07.25.2009 Virgin Festival Day 1

Normally I'm not really a fan of festivals. Packed crowds, all ages (not that that's a bad thing), generally high ticket prices and short sets are all things I could do without. However, if you wait long enough, usually secondary market ticket prices usually drop by the time the date rolls by. The weeks leading up to said show, I even recall a 2 for 1 promotion somewhere. This usually means the show was undersold, but it also means I was able to snag a ticket for $30.





I get there around 3pm just in time to see Mute Math. Two or three years ago, they had a bit of an indie level hype about them. Somehow I never really got into them. Live, they're not too bad. Decent stage presence; they sort of had a Filter vibe to them. Actually I recognized one of their songs from somewhere, I think it's called 'Typical'. To close their set, they did a pretty cool 3 person percussion thing during the outro to "Break the Same".









After their set, I walked over to the second stage, (or bands they put on so they can set up the mainstage) to find out that it's none other than Vancouver's own Elizabeth. I think I've seen them 4-5 times now. Can't say they've up'd their game too much.





K-os followed up on the mainstage. Much like the day one headliners, the Roots, K-os had a full band back him up live. Having never seen K-os perform live before, I was kind of impressed by his captivating live show. Some of his songs actually used excerpts of classic rock tunes (Rush - Tom Sawyer, Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven) to which he would put lyrics over. 'B-boy Stance' wasn't played, but mega-hits "Man I used to be" and "Sunday Morning" were represented. Much like any dynamic artist, his live renditions were quite a bit different than his album versions, adding more dimension to his work. Was a little disappointed I didn't see Emily Haines make an appearance during this set. Would have liked to have seen 'Uptown Girl' live with her. Of course her absence here can only mean more disappointment later on...

I don't recall who was next on the secondary stage because I was a)finding water b)contemplating whether or not I should shell out for an overpriced Jamacian patty (I didn't).





Broken Social Scene was the last band that I saw. Having to compare this set to the one they did in Toronto would really be unfair. Although this show really couldn't compare (I doubt any show could), the V-fest set was pretty good on its own right. Today lineup was very male dominate.





Hometown resident and Stars frontman Torquil Campbell was included, as well bandmate Evan Cranley. James Shaw of Metric was present, however Emily Haines was not. How peculiar.





Lisa Lobsinger handled all of the female vocals that day. The crowd seemed somewhat into it. It was hard to say. Definitely different than most festivals that I've been to. A pretty good mix of new and old songs were played.





k-os even did a verse or two on one of the songs. The set was about 45 minutes and seemed to end just while things were starting to take off. I actually took off after this. I really don't know if I could sit through another Our Lady Peace set.

Normally this is where the review would end, but as luck would have it, it rained in Vancouver. Actually thunder and downpoured. Ends up the organizers pulled the plug before the Roots got on stage (I later found out that they're planning on doing a free make-up gig in the near future). The also let day 1 festival goers use their tickets towards day 2 (not me, I had other plans). So... I guess those tickets that scalpers were desperate to get rid of, are going to be worth something after all. I guess everyone wins. Well except the organizers I suppose. I've got pretty good odds on there not being a V-fest Vancouver next year.

$30/$30

08.05.2008 Feist

At $67 a ticket, the price to see Feist at Deer Lake park was a little steep. However, thanks to the power of the free market and craigslist, I only paid $40. I'd like to think it was worth it. On a side note, Feist played British Columbia's 150th birthday party in Victoria the night before, where she duet-ed with Sarah McLachlan. I was hoping, since McLachlan actually lives in Vancouver and would probably want to go home anyways, we'd see a repeat performance in Vancouver. (we didn't)

I missed the opening band the Weakerthans, mainly because it was hot outside. That and I find them somewhat boring, though I do like "I hate Winnpeg." Anyways I arrived to them playing in the background while I waited in a really long line up, with, what had to be, over zealous security. 15 min later, I was directed to another entrance with no line up. hooray.

The first thing I noticed when I got to the venue was the amount of kids and parents there. Feist being on Sesame Street must mean their kids will love Feist. From what I saw most of them were bored after the first hour. I witnessed one kid near the front over the course of 1/2 hour try to convince his dad, without success, to leave. Leslie Feist entered the stage in a white dress looking as excited as the crowd was to see her. Her guitar amp had the word 'Fox' added to the 'Vox'. Cute. She opened with the familiar, "When I was a Young Girl," which included a longer, jammy ending. She then followed that with my personal favorite Mushaboom, also from Let it Die. Her other singles "My Moon My Man" and "I Feel It All" came shortly after. During the course of the show, for visual effects, "projector art" would be displayed in the background. Think of it as the visual art that goes on when Final Fantasy plays live. I think I enjoyed the latter more. There were two songs that I had to look up at home that she played mid-set. One was called Sunset and the other a Lucinda Williams cover. Both were mellow if you're wondering. Between songs, Feist made a point of letting the crowd know that she couldn't really hear what people were saying and toyed with the idea of playing broken telephone with the audience. She finished the main set with an upbeat "Sea Lion Woman." "Phantoms" was played during the encore, which took me by surprise because I've only heard it on live recordings. Admittedly ending with "Let it Die" is kind of anti-climatic, but I suppose it wouldn't be a Feist show if it didn't happen.

When I was a Young Girl
Mushaboom
My Moon My Man
There's a Limit To Your Love
I Feel It All
Honey Honey
Sunset
Over Time [Lucinda Williams]
1-2-3-4
Gatekeeper
I'm Sorry
So Lion Woman
===
The Water
Phantoms
Let it Die


$30/$40

05.24.2007 Arcade Fire/St. Vincent [BT]

The last time the Arcade Fire came to town, I didn't think they were worth seeing because I didn't think their art-school-hipster antics would translate well in the worst sounding venue in Vancouver. At that point was happy enough to thumb my nose at that idea and reassure myself that at least i saw Zeppelin the arcade fire in a small club (indie street cred for the future :p). But AF outdoors on a warm summer evening was a no brainer.

St. Vincent aka Annie Clark and her band opened the show. Half their set was her solo, singing and playing a guitar and a kick-drum. Some songs were ok, others didn't really do anything for me.

It took me about a minute before I was made aware that the Arcade Fire have upped their live show game quite a bit since 2004. I guess when you have more room, you could go ... uh crazier. I don't have to fluff their live show anymore cuz most of you people know what they're all about already. Anti-Christ Blues sounds better on album. It's kind of disappointing Regine doesn't do the solo thing at the end. Well she does, one voice, but the harder vocal part is solo'd on the guitar instead. They had the motorcycle helmet on stage but didn't use it. Ironically, whenver they used the megaphone, it was barely audible. On Neon Bible the weakest song, imo was the first song they played after the encore break, My Body Is A Cage. This song would have put me to sleep if it weren't for this card board man without a face that the roadies put onstage. They super-imposed win's face and played the song. Sorta interesting I guess. Overall it was a solid 90 min.

$45/50


also:

The Arcade Fire
05.24.2007
Deer Lake Park
Burnaby, BC

source: DPA 4061>DIYBB>IHP-140
lineage: WAV-M>FLAC

01.) Black Mirror
02.) Keep The Car Running
03.) No Cars Go
04.) Haiti
05.) Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)
06.) Black Wave / Bad Vibrations
07.) In The Backseat
08.) Intervention
09.) (Antichrist Television Blues)
10.) Ocean Of Noise
11.) Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)
12.) The Well And The Lighthouse
13.) Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)
14.) Rebellion (Lies)
===
15.) My Body Is A Cage
16.) Wake Up

comments: i should probably mention that $1.00 of every ticket went to a charity organization
called Partners in Health which partners "with poor communities to combat disease and
poverty." more info at www.pih.org

http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38859

07.25.2006 Broken Social Scene/The Stills/Jets Overhead

-deer lake park is actually a really cool place to see concerts. smaller than t-bird, better than the forum.
-helpful tip for ya. if you forget to bring your ear plugs and the vendors don't sell any, ask the first-aid ppl. i did and ears are very thankful.

-jets overhead -> *shrugs* meh.

-stills not too shabby. definitely in the top 20 canadian indie bands.

-at one point in time, you were almost garuanteed to hear bss close the show w/ lover's spit. i guess those days are gone? or maybe they don't do that during headlining shows. ended w/ it's all gonna break instead
-kevin drew looked pretty uninterested during the first 45 or so minutes. but later started to feel the music/crowd
-lisa l. still at the bottom of the broken social girls pecking order, just less annoying now as she looks more comfortable on stage than last time i saw bss. aside from julie penner she as the only bss chick there. (again)
-played about 80-90 min. standard fair.
-soundman fucked up the kick drum.
-hey bros, shut up.
-hey hos, shut up.
-where's k-os
-where's almost crimes?
-where's lover's spit

$27/50/$30