Archive for the ‘Concert Reviews’ Category

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Bittersweet Symphony

Monday, July 14th, 2008

Yesterday, I made my way with a couple of friends and a blanket, to Deer Lake Park for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s annual Symphony in the Park free concert! Not expecting a huge crowd (as it wasn’t well advertised – I live across the street from the VSO’s headquarters and didn’t hear a thing about it), we made our way a bit late and got to the park just as the performance was starting.

To my surprise the park was overflowing with lawn chairs and blankets spread out past the normal concert bowl area, spilling out past the hot dog and lemonade vendor’s booths. As the entire hilled area was covered in lawn chairs, it didn’t make much sense to try to find a spot where we could squish our blanket as we’d be starting at people’s backs, so we made our way to the back of the field…behind the vendors.

Perfoming popular classics and showtunes, the VSO played for nearly 2 hours, with a brief intermission at the half-way mark. While it was a lovely way to spend an evening, unfortunately, due to the size of the crowd, I heard more people’s conversations than I did of the symphony and I spent the entire time staring at mini donuts (although not a bad thing per se).

I’d definitely recommend attending next year – but would advise to go early. Next year I’m packing a picnic dinner and heading a couple hours before the VSO takes the stage!

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I guess live Hip Hop isn’t always bad Hip Hop

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

As a Nas fanatic, I found myself extremely excited to find out that the hip-hop artist was planning on coming back to my city of Vancouver. The concert was scheduled to be held at Plush Nightclub, with general admission entry. Plush, located downtown next to the Edgewater Casino, is one of the city’s biggest and most visited nightclubs and as such, is often a popular venue for smaller concerts, namely Rap and R&B shows. Though I’m not a fan of general admission entry (i.e. I prefer NOT being squished in between a bunch of sweaty people) and have always been a critic of live rap (from what I’ve seen, it involves a lot of crotch-grabbing and yelling out gibberish), I decided that seeing my favorite rapper live was a once in a lifetime opportunity. So, I grabbed a few buddies who felt the same way and headed out to Plush to see Nas perform.

The show began much later than was initially announced (as is typical with rap concerts). Through entry into the club began at 9 PM, the opening act did not take to the stage until 11:15 PM or so. This opening act was Canablis, a local Fijian rap duo, whose band name is similar to their um…preferred choice of leisure activities. Overall, Canablis were okay…I suppose. Their music is reminiscent of 1990’s G-Funk hip-hop, which features a mellow, synth-heavy sound and lyrics about lowriders and bandanas and such. While I’m not exactly a fan of the genre, I must admit, the beats were quite catchy. The problem is that the beats were also quite loud, to the point where I couldn’t hear a thing the group were saying. However, Canablis are still rookies and overall, did a great job of interacting with the crowd and getting them hyped up for the main act. As well, I appreciated the fact that the chosen opening act was an up and coming local group from Vancouver and I wish them all the best in the future (although I won’t be purchasing any Canablis albums anytime soon).

After another long wait, at approximately 12:20am, Nas finally took to the stage. Though the wait was excruciatingly long, painful and smelly, Nas’s performance, believe it or not, was well worth it. To my surprise, he performed quite a bit of his older material off of Illmatic, an album which hip hop critics consider to be the greatest of all time in the history of the genre. Though he began the show with his latest single “Hip Hop is Dead”, immediately afterwards he playfully asked the crowd if he can “bring it back” to his older stuff. As the crowd erupted in excitement, “N.Y State of Mind” came on and I began to realize that maybe live rap doesn’t ALWAYS suck.

Besides Illmatic, Nas covered a variety of his other older albums from 14+-year career. He did a lot of mainstream stuff off of It was Written, I Am…, God’s Son, Stillmatic and his latest release (at the time) Hip Hop is Dead. He also performed several of his lesser known fan favorites, including few selections off of Nastrodamous and The Firm’s mega-hit “Affirmative Action”. In between each song, Nas talked to the crowd and transitioned like a true veteran, tying each song to the next in a smooth and entertaining way. As well, after Nas finished his set and the crowd demanded an encore, Nas came out and did a solid 20 more minutes of additional material. While Nas did not perform his popular Jay-Z diss “Ether” (a smart move, considering Jay-Z is now his boss), overall, the song list was huge and chalk-full of great material, which appealed to both the mainstream and the not so mainstream listeners.

Though my overall Nas concert experience included a lot of waiting and standing around, I suppose this is the norm for rap shows. However, in terms of Nas’s performance in and of itself, the experience was nothing short of amazing. While I had my doubts about rappers’ abilities to effectively translate recorded material to a live setting, Nas proved me wrong. His performance was clear, exciting, entertaining and memorable: everything a great live show should be. Though I am still skeptical of live rap (namely the young up and comers), Nas taught me that live rap does not necessarily have to be bad rap.

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YouTube Famous!

Friday, June 27th, 2008

Happy Friday!

I have to do a little shameless promotion today.

I just happened to check out my YouTube page today and to my astonishment and delight discovered that my little Bruce Springsteen concert video has had over 2,500 views and a 5-Star rating!!!

In order of accomplishing my dream of becoming YouTube famous…I invite you to check out my video too!

Bruce Springsteen – Born to Run
(March 31, 2008 – GM Place – Vancouver)

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Elbow – The Seldom Seen Band

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008


One of my favourite bands almost slipped through town without my knowledge.

I’ve been waiting FIVE years to see Elbow play in Vancouver. With only a brief 30-minute opening slot at the Commodore in support of Grandaddy in 2003 (a show I opted out on at the time, assuming they’d hit the road on their own soon after), a headlining gig was long overdue.

But, when an amazing band like Elbow, who hasn’t seen much commercial success, even with vast critical acclaim and endorsements from major artists like REM and U2, comes to town, how is one supposed to even know? If it wasn’t for my quick glimpse to a telephone pole on my way home from work and my utter astonishment and surprise (I actually gasped aloud) when I saw they were playing here – I would have missed the show and likely never even known I had.

Thankfully, I did see the poster, and I am beyond happy to report, I have now seen Elbow live, and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait!

Whoever chose St Andrews Wesley Church as the venue is my new hero. I cannot imagine a better setting for Elbow’s emotive, atmospheric brand of brit-rock. The rich sounds of the 5-piece combo with the addition of two violinists throughout the set, and the soothing vocals of lead-singer Guy Carvey seemed a natural fit for the dimly lit cathedral and was the closest I’ve come to a religious experience.

From the politically-charged lyrics of Leaders of the Free World (“the leaders of the free world are just little boys throwing stones”) to the tales of unrequited love in Great Expectations, (“you were the sun in my Sunday morning”) a song, Carvey explained as when he “got married to the first women he ever loved…on a bus….but she didn’t know about it,” each song ended with such power and fullness that it seemed like a grand finale of sorts.

Between the healthy mix of older songs and new tracks off their latest album, “The Seldom Seen Kid,” released April 22nd, Carvey warmed the crowd up with his story-telling of his childhood days as an altar boy with drummer Richard Jupp (“we wore dresses for Jesus”) and chatted with various members of the audience. And the audience ate it up. When they weren’t bursting into standing ovations or laughing hysterically at Carvey’s rambling stories and witty remarks, the crowd was on the edge of their pews, silent in anticipation between songs.

It was one of those shows that leave you wanting more. My back was sore from the wooden pew and my ears were throbbing from the speaker right beside me, but it didn’t matter this time – I could have stayed another two hours just as happily.

The thing about Elbow, is that they just aren’t your normal rock band. There’s no pretension, ego or attitude, just music. They are just a bunch of blokes from Manchester who love doing what they do. Simple as that.

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Kanye’s Glow in the Dark Tour

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008


By Guest Contributor: Alon

On April 16, accompanied by some friends, I embarked on a four-hour drive to Seattle, to see one of my favorite musicians, Kanye West, live in concert. For West, along with lyrical hip hop up and comer Lupe Fiasco, Caribbean pop diva Rihanna and rock-rap powergroup N.E.R.D., April 16 marked the first of over 40 dates in the highly-anticipated Glow in the Dark Tour.

As fans entered Key Arena, they were showered with complimentary glow in the dark headbands and a variety of merchandise for sale, from “Stronger Glasses” to t-shirts. After a half-hour or so, all the lights in the arena suddenly blacked out and a voice greeted the audience. The voice belonged to Grammy-winning MC Lupe Fiasco, who was the opening act on the tour. Fiasco and his FNF label-mates, dressed in all red, went on to deliver a simple and clean set, mirroring Fiasco’s pure, lyric-driven musical style. Lupe performed various mainstream singles, such as Superstar, Kick, Push and Hip Hop Saved my Life, but also made sure to incorporate lesser-known songs into his routine, including my personal favorites Daydreamin’ and Streets on Fire.

After a brief intermission, Pharrel’s rock-rap power-group N.E.R.D took to the stage. N.E.R.D’s performance, in contrast to Lupe’s simplistic one, incorporated everything from smoke effects to a large L.E.D screen, which made for one “trippy” backdrop. The group literally shook the arena, bringing every fan in the stadium to their feet and turning what was a hip-hop concert a few minutes prior, into an all out rock show. In fact, N.E.R.D rocked out so hard, that by the end of their set, lead singer Pharrel had lost his voice!

After another brief intermission, Caribbean diva Rihanna took to the stage. Rihanna, dressed in hot pink, took the concert in yet another direction, incorporating backup dancers, props, costume changes and flashing lights into her performance. As the lights flashed, the dancers danced and the fans screamed, Rihanna performed all of her biggest hits, including Pon de Replay, Don’t Stop the Music and fan favorite Umbrella, which brought everyone in the stadium to their feet once again.

As Rihanna’s set came to a close, the crowd was left with the longest intermission yet. As we waited impatiently, we watched as the stage was completely dismantled and transformed into something which looked like it flew in from outer space. Little did we know, that lights, metal objects, smoke machines, projectors, firework starters and a giant L.E.D backdrop were all being installed right in front of our eyes, to make way for the night’s headliner Kanye West. As fans impatiently began to chant “Kanye…Kanye” repeatedly, while doing “the wave”, suddenly the lights went out and a remix of Stronger began to surface out of the dark.

Though prior to this point, I was already thoroughly impressed with the concert, Kanye’s set took the Glow in the Dark Tour out of this world…literally. The rapper’s 2+ hour solo performance, featured a theatrical storyline, which involved West attempting to fix his spaceship and return back to earth, after completing his journey to find and bring back creativity. Every song performed by West was somehow incorporated into this storyline and placed in a strategic order to achieve a specific effect, with the L.E.D backdrop and stage tilting, flashing and serving as a beautiful centerpiece for some of the coolest graphics, patterns, images and 3D holograms I’ve ever seen. Though most songs came from West’s latest release Graduation, every album was covered in the set and in addition, every song was remixed specifically for the concert, with various sounds, instruments and effects added in to perpetuate the space theme of the concert. You could also tell that Kanye was giving it his all, as throughout the performance, the rapper was sweating bullets and almost collapsing out of fatigue. However, West went on for 2+ hours with no breaks, to deliver perhaps the greatest live rap performance I have ever seen in my life.

While I came into the show expecting a few good performances, The Glow in the Dark Tour completely surpassed my expectations. Not only did the concert provide me with some great live music, but it also showed me that theater, technology and a wide variety of musical genres could all be integrated into one tour, to create something truly spectacular.

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“Steppin’ Out” to Joe Jackson

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

Vancouver Concert Review

I had the opportunity to see Joe Jackson at the Chan Centre in Vancouver last night. While not familiar with most of his music, I was told that it would be a great show and I’ve always wanted to check out the Chan Centre, as I heard it was an amazing venue – so off I went!

The Chan Centre is located at the northern end of the University of British Columbia campus overlooking the ocean. Nestled amongst the cherry blossoms, the unique circular tower looks more like a power-station than a state-of-the-art theatre.

Once inside, the crowd was buzzing. Many fans have been waiting over 10 years for Jackson to return to Vancouver. Shortly after 8, the lights dimmed and the audience erupted in applause and cheers, while Jackson walked on stage, sat at his grand piano and started the set with his 1982 hit Steppin’ Out to the audience’s absolute delight.

Playing with only two other musicians (the incredibly talented bassist Graham Maby and drummer Dave Houghton), the trio’s tunes filled the auditorium crisp and clear as if they were playing right in your ear.

Jackson was in good spirits with his quick British-wit on form cracking jokes between many of the songs. He seemed sincerely appreciative of the warm reception, even stating at one point that he was surprised by the turn-out as he was half-expecting to show up to “two men and a dog.”

Along with older hits like You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want) and It’s Different For Girls, which were very well received by the crowd, Jackson played a number of songs from his latest album, Rain.

One of the highlights of the performance for me was a song called Solo which Jackson performed, you guessed it, solo. A heart-wrenching ballad, which Jackson explained, was about loneliness and solitude, had me fighting back tears to the sounds of sniffles all around me.

With his band back on stage, Jackson kicked things up a notch with a cover of his “American musical hero,” Duke Ellington’s Don’t Get Around Much Anymore and a unique piano-based arrangement of Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) by his “English musical hero,” David Bowie. He teased the crowd saying he wanted to include a song by his “Canadian musical hero, Leonard Cohen, but sing it in a falsetto just to be perverse.”

Of course the crowd was eagerly anticipating Jackson’s biggest single, Is She Really Going Out With Him, which he held out on performing until the encore. The crowd clapped and sang along and ended the song with a drawn-out sing-a-long to the line “something going wrong around here.” The final song of the evening, A Slow Song, wrapped things up for the evening as each member left the stage one-at-a-time while Jackson continued on the piano. By the time he had finished the song the crowd was already on their feet with a final standing ovation.

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