2015 – Beautiful Music on a Starry Night… Watch Out For The Cows

October 14, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

(The text is below, but if you want to see the review with all the pictures from the show… go here. http://www.edge.ca/2015/10/14/city-colour-the-hayloft/ )

Watching the splendour of fall colours on the drive into Prince Edward County, you can’t help but feel a certain sense of anticipation. Passing the wineries, farms, and cautionary deer signs, you realize that The Hayloft will be no ordinary concert venue, and… well, this isn’t going to be an ordinary night.

Pulling up to the site, that singular thought is proven correct; The Hayloft is quite literally an old, well-kept barn. A place so welcoming and intimate, the only thing separating City and Colour from the Edge’s 150 contest winners is a riser a mere 12 inches off the floor. Quite honestly, this is a band that can fill Massey Hall, so to see them playing in a venue that was once home to farm animals is a little on the surreal side.

The band passes through the crowd to get to the stage and starts into the sonic bliss of their opening track “Woman” from the newly released If I Should Go Before You. On their record it is a bluesy tune, but the inclusion of a pedal steel guitar, with sound waves bouncing off wooden barn planks, gives off a convivial vibe. When they break into the number two track “Northern Blues” the songs’ R &B feel seems more jovial than its theme suggests. Or, perhaps it is my own buoyancy projecting as everyone just seems so damned nice out here tonight.

The lighting is understated, provided by a few bulbs at the foot of the stage and strands of yellow and white Christmas bulbs surrounding it from above, giving off a warm glow that seems to have been embraced by the audience. This committed bunch, that either entered a contest online or kept phoning until they won tickets, is exuberant and incredibly friendly. After a long bus trip, they are now soaking in the music and atmosphere, clinging to their partners and swaying to the music. The fans, about to take ‘selfies’, get willing strangers offering to take photos for them. It seems more like a group of friends, out to see their mutual acquaintances’ band, than a concert being put on by a popular recording artist.

Even the banter between band and audience plays this out. Between songs, bassist Jack Lawrence is chatting with people at the front of house and, during another such break, an over-enthusiastic ‘yeller’ gets an exchange with Dallas Green himself. Green steps away from the microphone and speaks to illustrate to the fan that he doesn’t need to yell to be heard. “We’re just a few feet from each other.” Everyone gets a good laugh from the ‘little chat’ as Green runs through a set that includes a large number of tracks from the new record and highlights from The Hurry And The Harm and Little Hell.

Illustrating the mood, “Lover Come Back” came off as an uplifting and joyous song despite its natural, broken-hearted nod towards 60’s soul music. Matt Kelly, flipping between pedal steel guitar and keyboard, had the organ sounding like the second coming of MG’s frontman, Booker T. Jones. It’s a moment which seems to emphasize that City & Colour is equally compelling live as on their albums. In this setting, there is a ‘deeper’ and more pronounced immediacy that allows Green & Co. to both embellish songs and gain a better connection to the fans, many of whom are openly singing along without need of encouragement.

The evening passes so quickly that the audience just doesn’t want to leave when the music ends. The bouncers are now outside cooking up hot dogs for patrons, groups of people are sharing favorite moments, and a few are even stargazing on this perfectly clear night. If bus drivers weren’t waiting to return people home, I’m quite sure they would have made a whole night of it.

Driving home, only a minute from the Hayloft, I round a corner and hit the brakes. There are three cows and a bull standing in the middle of the road only a few feet from the yellow deer crossing sign. The bull looks at me as if to say “great night, eh!” And honestly, who the hell am I to argue with a bull.

Metric @ Danforth Music Hall (25/09/2015): Fun, Epic and Righteously Weird

September 25, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

Concerts, at their very best, are far more than musicians on a stage giving energy to an audience. They convey electricity that moves beyond the music and allows an audience to return energy back to the artists themselves. It becomes a communal experience shared by the guy in the antlers, the girl with the giraffe mask on her head, the elderly gentlemen in the clown costume, the kid with the tin foil alien hat, the 16 year old first concert goer and the band themselves. Last night while playing the Danforth, Metric seemed acutely aware of this.

With animal masks of their own, Metric took the stage and quickly broke into “Lie Lie Lie” from their barely one week old album Pagans In Vegas. Out of the mask, Emily Haines bounced across the stage now adorned in Christmas-lit peacock feathers and had the floor singing along. It was spectacle of the highest order, including a trippy lightshow to boot, and one embraced by the audience as a whole.

Leaning heavily on their new record, Metric left no room for popular numbers like “Stadium Love”, “Monster Hospital”, or “Gimme Sympathy” and honestly, they weren’t needed. The band had come prepared and used a mix of charisma, well rehearsed tunes and a light show that would put many arena acts to shame.

Hell, the only technical glitch of the night came when so much fog was released; the whole stage all but disappeared from view. The thing is, everyone was having so much fun it all seemed to be just another added highlight in the festivities.

By the time the encore ended, washed in bubbles, paper cannon explosions and Haines singing “Celebrate”, the meaning of the night’s events became clear. Concerts, at their core, are more than a mere performance… they are a shared celebration of life shared by everyone wanting to escape mediocrity and, if only for a moment, join the weirdness of an epic event. Fun, epic and righteously weird – I call that a pretty good night.

One Happy Night at a Bar – Ryan Adams & Elton John (p.s. Evan turns six on Sunday)

February 26, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

When I first started venturing my way back towards vinyl in the late double zeros, I was walking through snow covered sidewalks in downtown Toronto. My wife sent me out of her hospital room for a couple hours as my worried eyes just wouldn’t allow her a moment to rest. All the concern I was showing was ‘overly concerning’ to her about how much sleep I was getting. As if I was the person who people needed to be worried about. So I decided to wander over to the record store to pick up some music.

I needed to get something that brought back a good memory, something powerful, so I knew what I was hoping to buy. Sure enough, both Heartbreaker and Gold were in stock and I bought them. As I went back into the cold my mind wandered back a few years.

In 2001, I had been having a very rough year… I had back surgery that saw a couple discs removed from my spine, and the medication I was taking for pain had sent me into a very deep and extreme depression. As I sat in a hospital room of my own, de-toxing from prescription medication, I leaned heavily on music to see me through. Lucinda Williams, The Pernice Brothers, Deathray Davies, Dressy Bessy, Whiskeytown and Ryan Adams were beside me as I spent many an hour contemplating a single orange screw in the ceiling of my room.

(I know it doesn’t sound happy, but I’ll get there)

Anyway, shortly after my ‘little vacation’ and of course 9/11, Ryan Adams released Gold, which was a phenomenal record, and in the lead up had done Austin City Limits with Elton John. Anyway, I had a $15.00 ticket to see Ryan Adams on a nice warm October night at Lee’s Palace, a bar where I had seen many a band play before.

So, I walked in and the bar was filled with friends and acquaintances from my university days who were all there to check out this guy who seemed to turn heartbreak into a sweeter kind of sorrow; the kind of pain you can live through.

Anyway, the set began, and the crowd was really into it. Smiles and drinks and laughs and a set that was pulling people together, a community of strangers were having a great time. In the crowd I noticed a local musician(Ron Sexsmith), which was pretty standard for shows here, except that, well, he looked to be more excited than the audience. It was at this point, perhaps about 10 songs into the set, that Adams smiles and introduces his friend – Elton John.

Elton “F’n” John… in Lee’s “F’n” Palace… Sir Elton “F’n” John

The energy level in the bar went through the roof. I honestly can’t say how many concerts I have seen over the years, but nothing compares to the moment when Elton John took the stage. They began to play “La Cienega Just Smiled” with John behind a piano and taking over a good chunk of the vocal duties. Then Ron Sexsmith and a couple other local songwriters took the stage and the gathering blazed into John’s “Rocket Man (I Think It’s Going To Be A Long, Long Time).” With smiles going from ear to ear and every person on stage staring at Elton John; it seemed to me that the knighted one was the only person in the bar to have any semblance of calm.

So the night went on. John would stick around for “New York, New York” and depart leaving Adams to play two sets of encores that lasted out for another eight songs. By the time we all exited the bar there was a sense of euphoria that I had never felt leaving any concert either before or since. People were happy. I was happy. In the midst of my shittiest year to date, a year when the whole world looked to be falling into chaos, I went to this concert expecting only music and instead found a life affirming spectacle. Lee’s Palace is only a 600 person venue, but that night felt like a friendly get together with a musician I adore and his friend the living legend. It was the kind of night, the kind of memory, that you can cling to as the weather grows colder.

The snow that night kept falling as I walked back to the hospital holding tight to my vinyl. Several hours after visiting hours I was sent home. Of course, I didn’t sleep, but I did spin my albums, as I watched the clock that would give me permission to go back. Two days later, my wife gave birth to my second son, and after a bit of scary, crazy… stuff – things were good. Yeah, life has provided more snowy nights than I care to think about, but little moments like that night (and the birth of my kids) continue to see me through to another spring. Evan turns six on Sunday.

Thanks Ryan & Elton

The “Best-est” Album & Concert Ever – Lemonheads – Musical Memories

January 23, 2015August 8, 2015 / ds barrett / 1 Comment

http://www.amazon.ca/Its-Shame-About-Ray-Vinyl/dp/B00HQUQQ9Q/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1421972136&sr=8-3&keywords=it%27s+a+shame+about+ray

Back in May of ‘92 I was handed an advanced copy of the Lemonheads It’s A Shame About Ray. It was the very first album review that I did for the now defunct id Magazine, and it was a giant part of “my musical eye opening.” While Seattle had led the world towards what would be called “alternative” (whatever that means) this album slapped me in the face way harder than anything coming out of the so-called grunge scene.

It was twelve songs of pure ‘jangle pop’ joy that played like folk/punk/country/power-pop/lo-fi and whatever other style you decide applies all at the same time. You could play it at a party or a campfire. It had the energy of the Ramones with the pop sensibility of Big Star and the emotional depth of Gram Parsons. Under thirty minutes in length, Ray was a meaningful shot of music that did away with the heavy guitar bombast, and just gave you a perfect group of songs. What guitar solos that existed were of the “blink and you’ve missed it” kind. Hell, when I started playing guitar the following year, the first tune I learned was “Hannah & Gabi.”

To say that I was I was raving about this record would be a giant understatement. Every person that knew me was hearing about it and I was converting people into fans by the day. All this, and their cover of “Mrs. Robinson” wasn’t even on the record yet.

By the time they played Toronto’s Edgefest a couple summers later, it felt like I had personally invited half (ok – maybe a dozen) the audience. However, it isn’t the big show that comes to mind most when I think of the Lemonheads – it’s a much smaller venue that I attended in November of ’93.

The Masonic Temple, also known as the Concert Hall, was the sight of one of the coolest shows I had ever witnessed. The Line up was Magnapop, Redd Kross and the Lemonheads. As Magnapop began its set I noticed that the age of the audience was wickedly varied between aging hipsters who were into great shows and young hipsters who were now caught by the 90’s “alternative” bug. Looking back, this should have been just another of the frickin’ tons of shows I was attending… but no. Magnapop, who most of us had never heard of, began their set tossing candy out to the audience. The crowd was going insane with enthusiasm and applause. Then the brothers McDonald, who are essentially Redd Kross, jumped on stage treating a small venue ‘all ages show’ to a taste of ‘rock star swagger’ that would not have been out of place at Glastonbury. It was ‘hair rock’ for the alt-rock kids who were now “pogo-ing” in a mosh pit that was quickly expanding to all areas. By the time the Lemonheads hit the stage the November audience was dripping in summer sweat.

Then came the body surfing. Oh sure, this was the usual fare for concerts in ’93, but something was different. Usually, it is your friends or a couple very good concert goers who keep you safe from falling. Not this time. The kids – all of them – a community of fans were keeping each other aloft and preventing falls. Women, were body surfing and not getting groped by idiots/assholes in the pit – because… well, this concert was the coolest, safest, “best-est” (yeah I know it isn’t a word) ever! In fact, this is what concerts are supposed to be like! Evan Dando is on stage playing guitar and singing and I’m in awe of both the performer and the audience alike.

Honestly, I had been to a lot of concerts before that one, and a lot more since, but outside of a few local acts playing to their hometown crowds, this was the most appreciative audience I had ever been a part of.

Today the mail arrived with my copy of It’s A Shame About Ray on 180 gram vinyl. It isn’t just one of my all time favorite records, or a ‘must have’ for fans of 90’s music… nope… it’s a good friend I’m always happy to see.

Thanks Evan

Just because I feel like it… an out of place live review! – Cracker & Camper Van Beethoven @ Lee’s Palace

January 17, 2015 / ds barrett / Leave a comment

The great thing about blogging is that you make up your own damn rules about how to write whatever it is you decide you’re going to write about. So while I should talk more about the bands, I prefer to write a bit about the experience, and, well… sorry I digress.

The core of both CVB and Cracker have more than 20 years each in experience playing with one another; the odds of them playing a dud show sits on the right side of zero. Proof is that while both bands played the so-called “hits” (or fan favorites) early and leaned on material from their new records, it bothered no one. The audience, such as it was, seemed appreciative and responded in kind. CVB band members were having fun with each other and bringing it to the crowd who were of course shouting out requests that were in turn rightfully ignored, and cheers that were appreciated.

Cracker seems to have a new line up behind the Lowery/Hickman combo which showed at times with false starts and a keyboard blast at the end of “Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)” that was just a wash over the rest of the band. However, the overall performance was fun and the fans seemed happy… in a weird kinda way.

Maybe it’s audience age (on the thinning hair side of 40), or maybe the stars were in some screwed up alignment, but things got strange in the pit of Lee’s Palace. First the audience was twisted in some reverse thought process where the periphery of the pit was packed shoulder to shoulder with fans while the stage area had plenty of breathing room. Then, someone best described as looking like a Ford brother (yes those Toronto Ford guys) started putting his “had ten beers too many” arms around people asking them why they weren’t willing to dance with him. My mind popped out the phrase “perhaps the beer stench and sweat are a factor… or maybe it’s the knowledge that large drunken men can be a bit on the intimidating side dude.” Fortunately, my mouth remained in check this time, and everyone avoiding eye contact with him sent his sorry dejected ass in another direction after only two or three songs.

Of course, this could have all just been theatre. Seeing the twisted images of broken people strewn throughout the music of both bands may have just presented the chance for someone to see it as performance art. An interpretive rendering of CVB’s “Lassie Goes To The Moon” with a twist of Cracker’s “Can I Take My Gun To Heaven.” Oddly, neither of these songs was played, so I might just be looking for excuses.

Regardless, it was an enjoyable night out with friends with two bands playing that I absolutely frickin’ love, so, I hit the ‘merch’ booth, bought the new Camper and Cracker CD’s (because they ain’t (yeah I know “ain’t” isn’t a word) on vinyl) and made my way home for an ear ringing night of sleep. Wish more of you people were there.

http://www.crackersoul.com/store

http://www.campervanbeethoven.com/store

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