PHOTOS: PUP @ Vogue Theatre - October 8, 2019

October 12, 2019 by Christine McAvoy in Weekly Photo Roundup

PUP
Vogue Theatre
October 08, 2019

Christine McAvoy Photography

Owen Pallett @ Imperial -- 09/14/19

September 16, 2019 by Kirk Hamilton in live shows

The 2019 Westward Festival was this past weekend, and my most anticipated show was hands down Owen Pallett. It’s been nearly five years since he last played the city, and with a new album on the horizon, I was excited to see him again. Especially at a venue like the Imperial.

Unfortunately I missed locals Douse opening the show, arriving just before Owen Pallett hit the stage alone, armed only with a guitar, violin, and looping pedals. A stripped down -- but no less intense -- version of one of my favourites “The Riverbed” opened the set, and from there he played a selection of old and new, stretching back to his time as Final Fantasy with songs like “The Butcher”, and teasing his upcoming album with some new songs. The standout being one called (if my Google-Fu is correct) “Fire-Mare”, which featured some incredible layered vocals.
Owen’s gorgeous violin was strengthened by his guitar, as his impressive voice had the room in an (almost) complete hush while he sang. Other highlights included a heavier “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt” with a raw guitar riff starting the song before the violin joined in, and a beautiful rendition of “The Passion”.

With two lights directly under him, pointed up, Owen was bathed in a blue light throughout the set, while in front of a large screen with scenic visuals playing. From mountain ranges, to spooky towns, to starry skies, more often than not the imagery tied in to the music. One song featuring the sounds of trains was accompanied by slow pans through a rail station, there were aerial shots of a volcano for “Fire-Mare”, and we passed over a graveyard for the haunting “E Is for Estranged”. During an impromptu Q&A near the end of the set, Owen admitted to wanting to get everything done in CG, but due to time constraints, ended up using the Unreal engine to generate everything. Which, all things considered, is pretty appropriate for the man formerly known as Final Fantasy.

After an hour or so flew by, Pallett “ended” the set with “The Great Elsewhere”, but then didn’t even bother with the charade of leaving the stage for the encore. He just declaring he would play a few more, without the mood lighting or visuals. From there he gave a few more songs, including “That's When the Audience Died” as his bow sawed at the violin, and finishing the night with the old favourite “This Is the Dream of Win & Regine”, a song more fitting now than when it was written, and also one that reverberated in my head for the rest of the evening (and on to the next day).

I was sad I didn’t catch more of the Westward festival this year -- mostly just the timing not working out for much else -- but this one show was worth the entire festival. And if the teasers we got at this show were any indication, I can’t wait to hear the new album.

Said the Whale @ Malkin Bowl -- 09/06/19

September 07, 2019 by Kirk Hamilton in live shows

It's been a little over ten years since the first time I saw Said the Whale, playing at the Biltmore Cabaret. Since then I've seen them at nearly every Vancouver venue, but this summer they aimed big for a show at [un]arguably the most beautiful venue of the city, Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park.

Opening the night was Jaden Bricker, who won a contest Said the Whale was running for high school musicians and bands to open the show. Unfortunately I only caught the last couple of his songs, but his strong vocals and catchy indie-pop songs made me wish I (as well as Translink) had gotten my act together and been there 15 minutes earlier.

Next up was The Beaches from Toronto, who hit the stage hard. All four members had a high energy that barely faded as they cranked through a set of frenetic songs like their sultry single “T-Shirt”. Bassist Jordan Miller's powerful vocals filled the park, as her voice was occasionally joined by guitarist Kylie Miller and Leandra Earl on keys — all held together by the strong drumming of Eliza Enman-McDaniel.
Mid-way through the set, they did dial the energy down a bit with a a chilled out cover of “Kids” by MGMT, but were right back into with a banger “Desmonda”, from their latest EP The Professional. After a few more new songs, they launched into “Boy Wonder”, which built to a big finish and transitioned into “Late Show”, somehow topping everything that preceded it to end off the set.
I really only knew The Beaches in passing before this night, but seeing them live definitely made me want to dive in to their albums.

Then at 8:30 sharp (gotta love curfew shows) Said the Whale took the stage, flanked by a large pair of their Cascadia flags and a giant viewmaster slide in the back, Lower Mainland landmarks as the frames. Ben Worcester kicked off with "Gambier Island Green" before Tyler Bancroft and Jaycelyn Brown joined him on the now-classic “This City’s a Mess”, as their set spanned their entire career. From the ridiculously upbeat “The Light Is You” to the moody “Step Into The Darkness” and the hard hitting & raucous “Record Shop”, the set ran through hit after hit. And of course, they had to play "Black Day In December", a song about the windstorms which knocked down a good number of trees in Stanley Park.

The band was visibly blown away by the support of the fans, friends, and family, thanking everyone multiple times for being there and even shouting out some friendly faces in the crowd (Ben having to stop himself before he spent the rest of the set saying “Hi” to people). And they even had a few of those friends join them on stage throughout the night; the actual Camilo The Magician came out during his eponymous song for a quick illusion, a group of choir kids from Maple Ridge Secondary & Jaden Bricker sang backups on "Wake Up", and then stayed on stage for "False Creek Change", the sea shanty that also had CBC Radio host, lead singer of The Smugglers, and STW Superfan Grant Lawrence join on vocals as well.

After over an hour, they drew the main set to a close with a pair of hard hitting earworms "UnAmerican" and "I Love You", before of course returning just before the 10pm curfew. From there Ben once again silenced the crowd for the heartbreaking "Curse of the Currents" which had many singing along, and finally a very fitting song to cap everything off, "Goodnight Moon" exploding into a joyous ending for the evening, proclaiming that they had “so much love”.

I’ve seen some of my favourite shows (and some of my favourite bands) in Malkin Bowl, but Said the Whale is the first band I’ve seen play where everything just makes sense for them to be there. A band that shows their hometown love both in song and outside their music (as seen in their recent cookbook) surrounded by “Stanley’s Soldiers” couldn’t have been more fitting.

Also, make sure to check out Christine’s photos post right over here!

setlist
Gambier Island Green
This City's A Mess
Camilo (The Magician)
Step Into The Darkness
Mother
Black Day in December
The Light Is You
Cascadia
Oh K, Okay
Moonlight
Record Shop
Wake Up
False Creek Change
Loveless
Broken Man [incl. Whole Wide World by Wreckless Eric]
Love Always
Level Best
The Gift of a Black Heart
Emerald Lake, AB
UnAmerican
I Love You
(encore)
Curse of the Current
Goodnight Moon