Bloc Party @ Vogue -- 09/29/12

It's been three years since Bloc Party last took the stage in Vancouver, but they made a triumphant return at the Vogue Theatre promoting their first new album in four years, appropriately titled Four.

Opening the night was Ceremony, a punk band from California. They played hard, fast, loud -- and a little bit sloppy -- and all their songs sounded pretty much the same to me. With seemingly limitless energy, the members were jumping, trashing and high-kicking around the stage, especially the lead singer who, unencumbered by an instrument, at one point putting a chair around his head, and another jumping into the crowd to try and instigate a mosh pit. And while I fully admit, punk is not necessarily my "forte", they seemed to hit a lot of the tropes or cliches of a punk band. They were a bit of an odd choice for openers, and I didn't really get into them (and it seemed a fair amount of the crowd shared my opinion) but I've seen worse.

Then as the house lights dimmed, the stage lights came up and an electronic beat filled the theatre as the four members of Bloc Party took the stage, immediately launching into "So He Begins To Lie", the first song from Four. Starting with a high energy right off the bat, front man Kele Okereke got the crowd moving and clapping along from the first song, and never looked back. It was the last show of the tour, and they were determined to make it the best. And the Vancouver crowd was more than willing to oblige, singing along (hopefully in a faux-British accent, like I was) not only to the hits like "Banquet" or "Helicopter", but even some of the deeper cuts, like "One More Chance".

Weaving through most of their catalogue, they played for just about an hour, "ending" with a rager that finishes the new album, "We Are Not Alone" before coming back out for a couple songs; the calm and beautiful "Blue Light" and teasing the chorus of Rihanna's "We Found Love" before launching into the infinitely danceable "Flux". They did another fake-out-ending, back for a second encore to end off the whole night with the slightly-frantic "Like Eating Glass", which once again had the sold out crowd theatre singing along.

Sometimes you'll see a band at the end of a tour, and you can see the fatigue, but that was definitely not the case for Bloc Party. The whole band had a great presence -- Kele, who is more than willing to banter directly with the crowd, the amazing guitar skills of Russell Lissack, and Matt Tong, who is a monster on drums -- and their raw-yet-danceable sound was better than ever.

setlist
So He Begins To Lie, Octopus, Hunting For Witches, Positive Tension, Real Talk, Kettling, Song For Clay, Banquet, VALIS, Day Four, One More Chance, We Are Not Good People.
[encore] Blue Light, Team A, Flux, Helicopter.
[encore 2] Truth, Like Eating Glass.

Ma Petite Single Release @ Media Club -- 09/28/12

Australian musician Indiana Avent -- who has played violin with people like Bon Iver, Dan Mangan, Gotye, and many more -- has been living in Canada for the last year or so, making her debut album under her own band Ma Petite. With the help of some of Vancouver's finest, the album is almost ready to see the light of day, and to give it a little bit of a tease she took to the Media Club for the launch of the first single.

Opening the night was Garrett Kato, though unfortunately I got there a bit late and only caught his last song. The rootsy rock of Redbird was up next. Lead by Savannah Leigh Wellman's strong voice, she was joined by John Sponarski on guitar & Ben Appenheimer on bass, as usual, and brand new addition: Malcolm Holt from The Gay Nineties on drums.
Opening with "The Tower", the set was a mix of songs from last year's debut EP, We're All Friends and Lovers Until it Falls Apart, and new songs, including an absolute rocker, "I Fall Apart", my favourite of the set.
Redbird continues to get more and more polished in their live show, both musically and stage presence, with some good banter -- especially the joking (and teasing) between Savannah and Sponarski -- and I really can't wait to see how that translated to their next release.

Not long after, Ma Petite took the stage, with Indiana and a few familiar faces, including Olivier Cléments (one of Aidan Knight's Friendly Friends), Ben Appenheimer (once again) on stand up bass and Matt Kelly (of all the bands) on guitar and keys; Jordan Klassen even joined briefly by on guitar.
Indiana's great sense of storytelling shines through in the songs -- and her stage banter -- for some adorable folky tunes, which she admitted, "boys or birds", with one of my favourites being "I Like That You Like Books", a catchy song about having a crush on the customer while working as a barista.
After a few songs, the band took a break while Indiana did a couple on her own, then they were back for a cover of AA Bondy's "Oh The Vampire" and the song of the night, "Man About the Moon", which starts soft and explodes into a joyous ending. Both that and "Goodbye Sweetheart" following had bouts of group vocals, before the set came to an end -- sans fake-encore -- with a song about adjusting from Australian to Canadian climates, "Two Big Thick Ruffled Coats".

It was a lovely set, and the only problem wasn't with Indiana or the band, but rather the volume of the crowd. I don't know why it is, but the Media Club always seems to have the most talkative crowds, and while the front half of the room was rapt by Ma Petite, the back half (near the bar, of course) was getting almost disruptively noisy.

Limblifter @ Venue -- 09/27/12

Despite being a fan of the bands since the late 90s, I never got a chance to see Limblifter live before they disbanded, and for various reasons I always managed to miss Ryan Dahle's solo shows. Even when they announced their reunion and a show at NXNE, the weekend was just too hectic to see them. I thought maybe I was fated to never see the band live, but my luck turned around with the announcement of a Vancouver show. And it's not just a series of reunion dates; Dahle recently hinted that the band might just be releasing some new material.

It was also an added bonus to see Acres of Lions open up the show. The Victoria band isn't breaking down any barriers with their pop-rock sound, but they are ridiculously fun to watch live. The whole band is highly energetic, especially frontman Jeff Kalesnikoff, who got the growing crowd singing and clapping along throughout the set. Starting off with "Set Me On Fire" and "Kids" from their latest album, Collections, the band drawing the slowly-growing crowd towards the stage. They threw in a new song -- which I didn't catch the name of-- and wrapped up with the infinitely catchy "Reaction" and the much softer "Collections", both of which once again got the crowd involved.

Not too long, Limblifter hit the stage, with Ryan Dahle joined by Megan Bradfield and Brent Follett -- both of which were in the last incarnation of Limblifter -- and Sloan's Greg MacDonald. They started off with a bang, opening the show with "Vicious" and going on to play about an hour of material spanning the entire Limblifter catalogue.
While I can't compare them to their first incarnation, they sounded great; the four of them meshed well together and the songs were familiar, but didn't feel dated. Like they never missed a step.
There was lots of songs got 'recognition applause' -- a big bout of cheering one or two notes in -- throughout the night, like the soaring "Wake Up To The Sun" and staccato "Screwed It Up". Other highlights included "Fiercely Co-Dependant" from the last Limblifter album, I/O, and the earworm inducing "Chop Chop" from Dahle's solo Irrational Anthems.
They wrapped up the set with their biggest hit, "Ariel vs Lotus" and after being met with chants of "ten more songs", were back for the obvious encore. Starting with the soft and beautiful "Alarm Bells", they exploded into "Dominant Monkey" and "Tinfoil" to end off the night.

It was great to finally see them, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what comes out of the reunion.

setlist
Vicious, Cordova, Cellophane, Count To 9, Jumbo Jet Headache, Chop Chop, Wake Up To The Sun, Fiercely Co-Dependant, In/Out, Hotel Knife, Screwed It Up, I Wonder If, On The Moon, Perfect Day To Disappear, Ariel v Lotus.
[encore] Alarm Bells, Dominant Monkey, Tinfoil.

Peak Performance Project Showcase #2 @ Red Room -- 09/20/12

The Peak Performance Project is a multi-year contest in which The Peak, along with Music BC, picks 20 BC musicians/bands a year and makes them stars. Past winners are We Are The City, Kyprios, and Current Swell with a ton of great bands and artists included as well.

Part one of the project was a rock & roll boot camp where they went on a week long retreat to get lectures and advice from industry pros to help them refine their craft. Phase two is a series of shows at The Red Room, four artists a night for five weeks, each playing a 45 minute set. The bands are rated by a panel of judges, which will go toward their final score in the project, and they've also been tasked to learn a "Classic Canadian Cover" to play during their set. I always love hearing bands play cover songs, and I am definitely looking forward to see who each act chooses (and, as in the past, I am going to keep a running tally on how many Arcade Fire, Neil Young or Leonard Cohen songs we get).

While last week's showcase was all acts I was already a fan of, this showcase was full of bands I hadn't heard too much from, but each one I was interested to hear more of. I've always had a soft spot for folk-y, blues-y and roots-y rock, and all four bands this showcase were along those lines.


The Harpoonist and the Axe Murderer: The duo of Shawn Hall and Matthew Rogers started it off with their dirty blues sound, Hall on vocals and harmonica and Rogers on guitar and kick drum. They had a very high energy and everything that did came across with an effortless charm, both playing and the banter between the two. They had the same swampy blues sound through the whole set, but it never got stale, with songs like "Love Me Before You Leave Me", which built to a frantic and explosive ending, and it helped that they were joined by a trio of ladies, including Hilary Grist and Hannah Epperson, for backup vocals part way through. For their Canadian cover they went with one my my favourite Canadian bands, Big Sugar and thier song "Turn The Lights On" -- a great version, if a bit of a predictable choice for the blues duo -- and they ended with another explosive song, "Got My Mojo Working".
They were really fun to watch live, and so far they're my favourite new discovery from this year's Project. 

The Fugitives: One of the more interesting/unique bands in this year's showcase, The Fugitives combines slam poet Brendan McLeod and musician Adrian Glynn (no stranger to the Peak Performance Project himself) for what they call "modern folk". The four piece was joined by hired guns Niko Friesen on drums and John Walsh on upright bass, and Glynn played the most amusingly-named instrument of the night, the balalaika. Their unique style shone through on songs like "Start A War", which which features some very quick singing -- almost rapping -- that would be impressive on its own, but even more so when the whole band harmonizes.
For their Canadian cover, they couldn't pick just one song, so they chose a medley ranging from Arcade Fire's "Keep The Car Running" to "Ain't No Cure for Love" by Cohen, Maestro Fresh Wes' "Let Your Backbone Slide" to "You're Too Cool" by The Zolas, and finished it off with Stan Rogers' "Northwest Passage", which they wove together remarkably well.
Following that was "We Don't Care", about homosexuality in sports (which didn't come across quite as awkward as it could have) and a song with a bit more spoken word in it -- which came across fine, but I'm kind of glad they didn't rely more on it. They wrapped up their set getting the crowd to sing along to "All This Trouble".

The River & The Road: With more straight ahead rock & roll sound, the four piece was good, and they definitely packed the room with their fans, but I couldn't help feel the whole thing was just a little... generic. A lot of their songs had the same vibe to them, and at some points it even felt like they were going down a checklist; Ballad? Check. Everyone on stage for a sing along? Check. Singer playing a floor tom? Check. Percussion breakdown? Check. Even their cover was kind of a "safe" choice, going with "Northwest Passage" from Stan Rogers; a good cover, but it just blended in with the rest of their set.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't by any means dislike them -- they were very good at what they do, had a lively energy on stage, and clearly have some mass appeal. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they end up in the top five.

Headwater: Wrapping up the night was the energetic Headwater. They've had a bit of a lineup shakeup recently, with a few of their members quitting, but the duo of Jonas Shandel and Matt Bryant plugged on, with a band that included Pat Stewart of Odds fame on drums. They started their set off with a bang, a big energy song appropriately titled "Freight Train", and they drove their rootsy sounding rock through the rest of their set with some excellent guitar work and high energy.
Near the end of their set they broke out what was the best cover of the night, "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!" from Shania Twain. It was exactly the kind of cover that I love seeing in the showcase series; a fun -- or even silly -- choice that is outside the band's wheelhouse, but done seriously enough that it didn't feel like a joke. You can tell they were having fun with it, and they absolutely pulled it off.

All in all, it was a pretty swell night of music. This year's Project has a great representation of this kind of sound, and all four bands did a great job to showcase that.
Next week there is a break in the showcases, but it's back to the Red Room on October 4th for Alexandria Maillot, Dear Rouge, Facts, and Maurice.

Rich Aucoin @ Biltmore -- 09/15/12

"When you give it all up, you get it back." Those are just some of the lyrics that can be heard chanted at Rich Aucoin's shows, and I can't think of a better way to describe them. Aucoin has been criss-crossing the country tirelessly since the release of his album We're All Dying To Live last year, and gaining the reputation of one of the best live shows you will see. He dropped by the Biltmore in Vancouver -- on his birthday no less -- to prove it.

Opening the night was Data Romance from Vancouver. The duo of Ajay Bhattacharyya on drum pads and Amy Kirkpatrick on keys and vocals creates a moody, synth-infused electronic vibe. Amy's voice is soft and ethereal, adding to the dark atmosphere of the songs. For almost the entire set they were content to just play, not saying much, but near the end Amy thanked us and wished Rich a happy birthday, before getting back to it. They were really tight, playing off each other really well, and had an interesting sound, with a lot of the set being a bit of a slower tempo, but they picked it up for the last couple, which were a lot more high energy and danceable, getting the lingering crowd up on the dance floor. It was a strong set from the pair, and I would definitely check them out again.

As soon as Data Romance wrapped up their set Rich Aucoin started to set up, but not on the stage -- he set up his table with his keys and drummers on either side in front of the stage, in the crowd. When they were done and ready to go, Rich give a brief explanation as to what was going to happen; he writes his songs to sync up to old movie clips, which would be projected behind him, and what was a movie without trailers? After a giant sing along to the 20th Century Fox fanfare, there were a couple funny clips, which lead into the "opening credits", a series of slides with fun "facts" about people from the audience. The excitement built until the music started with an explosion of confetti, and the pure joy and fun did not let up for the next hour.
Aucoin is an amazing performer with so much charisma. Very few others would be able to get nearly an entire venue down on one knee, or unravel a giant parachute -- the kind from when you were in elementary school -- and get everyone to play Popcorn and then dance under it. Rich even goes into the crowd frequently, making everyone a part of the show. You don't just watch a Rich Aucoin concert, you experience it.
And of course, the spectacle would be nothing without the songs. Incredibly catchy and high energy songs like "P:U:S:H", "Brian Wilson is A.L.I.V.E." and "Undead" had the crowd yelling along with the lyrics, helpfully up on the screen, and jumping up and down. The set came to an end with the bombastic "It" and Aucoin even crowd surfing and bringing everyone in for a giant cheer. And, as usual, Rich left up a slide with his actual phone number on it, telling people that if they texted him, he would send you a zip file of some of his music. (I did this the first time I saw him, and got his Public Publication EP)

It's hard to sum up a show like this in words, and I don't think I could even begin do it justice, but Rich Aucoin's live shows will leave you grinning for days afterwards. They are high energy, fun, life affirming, and just pure bliss. If I could watch him play every night, I would.