An Evening with Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer @ Vogue -- 11/06/11

I had no idea what to expect going into this, but I knew I couldn't miss it. Neil Gaiman is one of my favourite writers, and while I was only just getting into the music of Amanda Palmer, I knew it was going to be an interesting night.

The show began with Gaiman & Palmer unofficially coming out, just to say the show was being recorded for posterity and we should behave accordingly, before introducing the opening act, Australia's The Jane Austen Argument. They did a short opening set of only three songs, with Jen Kingwell on piano and Tom Dickins on vocals. The first was called "Under The Rainbow", inspired by The Wizard of Oz, and they ended with Dickins taking a ukulele and Kingwell joining on vocals for a song written by Gaiman. They had a pretty lovely folky-cabaret sound, and I wouldn't have minded to hear more of them.

Then with nary a break, Gaiman and Palmer were back out to kick off their two hour plus show with a duet of "Makin' Woopie", which was the first of many times that the couple would prove their love of each other (but not in a nauseating way) throughout the night. From there, it mostly alternated between Gaiman reading poems and short stories, and Palmer's songs, but there were also a few more duets, including a fantastic torch song sung by Gaiman called "I Google You", and Palmer reading a poem while accompanied by Gaiman using Bloom on his iPad.

Among my favourite Gaiman moments were the fairy tale inspired "Instructions", a pretty funny story structured as the answers of an interview, "Orange" and the increasingly creepy "Feminine Endings". And even though it was closer to spoken word, he was a surprisingly good singer for his parts of the night.
On Palmer's side, she went back and forth between the piano and ukulele throughout the night, with some highlights being an almost anti-love song, "I Want You, But I Don't Need You", a kind of tongue-in-cheek look at the music industry with "Gaga, Palmer, Madonna" and a beautiful cover of "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" on ukulele, dedicated the young girl who died at the Occupy Vancouver site the previous day (Palmer did a "ninja gig" there earlier in the day, which is something they've been doing at each city they visit).

In the middle of the set there was also a brief Q&A, and lots of interaction with the audience throughout. The couple were incredibly relaxed and made the whole night very casual and informal, like you were in the living room of some friends hosting a gathering (of you and a few hundred others).

Near the end, Palmer said she was covering a different Velvet Underground or Lou Reed song leading up to Gaiman's birthday, taking on "I'll Be Your Mirror". After another duet, a cover of Leon Payne's "Psycho", which was borderline funny/sad, the night ended with Amanda Palmer and quite possibly my new favourite song, "Ukulele Anthem" -- which is exactly what it says on the tin, a song about how amazing the ukulele is.

In all, it was an engaging, interesting, entertaining, hilarious and beautiful night of art.

Adaline CD Release @ Biltmore -- 11/05/11

After spending several months in Toronto working on her new album (with a guy you may know... Hawksley Workman?) Adaline returns to Vancouver to celebrate the recent release of said CD, joined by a couple more pretty cool acts.

First up was Rococode who, as I am sure I have said before, has been one of my favourite new bands this year. I've seen them a few times recently, and they were just as good this time, despite Laura's fresh hand injury, having received stitches the day before. As usual, the set was incredibly tight with superb harmonies (including some surprisingly high notes from bassist Shaun Huberts) with highlights being "Empire", which always gets stuck in my head, and the raucous "Blood", which is a great way to end the set.

setlist
Wild in Waiting, Dreams, Weapon, EJ(ay), Empire, Blood.

In Medias Res was up next and for full disclosure, I went to high school with some of the members, and so saw some of their very early show... and they were pretty much the usual high school band; and since I have not seen them since then, that's kind of how I still remembered them. (Which is my own fault, not theirs.)
Hitting the stage one at a time, with Rob Tornroos from Elias on drums, and lead singer Andrew Lee (not that Andrew Lee) on pedal steel they started with a slow building song. Their sound was a dark, post rock/math rock that was definitely was not bad, but just not necessarily my thing. They are definitely good at what they do, and I liked the slower, more melodic songs, but many songs broke down into a bit of chaos, and those I didn't care for as much.
There wasn't much banter, Lee mumbled into the mic a few times, thanking us and saying since the show had a curfew, they'd just keep playing. But they had a good energy, especially on the more chaotic songs, with Andrew at one point falling over without missing a beat, and a couple times equipment almost toppling.

And finally, Adaline hit the stage, with a backing band that including her her brother on keys and Robbie Driscoll on guitar. She started with "Silent Player" and "Stereo",  the first two songs from her new album Modern Romantic. Both -- especially "Stereo", one of my early favourites off the album -- were extremely energetic with her incredibly strong voice driving the sexy electro-pop sound. She also had a great presence, confidently going right up to the front of the stage a few times, when not on keys or synth.
She focused on material from the new album, playing nearly the whole thing throughout the set, with highlights being the driving and quite catchy "That's What You Do Best" as well as the first song of the encore, the soft and beautiful "Cost Is Too High"; after which she was surprised with flowers from her mother, sharing with the audience for the last song, "Sparks".
Even with a minor technical problem with the microphone (that was soon fixed) it was a fantastic set, and I can only hope Adaline returns to call Vancouver home soon enough.

setlist
Silent Player, Stereo, Keep Me High, Rebels of Love, That's What You Do Best, Say Goodbye, Wasted Time, Lovers Collide, The Noise.
(encore) Cost Is Too High, Sparks.

Little Red @ Media Club -- 11/02/11

photographs courtesy of the awesome Leigh Eldridge.
As far as I know, this was the first visit to here for Australia's Little Red, and while I may not have been a huge fan before the show, I had heard enough of them that I was intrigued to catch their show. And when I found out Sex With Strangers, whose Peak Performance Project showcase I had missed, would be opening, I was doubly intrigued.
I wasn't the only one, either, as the Media Club was packed -- unusual for a Wednesday night -- with what seemed to be a lot of Aussies in the crowd.

Vancouver's Sex With Strangers was up first and what struck me immediately was the immense charisma of frontman Hatch Benedict. He had an incredible energy, all over the place -- even off the stage a few times, where he sang in that awkward pocket between the front of the stage and the audience, going up to people, singing to them and imploring them to dance (with varying degrees of success). Musically, they sounded like synth-robots producing dancey rock songs; which seems apt, as a running theme of the set was the introduction of each song to be about robots. And while they certainly put on a fun set, I found them to be a bit... unfocused; a few songs seemed to lack direction at times. But it was enjoyable, regardless, that ended with what is hands down their best song, "New City Anthem". If all their songs were as good as that one, they would definitely be on to something.

Soon after, the five members of Little Red took the stage, mentioning they drove straight from Chicago to Vancouver, and were glad to be on stage playing music for us after 37 hours in a van. They kicked off with "Get A Life" and "Slow Motion" from their new album, Midnight Remember, focusing mostly on that. Their incredibly infectious pop rock got everyone into it and dancing, and the band was amazingly tight and with great chemistry. The harmonies were pitch perfect, and a few times they lead vocals switched from Dominic Byrne to other membesr; one of my favourites of the set, "Place Called Love", saw keyboardist Tom Hartney taking over vox and the song swelled to a raucous ending.
The whole set built with energy til the end, capping off the main set with a great new song and the energetic "Rock It". They were back for the usual encore, a bit of a slower song, before being coaxed back for a second encore, including insanely catchy and dance-able "Coca Cola".
It was a really good set, that definitely blew away my expectations. I know the commute from Melbourne to Vancouver might be a bit tricky, but hopefully they're back soon enough.

Kathryn Calder @ Biltmore -- 10/27/11

It's been a long week of shows, and what better way to cap it off than Kathryn Calder. The current New Pornographer and former Immaculate Machine just released her second solo album, Bright & Vivid and this show was the de facto CD release, as well as the kick off to her North American tour.

I got there a bit late, catching the tail end of the first band, My Friend Wallis. The couple songs I saw were okay, but there was an incessant buzzing, and the vocals were a bit mumbly. It was pretty normal dream-pop-ish sound, and was a perfectly fine opening band, from what I saw.

Second up was, Anomie Belle from Seattle. Throughout the set she went between looping violin, guitar and keys with sparse backing band and a laptop with pre-recorded stuff -- sometimes beats, sometimes ambient noises. The music was dark and very moody, with a voice that fir the music perfectly. She was very talented, and did a great job of drawing you in, though personally I could have done without the backing laptop. But other than that -- and a few lulls between songs, mostly to get the laptop going proper -- it was a really good set, and I wouldn't mind checking her out again.


And finally up was Kathryn Calder joined by Marek Tyler, a monster on drums, as usual, and Ted Gowans (best known from Tegan & Sara) on guitar. Starting off with the raucous "Castor & Pollux" and the beautiful "All It Is" from her first album, Are You My Mother? she then launched into mostly new songs, which sounded great.
Calder jumped between keys and guitar throughout the night, and her charmingly nervous banter filed the gaps between the songs, but while playing she exuded confidence. Songs like "Who You Are?" and "New Frame of Mind" were a bit edgier and darker (in both mood and sound), but were not too drastic a departure from her sound to be jarring. The set came to a close with one of my favourites of hers, "A Day Long Past Its Prime", without bothering with the whole fake encore thing.
I've seen Kathryn  multiple times at various points, will all her bands, and it is always enjoyable seeing her perform live. Hopefully she'll be back soon enough.

setlist
Castor & Pollux, All It Is, New Frame of Mind, Turn a Light On, Walking In My Sleep, Who Are You?, Slip Away, Arrow, City of Sounds, Younger Than We've Ever Been, One two three, A Day Long Past Its Prime.

Paper Lions @ Cobalt -- 10/26/11

When you think of a rock show, oyster shucking isn't really something that comes to mind. But that didn't stop PEI's Paper Lions from embarking on the Rolling Oyster Revue, not only bringing some PEI oysters with them on the road with some at each venue, but also having smaller, pre-show shucking parties. The one here just happened to be at George Knuff from 41st & Home's abode (of all places) and I dropped in to meet the band and try some genuine PEI oysters. Which were pretty delicious.

Unfortunately, due to that, we missed most of the opening bands, only catching the last song of Good for Grapes, which seemed pretty cool -- the band included a trombone and accordion and, had a pretty fun sound.

But we did get there in time for Paper Lions, who hit the stage with a mix of old and new songs, teasing an album in the works bursting forth with their incredibly infectious pop-rock and tight harmonies; the four members had fantastic chemistry and sounded great together. A couple highlights of the set were the undeniably catchy "Lost the War" and "Travelling", which started with just lead singer John MacPhee solo with an acoustic guitar, but the built up into a massive finish with the whole band rocking out.
They ended with a newer song, "Ghost Writer" and didn't seem to have an encore planned, but the cheers drew them back and instead of taking the stage, they went up on the bar in the middle of the crowd to for a completely unamplified song, which was pretty amazing.

It wasn't just a fun set -- which had me looking forward to the next time and the new album -- but also a cool idea for a tour, and it's always neat to see bands do more than just 'go to city, play a show'. It would be interesting to see more bands do this kind of thing.