “Surviving Is Easy”. From there he teased some new songs from his upcoming album, as well as older ones like “Quiet Talkers”, the title track to his 2020 album. He finished off with a song about existential dread (“because, why not?” he joked) called “The Big One”, and was a perfect opener to set the stage for the evening.

It wasn’t long then before Kathleen Edwards came out with her guitar, flanked by her bandmates joining on guitar and keyboards, launching into “Glenfern” from her last full length album, Total Freedom — slyly changing the line about playing at the Horseshoe to playing Richard’s on Richards. She followed that up with “Empty Threat” which had the crowd singing along, not for the last time in the evening, and with Edwards sporting a huge grin when she heard everyone joining in.

From there, her set spanned her career, back to the beginning with the breakout hit “Six O’Clock News”; to the hauntingly beautiful “A Soft Place to Land” and the sold out room once more softly singing along; up to her latest release, a cover of John Prine’s “Hello in There”.

Between songs, Kathleen chatted with the crowd, telling stories behind songs like “Empty Threat” and teasing an upcoming album with the new song “Little Red Ranger” (or the alternate title, “The Leafs Still Suck”) which was about a bandmate who moved to LA, and even opening up about some of the rough patches in her career.

Partway through the set, Edwards was joined by Ken Yates for a few songs, including the emotionally heavy “Asking for Flowers”, before the main set wrapped up with “In State”. But the packed room was eager for more, as she returned for one of my favourites, the raw emotion of “Change the Sheets” and one final gorgeous singalong to “Options Open”.

The last couple times I’ve seen Kathleen Edwards perform were both at the Vancouver Folk Festival (seven and eleven years ago, geez) so it was an absolute joy to see her play an intimate show at a venue like the Biltmore. She ended up playing around an hour and a half, but with her effortless charisma and incredible songwriting, I definitely could have listened to her sing all night.

setlist
Glenfern
Empty Threat
Who Rescued Who
A Soft Place to Land
Hello in There [John Prine cover]
Chameleon/Comedian
Six O'Clock News
Hockey Skates
12 Bellevue
Little Red Ranger (The Leafs Still Suck)
Burn The Cedar, Burn The Sage
Asking for Flowers
Mercury
Hard on Everyone
In State
(encore)
Change the Sheets
Options Open

PHOTOS: Shred Kelly, with Hyaenas at the Biltmore Cabaret - March 29, 2024

Shred Kelly, with Hyaenas
Biltmore Cabaret
March 29, 2024

Photos by Christine McAvoy