The Darcys @ Wise Hall -- March 31, 2022

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Touring can be difficult for musicians right now, especially when the venue you were planning on playing has a flood, meaning you're forced to move both the location and date of your show. But the plus side of that can be if a person who wanted to go see the show couldn't make it the original date because they were, say, hosting a Simpsons Trivia night. Hypothetically, of course. So sometimes moving the night of the show can actually be beneficial to at least two people!

I arrived a bit late in the evening and unfortunately missed Vancouver's Fake Shark opening the night, arriving shortly before The Darcys hit the stage. The duo of Jason Couse and Wes Marskell started off with the moody title track to their last album Fear & Loneliness, then kicked off with the high energy “No Regrets”, hardly slowing down for the next hour or so.

Highlights included the thumping “Boys Don't”, “Just Here With My Friends” (which sadly did not feature July Talk's Leah Fay appearing out of nowhere for her vocals on the song), the incredibly catchy & danceable "Miracle”, and the simmering intensity of “The River”, the lone song from their last album as a 4-piece, Warring.

The pair also joked around between songs, with the crowd and each other, telling stories of meeting Robert Pattinson in the twilight of his fame, asking the person on lights to just go crazy with them, and teasing a bit heavier of a cover than the one they went into; a really fun version of Rihanna's “Desperado”.

They capped off the set with their latest single “Running for the Hills” but were sheepishly back on stage a few minutes later, admitting they were not planning to do an encore, but forgot to tell the sound person to hit the house music as soon as they were off stage. So Wes called it a "non-core" and they finished the night with another cover that had at least a few people singing along, "Don't Dream It's Over" originally by Crowded House.

Even before these last two years, it had been a minute since I last saw The Darcys play live, and they were as fun as ever. Hopefully with all the new music being released, they’ll be back for another show (with fewer complications) sooner rather than later.

setlist
Fear & Loneliness
No Regrets
Look Me in the Eyes
River
Boys Don't
Desperado [Rihanna cover]
Alibi
San Diego, 1988
Miracle
Washed Away
Just Here With My Friends
Hurt
Coming Up For Air
Chasing the Fall
Running for the Hills
(non-core)
Don't Dream It's Over [Crowded House cover]