Penguin Storm Media

Whitehorse & Daniel Romano at the Commodore Ballroom

2013-01-28T05:42:17Z

]]> It's been a big year for Whitehorse: the band toured Canada extensively, was featured prominently at the SXSW music, released The Fate of the World Depends on this Kiss an acclaimed followup to their debut album and is now embarking on a North American tour in support of that album which is finally officially available in the U.S.

Whitehorse, in case you haven't heard, is the pairing of Luke Doucet and Melissa McLelland. For the backstory on how the married couple came to be a band you can read this interview by Michael Bialas or this interview by Vancouver's Francois Marchand. Both artists were considered to be strong on their own, and the pair has received rave review since they started touring again.

The Fate of the World Depends on this Kiss tour kicked off on Saturday night at Vancouver's always beautiful Commodore Ballroom, only a year and six days since their last show in the city. That show saw the band playing to a nearly sold out crowd at the roughly 450 seat Rio Theatre: the Commodore holds a bit more than 1,000 and the place was packed.

Daniel Romano took the stage first with a Nudie style suit, an acoustic guitar, a big old Kansas City Stetson and his friend Aaron Goldstein on pedal steel. Joking with the audience about having just driven from Ontario in four days (a true story, and about two days less than you should do that trip in if you ask me) and forgetting the lyrics to some of the material from his Come Cry with Me album--"It's gonna come to me. We've got 15 minutes"--Romano and Goldstein were clearly having a good time. So was the already sizeable audience: the classic country sounds had the audience quiet and attentive when the pair was playing but applauding loudly between songs.

There was a short break before the velvet curtain that had served as Romano's backdrop parted and Whitehorse took the stage immediate kicking into an audience participation version of Killing Time is Murder from the pair's debut album. The Commodore was nicely filled with the song's chorus of "When all is said and all is done / Time will waste everyone."

It was a stark contrast from previous Whitehorse shows, which typically began with Luke & Melissa singing a quiet duet into a single microphone at the front of the stage. The high energy set continued with material from the band's most recent album and the debut including Emerald Isle, an audience request when Doucet bumped into a fan on the street.

Luke Doucet's reputation as a guitar slinger is second to none, and those skills were in fine form throughout the set's opening numbers. When the band played Wisconsin--written in New York while the Occupy protests were in their infancy--Doucet finally strapped on the Gretsch White Falcon that's his signature piece for a brief appearance at least. That guitar is always nice to see--and it's has roughly the same effect on Doucet as a phone booth does on Clark Kent--but watching him play any guitar is a feat to behold and this night was no exception.

Mismatched Eyes (Boat Song) marked a quiet pause in the evening and the duet did a nice job of highlighting the beautiful results of pairing both Doucet's and McLelland's voices and the strong songwriting that makes The Fate of the World such a compelling album. Lyrics like "Well I remember to remember that without you I'm a shadow / I'm a drifter and a barfly and whatever else you had to be" are sentimental without being sappy, and the songs quiet vocal counter play at it's beginning leads nicely into a noisier finale led by Doucet's guitar work.

The band's made it a point of featuring sounds made by non-traditional instruments in their live shows, plundering thrift shops and dollar stores while travelling in search of found objects to use on stage. This tour was no exception and a rousing rendition of Devil's Got a Gun followed by Out Like A Lion used just about everything on stage to contribute to the sound.

It's the seamlessness of those sounds that makes Whitehorse such a joy to watch live. Switching effortlessly between a collection of guitars and keyboards connected to various looping and effect pedals, Doucet and McLelland make their entire stage presence look effortless. The two are so practiced and polished that it looks easy.
That level of polish could be boring if it weren't so consistently incredible to watch. It's tempting to look for flaws but they're hard to find: both artists are strong singers, songwriters and musicians in their own right. They're even better as a duo. This is band that's playing at the top of their game, and that's a game that's even better to experience live than it is in the studio. If you've seen the band before you can expect a treat: older material has been rearranged, and some songs sound dramatically different.

There may be no better tribute to the band and the quality of its live shows than this: I've resisted the temptation to give this review the first title that came to mind--The Fate of the World Depends on this Tour.

It just might though, and you should probably go see them--just in case. Or do you want it to be your fault if this all ends badly?

Sixto Rodriguez at Zulu Records

2012-10-17T03:50:00Z

The Skydiggers at the Railway Club

2012-05-03T05:38:48Z

Wilco at the Orpheum Theatre

2012-02-05T16:50:45Z

]]> I've got something of a reputation as a Wilco fan. This made it a bit of a thrill when the band gave me a photo pass for their February 5th, 2012 show at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver. Jeff Tweedy isn't a huge fan of cameras at shows and he's talked about it in the past.

I reviewed the show over at No Depression. The band in its current form is just amazing to watch: a solid show with a set list that spans all eight solo studio albums and the Mermaid Avenue sessions as well. I had third row seats and stuck pretty rigorously to the three song limit before just soaking up the show.

When it comes to Wilco, I think my impartiality is suspect. Calling me a fan doesn't seem quite enough, though by the standards of the truly obsessed I am at best a rank amateur. I came to the band fairly late, with the Mermaid Avenue sessions serving as my introduction. It was Billy Bragg who brought me to Wilco, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the first album I bought by the band.

I've more than made up for my latecomer status with enthusiasm, so given this self declared fan status what's the point of a review? Am I just going to heap praise on the band regardless of what they play? Maybe, but let's just give this a shot why don't we. I might enlist the help of a couple of friends.

I've seen the band four times, but this is the first time I've seen them indoors. They've been playing a lot of these beautiful old 3,000-ish seat theatres on this tour and they're good venues for the music. It's been almost two years to the day since the band last visited town: that last show was an outdoor show that kicked off the 2010 Winter Olympics and though it was a great show the venue--built to hold huge crowds--seemed to swallow the band a bit. The Chad Kroeger (of Nickelback) selected band earlier on that evening didn't help either.

Much has been made of the depth of the band's set list on this tour: what's most interesting to me is how varied they've been from night to night. While most bands of this size playing relatively fixed shows from city to city, Wilco's been playing it a bit loose. This led to a little Twitter anticipation earlier in the day about opening number choices.

The band took the stage promptly at nine and quickly got to work as the opening strains of One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend) wafted gently into the seats. Followed quickly by Poor Places any impression that this was going to be a quiet show was promptly kicked to the curb with a rousing live rendition of Art of Almost.

"We have a fair amount of business to attend to," Jeff Tweedy finally said into the microphone. "Sorry for not saying Hi sooner. thanks for clapping." In a town known for a bit of a slacker aesthetic, this kind of protestant work ethic was delightfully out of place. Back to work it was for a set that started heavy with favourites from the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the grossly underrated Sky Blue Sky. Impossible Germany gave Nels Cline":I've got something of a reputation as a Wilco fan. This made it a bit of a thrill when the band gave me a photo pass for their February 5th, 2012 show at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver. Jeff Tweedy isn't a huge fan of cameras at shows and he's talked about it in the past.

I reviewed the show over at No Depression. The band in its current form is just amazing to watch: a solid show with a set list that spans all eight solo studio albums and the Mermaid Avenue sessions as well. I had third row seats and stuck pretty rigorously to the three song limit before just soaking up the show.

When it comes to Wilco, I think my impartiality is suspect. Calling me a fan doesn't seem quite enough, though by the standards of the truly obsessed I am at best a rank amateur. I came to the band fairly late, with the Mermaid Avenue sessions serving as my introduction. It was Billy Bragg who brought me to Wilco, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was the first album I bought by the band.

I've more than made up for my latecomer status with enthusiasm, so given this self declared fan status what's the point of a review? Am I just going to heap praise on the band regardless of what they play? Maybe, but let's just give this a shot why don't we. I might enlist the help of a couple of friends.

I've seen the band four times, but this is the first time I've seen them indoors. They've been playing a lot of these beautiful old 3,000-ish seat theatres on this tour and they're good venues for the music. It's been almost two years to the day since the band last visited town: that last show was an outdoor show that kicked off the 2010 Winter Olympics and though it was a great show the venue--built to hold huge crowds--seemed to swallow the band a bit. The Chad Kroeger (of Nickelback) selected band earlier on that evening didn't help either.

Much has been made of the depth of the band's set list on this tour: what's most interesting to me is how varied they've been from night to night. While most bands of this size playing relatively fixed shows from city to city, Wilco's been playing it a bit loose. This led to a little Twitter anticipation earlier in the day about opening number choices.

The band took the stage promptly at nine and quickly got to work as the opening strains of One Sunday Morning (Song for Jane Smiley's Boyfriend) wafted gently into the seats. Followed quickly by Poor Places any impression that this was going to be a quiet show was promptly kicked to the curb with a rousing live rendition of Art of Almost.

"We have a fair amount of business to attend to," Jeff Tweedy finally said into the microphone. "Sorry for not saying Hi sooner. thanks for clapping." In a town known for a bit of a slacker aesthetic, this kind of protestant work ethic was delightfully out of place. Back to work it was for a set that started heavy with favourites from the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the grossly underrated Sky Blue Sky. Impossible Germany gave Nels Cline a chance to stretch his wings a bit with a short guitar solo. The level of respect Tweedy has for Cline was obvious as he stood watching from the middle of the stage.

My companion for the show hadn't seen Wilco live before and the sheer look of glee on her face was as good an indication of how the show was going so far as anything else. It probably didn't hurt that we were three rows back and immediately in front of Cline. It's an impressive thing to watch him work, even if the "Guitar God" label he's been assigned seems a bit hyperbolic.

One of the night's most interesting musical moments came in another quiet moment with a gorgeous downtempo rendition of Spiders (Kidsmoke.) I'd assigned some pre-concert homework listening to my companion and this one threw her for a bit of a loop, sounding dramatically different than the version on the band's Kicking Television double live album.

Tweedy addressed the crowd again. "Because I'm psychic, let me guess...is your name Mikaela?" he said, pointing down into the front row. "Are you getting married?" Well played Jeff. I'm not sure who tipped you off on that one, but it was a pretty nice moment in a good show. The follow up was even better, with a random gesture towards the crowd "...and you just lost a pet!" It was obvious that Tweedy was in a cheerful mood. Handshake Drugs was next, because nothing quite says congratulations on getting married like a song about...drugs?

The current Wilco lineup is the longest lived lineup the band's had: there haven't been any changes in three albums, and it shows. The band was in fine form and proceeded to play out a set list with a good balance of material from Summerteeth onwards, even dipping back to the A.M. days for I Must be High, a song Tweedy said the band hadn't played in town for at least 15 years. This visits into the past have been a highlight of shows on this tour but they're not new: two years ago a version of It's Just That Simple from the same album was being played live on the Ashes of American Flags tour. This is a band that's not afraid to revisit its history when it can.

A single lengthy encore showed that even more clearly, closing with a threesome of tunes from Being There. Red Eyed & Blue, I Got You (At the End of the Century) and Outtasite (Outta Mind) had an on its feet audience fully engaged to the last minute. For my money, the "I got you and it's all I need" refrain of I Got You makes it one of the best show closers in the band's arsenal.

So how does this gig compare? It's probably the best set list I've heard the band play. I liked its diversity and range, and the reworked versions of classic songs were a nice touch. The band's playing was phenomenal, but that's never a surprise to be honest. I have a preference for music outdoors on warm summer nights whenever I have a choice, so from that perspective the Oregon gig I went to three years ago can't be touched but those are rare occasions.

It might be best to check in with those friends on this one so let's do that. My seat neighbour--whose taste in music is arguably better and more diverse than mine--left the show and almost used the word best to describe it. Why almost? Well, she was at the Harvest Picnic with me you see and if you're going to look for a combination of beat this band Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris and friends offer a pretty tempting argument. I'm willing to bet she's catching up on that homework she neglected earlier though, and she's going to laugh a bit less when I tell her something is my "favourite Wilco song" which I seem to do with some regularity. (For the record, if I have to pick one...just one...it's probably Poor Places.)

Another friend who, when I gave her a copy of The Whole Love told me the Art of Almost did nothing for her texted me right after the show and it was with quite a bit of glee that I was able to write back with three words.

"Told you so."

There's a reason Wilco have been called the best touring band in America right now and last night they demonstrated pretty clearly that they can cross a border and hold up pretty well too. If they're not back soon, it's likely that my next vacation is going to happen via Chicago. a chance to stretch his wings a bit with a short guitar solo. The level of respect Tweedy has for Cline was obvious as he stood watching from the middle of the stage.

My companion for the show hadn't seen Wilco live before and the sheer look of glee on her face was as good an indication of how the show was going so far as anything else. It probably didn't hurt that we were three rows back and immediately in front of Cline. It's an impressive thing to watch him work, even if the "Guitar God" label he's been assigned seems a bit hyperbolic.

One of the night's most interesting musical moments came in another quiet moment with a gorgeous downtempo rendition of Spiders (Kidsmoke.) I'd assigned some pre-concert homework listening to my companion and this one threw her for a bit of a loop, sounding dramatically different than the version on the band's Kicking Television double live album.

Tweedy addressed the crowd again. "Because I'm psychic, let me guess...is your name Mikaela?" he said, pointing down into the front row. "Are you getting married?" Well played Jeff. I'm not sure who tipped you off on that one, but it was a pretty nice moment in a good show. The follow up was even better, with a random gesture towards the crowd "...and you just lost a pet!" It was obvious that Tweedy was in a cheerful mood. Handshake Drugs was next, because nothing quite says congratulations on getting married like a song about...drugs?

The current Wilco lineup is the longest lived lineup the band's had: there haven't been any changes in three albums, and it shows. The band was in fine form and proceeded to play out a set list with a good balance of material from Summerteeth onwards, even dipping back to the A.M. days for I Must be High, a song Tweedy said the band hadn't played in town for at least 15 years. This visits into the past have been a highlight of shows on this tour but they're not new: two years ago a version of It's Just That Simple from the same album was being played live on the Ashes of American Flags tour. This is a band that's not afraid to revisit its history when it can.

A single lengthy encore showed that even more clearly, closing with a threesome of tunes from Being There. Red Eyed & Blue, I Got You (At the End of the Century) and Outtasite (Outta Mind) had an on its feet audience fully engaged to the last minute. For my money, the "I got you and it's all I need" refrain of I Got You makes it one of the best show closers in the band's arsenal.

So how does this gig compare? It's probably the best set list I've heard the band play. I liked its diversity and range, and the reworked versions of classic songs were a nice touch. The band's playing was phenomenal, but that's never a surprise to be honest. I have a preference for music outdoors on warm summer nights whenever I have a choice, so from that perspective the Oregon gig I went to three years ago can't be touched but those are rare occasions.

It might be best to check in with those friends on this one so let's do that. My seat neighbour--whose taste in music is arguably better and more diverse than mine--left the show and almost used the word best to describe it. Why almost? Well, she was at the Harvest Picnic with me you see and if you're going to look for a combination of beat this band Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris and friends offer a pretty tempting argument. I'm willing to bet she's catching up on that homework she neglected earlier though, and she's going to laugh a bit less when I tell her something is my "favourite Wilco song" which I seem to do with some regularity. (For the record, if I have to pick one...just one...it's probably Poor Places.)

Another friend who, when I gave her a copy of The Whole Love told me the Art of Almost did nothing for her texted me right after the show and it was with quite a bit of glee that I was able to write back with three words.

"Told you so."

There's a reason Wilco have been called the best touring band in America right now and last night they demonstrated pretty clearly that they can cross a border and hold up pretty well too. If they're not back soon, it's likely that my next vacation is going to happen via Chicago.

2011 Greenbelt Harvest Picnic

2011-08-27T15:03:40Z

]]> Daniel Lanois probably isn't Hamilton's most famous son--that honor might belong to Tim Horton, a man who wasn't born there but whose ubiquitous coffee and doughnut stores now dot the Canadian landscape--but he probably should be. Known around the world for his work with artists such as U2, Emmylou Harris and others the Canadian music producer was born here, and still considers it home, though he spends most of his time in Los Angeles these days.

Besides being the area where Lanois was raised and started his career, the area surrounding Hamilton is located in Ontario's officially declared Greenbelt, an area of the province has created in an attempt to preserve the lush, verdant farm land from the seemingly unstoppable growth of the Metro Toronto area. This year Lanois decided to invite a few of his friends to a party to celebrate and highlight the farmers who live in the area and work the land.

Those friends? Emmylou Harris, Gord Downie, Ray LaMontagne and Sarah Harmer, to name just a few. The first Greenbelt Harvest Picnic presented a full day of music at a well run, well organized show that is--without a doubt--the single greatest day of music I've ever seen in my life.
The site itself provided a beautiful backdrop for the days events, including a freshly stocked trout pond for fishing and a beach along the lake offering solace from the sun's heat on a clear, blue sky day. The event's single main stage opened up at about noon with a performance by Dawn & Marra, Rocco Deluca, John Ellison and local rockers The Reason. With Lanois helming the festival the expectations for sound were naturally fairly high, and they didn't disappoint. Neither did the performances.

In a demonstration of just one of the ways the festival was well organized, the main sound booth located in the middle of the crowd served as a second stage for Lanois and friends to play on while the main stage was being configured. The improvisational jams Lanois and friends played from the sound booth were accompanied by the Greenbelt Harvest Dancers, and I could have listened to them forever. They'd have been at home on the main stage of any show I've ever seen.

While the crowd growing through the afternoon the evening sets started with Sarah Harmer taking the stage at about 5:00. Harmer's been active in Ontario environmental issues in the past and took the opportunity to highlight the plight of Ontario's farmers and issue a touching reminder of Jack Layton's legacy on the same topic. Harmer's voice was clear and clean, as usual, and set that included favourites like I Am Aglow, Late Bloomer and One Match the audience was off their blankets and on their feet for most of the brilliant set.

Next to the stage was Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie with his Country of Miracles band. Downie's stage presence is legendary. He's famously said in the past that he'd rather "chew his right arm off than give a back performance" and the ear to ear smile on his face was a precursor to a set that included material from Downie's solo albums all the way back to 2003's Coke Machine Glow. A technical problem with his in ear monitor didn't stop Downie for a minute, and the moments while a stage technician took the time to fix it while Downie was the mic were some of of the funniest of the day as he joked with the crowd and the technician before resuming his performance with Vancouver Divorce, a song I haven't listened to in years. Lanois was an opening act on the Tragically Hip's first ever Another Roadside Attraction tour, and it was rather nice to see Downie share the stage again.

With the last rays of the sun shining, Daniel Lanois and his band took the stage. When I last saw Lanois it was performing as Black Dub at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom and it was a night that demonstrated incredible songwriting, musicianship and stage presence. On the much larger stage here the same talent was on display. Not much of a conversationalist, Lanois focused on stellar guitar work with his bandmates with almost no between song banter. The Maker is probably Lanois' best known song, and came early in the set. Black Dub's Ring the Alarm closed out the set and its extended instrumental finish, which shares a bridge with Will This be Love from the Lanois produced Emmylou Harris album Wrecking Ball, left the crowd satisfied but wanting more.

As the last notes of Ring the Alarm faded into the night, Emmylou Harris glided gracefully onto the stage entering from stage right. With a wave to the suddenly raucous crow, Emmylou stepped up to the stage's only vacant microphone and, accompanied by only a gentle drum beat and a Lanois' quiet guitar, broke into Where Will I Be, the lead track from the Lanois produced Wrecking Ball album. Having described Sarah Harmer's voice as 'clear and clean' above I'm at a loss to describe Emmylou's without resorting to cliche. No matter: the voice filled the clear, starlit sky with sound. The crowd was silent and attentive: you could hear the crickets chirping in the pauses between songs.

Emmylou's set consisted of much material from Wrecking Ball, but the band left the stage for her performance of Hard Bargain's Darlin' Kate. The brief solo numbers were one of the many highlights of a night that saw note perfect performances of material like Goin' Back to Harlan and May This Be Love, with Lanois and his band on backup.

On an encore free day, Emmylou was the first artist compelled to come back to the stage for a finale giving "Dan a break" as she described it. Dan, of course, was setting up in the sound booth for one more performance with the Harvest Picnic Dancers while the stage was set for Ray LaMontagne.

As the final act in a lineup full of potential headliners, Lamontagne stepped up the job well. The moody melodic vocals kept a set of material from all of Lamontage's albums moving nicely, and the crowds repeated calls for Three More Days showed that a dedicated fan base had sat through 12 hours but still wanted more. Lamontagne's set was outstanding, and a beautiful quiet way to end the night.

The Harvest Picnic was, without a doubt, the single best day of live music I've seen in my life. With not a weak act in the bunch, a beautiful venue and a ticket price that I would have paid to see just one of these acts I can't imagine improving on it. There was no sign of the audio troubles that often plagues multi-artist festivals like this, food was reasonably priced, the crowd was well behaved an--most importantly--the artists were all in top form.

I've been joking with friends in the days since that I think I should give up on concerts now. It's hard to imagine anything outdoing this one. I don't really mean it, of course. Not really. I think...

There's talk of this becoming an annual event which, if it does, may make for an annual trip for me to the Toronto area. We'll see. For now, I can only say that I'm glad I attended this one. It also happened to be only three days before my 40th birthday and really, I can't imagine a better way to ring it in.

Rereading this, I realize that I've gone on quite long despite the fact that I tried to keep in short. In hindsight, I really could have just written a three word review and saved you a lot of time and for that I apologize. So, here it is:

Best. Concert. Ever.

Yukon Blonde & The Wooden Sky at the Biltmore

2011-04-16T14:05:39Z

Jasper Sloan Yip & Shera Kelly at the Media Club

2011-03-11T07:25:33Z

Hey Rosetta! at the Rio Theatre

2011-03-06T22:27:42Z

]]> Newfoundland's Hey Rosetta! have drawn comparisons to recent Grammy award winners Arcade Fire in the past, and they're well deserved. The six piece band has a big sound that's capable of filling rooms much larger than the ones they're currently playing. I saw them at the Commodore Ballroom last year when they opened for Hot Hot Heat and one of the most telling moments was watching the crowd filter out of the venue when the headliners hit the stage: Hey Rosetta! had a larger audience than the more well known headliners.

Wherever Newfoundlanders go in this country they remain staunchly proud and identified with their home province. It showed on this night, as a flag made its way from the audience to the stage for the closing numbers.

The Rio is a beautiful venue and the band played a fantastic night of live music for the sold out room, ending with a cover of Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time that I recorded on video.

Kyprios at Surrey Winterfest 2011

2011-03-06T19:09:54Z

]]> Surrey's Winterfest is an annual festival celebrating a season that barely exists in Vancouver most of the time. During last year's Winter Olympics the weather was arm and the sky was dry. Naturally this year the festival was blanketed by five inches of fresh snow and temperatures that were unseasonably cold.

With Kyprios featured on the main stage I wasn't going to miss it. Kyprios is one of the most dynamic performers I've seen in the last year, and that makes him very fun to shoot. The man just doesn't know how to stand still. The hour long Olympic celebration that preceded it featured Steff Lang and Widemouth Mason's Shaun Verrault performing with a full orchestra in support, and did a nice job of bring back memories of the best party this city's every thrown.

Daniel Lanois & Black Dub at the Commodore Ballroom

2011-02-04T03:32:32Z

]]> Daniel Lanois brought his new band Black Dub to the Commodore Ballroom on February 2nd, 2011 for their first ever Vancouver performance. It was one of the finest nights of live music I've seen with Trixie Whitely's vocals fronting Lanois' guitar work and percussionist Brian Blade's absolutely outstanding drumming. One of those nights you never want to end.

My review of the show is on Guttersnipe News along with a full photo gallery.

Review from Guttersnipe News

It's become a cliche to attach superlatives to Daniel Lanois' name when discussing his career as a producer. Having had a hand in some of the most notable albums of the last 30 years, the man has earned each and every one of them. Just to get it out of the way, I'm going to call him a "legendary producer" and move right along.

Lanois' reputation as a musician isn't nearly as well known despite having released a string of solo albums starting with 1989′s Acadie. That album spawned a couple of minor radio hits which have gone on to become Canadian classics, but subsequent releases have largely failed to find much traction with the mainstream (though his sophomore album For the Beauty of Wynona is, for my money, a stronger body of work). No matter: the man's stature hasn't suffered at all and he remains one of the most in-demand producers in the world of music.

Given this, when Lanois announced that he was starting a new band last year it generated a lot of excitement. Black Dub features Trixie Whitely on vocals and Brian Blade on drums. The band was formed in October of 2009 but was sidelined first by Lanois' producing duties on Neil Young's outstanding Le Noise album and second by a motorcycle accident which, by all accounts, resulted in Lanois fighting for his life.

After a successful recovery and the release of Young's album, Black Dub's first album was released and tour dates announced. Originally booked to play Vancouver's Venue, last night's show was quickly moved to the larger, venerable Commodore Ballroom thanks to brisk ticket sales. It's a good thing too, as that beautiful room was packed to the rafters last night with the crowd arriving early for a fine, but brief, opening set by California singer/songwriter Rocco Delucca.

When the four members Black Dub took the stage, the crowd wasn't disappointed. Singer (and daughter of Chris) Trixie Whitley's voice is strong and powerful and, combined with the touch of twang from Lanois' guitar, put the band into loud blues-rock territory.

With Black Dub's big, full sound (in part thanks to Lanois' custom-tooled sound-booth) well suited to the larger venue, the next hour-and-a-bit was some of the finest live music I've heard in the past year. The band played much of the material from their first album with some instrumental interludes - including a gorgeous turn on the slide guitar by Lanois - with other Lanois- penned material filling the gaps.

This night was about the music, and stage banter was kept to a minimum despite persistent audience requests for "Jolie Louise". Lanois responded by saying that "they had to get through some stuff first." With that stuff presumably gotten through, Lanois introduced the "orchestra" at the end of the set. Though rock and roll drummers are often unappreciated and overlooked, the crowd gave Brian Blade's drumming the loudest round of applause at this point. It was well deserved.

The band left the stage for a few moments until Lanois returned solo for an encore and finally delivering on his earlier promise with solo renditions of both "Jolie Louise" and "The Maker", both from Acadie.

With some of the best musicianship I've heard in in recent years, a strong selection of material and a talented opening act the only problem with Black Dub's performance was an occasional glitch with sustained feedback from the custom soundboard Lanois travels with. This happened a few times throughout the night and though it was a minor annoyance, it didn't ruin the night. This one's already got a place on my end-of-year list. Here's hoping Black Dub finds commercial success and we can all do this again next year.

Alejandro Escovedo & Amy Cook

2011-02-01T03:27:49Z

]]> With the demise of Richards on Richards, the awkwardly named Venue on Granville Street took over as one of Vancouver's mid-size concert destinations last summer. Alejandro Escovedo played last August, and it was the first show I saw.

Alejandro and his backing band--the Sensitive Boys--gave it their all, along with opening act Amy Cook and the musicianship on display was astonishing. The room was sparsely populated, probably not helped by the mid-summer date and the relatively unknown Venue. The show ended with Alejandro's putting down his guitar to cover Beast of Burden, and a happy crowd filing out into a warm Vancouver night.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals

2011-01-31T20:39:09Z

]]> Grace Potter and the Nocturnals hail from Vermont and played Vancouver's Venue to their packed, sold out crowd. When Grace announced they were going to perform a song that they'd never performed before, I expected new material not a cover of Wilco's Muzzle of Bees, one of my favourite Wilco songs (it's a long list...I know.)

To say that Grace knows how to put on a live show is an understatement. The crowd didn't just go wild, it was completely entranced. Venue can be a hard club to play, but these guys didn't disappoint. Openers Chamberlin were excellent as well.

The video included here was shot in a narrow ramp surrounded by a packed crowd with a waitress passing by me at regular intervals, making it almost impossible to keep the camera as still as I'd have liked. I missed the first half of Muzzle of Bees because I'd been shooting stills and it took me a few bars to dig up a lens. A more complete set of stills is available on my Flickr photostream.

Interpol & School of Seven Bells at the Orpheum Theatre

2011-01-29T18:57:48Z

Jenn Grant & Justin Rutledge

2011-01-16T03:00:10Z

]]> Jenn Grant's Echoes was one of the most overlooked albums of 2009, full of beautifully written and performed music. Jenn lives in Halifax, so she doesn't get out here to the raggedy edge of the country as often as some of us would like.

In October, she visited Vancouver's St. James Community Square with Justin Rutledge. Justin is one of Canada's finest singer songwriters, and this was a show that wasn't to be missed.

St. James Community Square is one of the most beautiful venues in Vancouver, and also one of the most intimate. This was the hardest part about the night: most venues are noisy and loud and full of boisterous crowds and the challenge is weaving amongst them. On this particular night it was my painful awareness of exactly how loud the shutter on my camera is, and a desire to try to be as discreet as possible that presented the biggest challenge. I got feedback from a couple of audience members that seemed to indicate I'd succeeded. I certainly hope so.

The other challenge was the lack of sightlines at the venue. Sound equipment sits in front of the stage, which is both elevated and bounded on three sides by walls and inaccessible to the audience. I was able to shoot through a narrow gap between the speakers (where this photo was taken from) and the wall, but other than that it was pretty much straight line views.

In general, the solution to both of these challenges was to shoot long lenses from well back and to try to spend as little time standing right in front of the stage as possible.

The night didn't disappoint musically. Justin was the headliner and he brought Jenn back on stage for a duet before closing with an audience sing along of his song Don't Be So Mean, Jellybean. I wanted to get video of the sing-along, but it was such a fantastic night of music and I got involved in the sing-along. That doesn't happen to me too often.

If either one of these comes to a town near you, do not miss them.

2010 Live at Squamish Festival

2011-01-15T05:29:19Z

]]> The 2010 Live at Squamish Festival was the first edition of what's hoped to be an annual festival of music taking place about an hour's drive from Vancouver on the beautiful Sea to Sky Highway. An similarly ambitious plan had been launched a couple of years earlier in Pemberton. The Pemberton Festival was a huge hit with audiences, but ultimately failed and hasn't happened since. I wrote an article for Beyond Robson wondering if the same fate would strike Live at Squamish.

Squamish had a diverse lineup with international acts like Devo, Bad Religion and The Decemberists headlining the main stage, a Club Zone featuring all day live DJs and a side stage that featured notable local acts like We Are the City, Rich Hope, Hollerado and Kate Morgan. The mix of music was diverse, and the different areas were spread out widely enough to give everybody their space both physically and acoustically.

The festival was produced by Brand Live and by all accounts was a success. I attended the full festival, camping just outside of town, and the sunny weather and excellent production values on stage made for some beautiful photography. With so much going on it wasn't always possible to see everything, but I did my best. At the end of the weekend I had about 800 photos to sort through, and I was actually extremely happy with most of them.

Complete galleries for each day appeared at Guttersnipe News and have been used widely by the acts involved as well.