Dan Mangan @ Vogue Theatre -- December 09, 2023

I’ve said it before, but there are some performers that just fit perfectly with certain venues, and Dan Mangan with The Vogue Theatre is one of those combinations. So it was great to see Dan finishing his Going Somewhere Tour — in celebration of last year’s album of the same name — here in Vancouver at the theatre on Granville street.

Unfortunately, I missed the opening act, Vancouver’s Noble Son, arriving to the venue a little before the lights went out and Dan’s voice was heard over the speakers, greeting people as he made his way from the back of the theatre down to the stage. Once there, he pulled out his acoustic guitar, and started the show off with a new Christmas song he wrote a few days before the show.

From there the first portion of the set was dedicated to requests fielded from his text line. “Jeopardy” was for someone’s birthday, his cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” to celebrate an anniversary, and the always-heartbreaking “Basket”.

At that point, Dan was joined by his band — Don Kerr on drums, Jason Haberman on bass, and Mike O’Brien on guitar — for the rest of the set, as they conducting the crowd on the backing vocals for “Lynchpin”.

From his latest single about chasing fame, “Say When”, to the perennial favourites like “Road Regrets”, Dan spanned his career, as well as a range of emotions. From the high energy “Troubled Mind” to the (sadly) always-relevant “Post-War Blues”, like melancholic “Lay Low”, or the mournful “In Your Corner (For Scott Hutchison)” a sweet ode to a lost friend.

The set started to wind down with the usual huge singalong to “Robots”, before Dan pulled out a special guitar adorned with some LEDs. The house lights went down and Dan was illuminated just by his guitar and a special “wizard stick” as he launched into “All My People”, prompting the crowd to sing along, as he hopped off stage and wading into the audience, as a surprise trumpeter played from the balcony. Dan stayed in the crowd for the final song of the night, once again leading the makeshift choir for “So Much for Everyone”, which has been Dan’s closer for a couple years now, and is a beautiful way to bring the crowd together and celebrate the communal feel of his shows.

Earlier this year Dan played a special solo show at the Fox Cabaret, and even though the sold out Vogue had about four times as many people, this show felt just as intimate. Between taking requests, telling stories between songs, and even chatting with the crowd at points, Dan has an uncanny knack to make any size room feel like a cozy show.

setlist
[Christmas Song]
Fool for Waiting
Jeopardy
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea [Neutral Milk Hotel cover]
There Is No Such Thing as Wasted Love
Basket
Lynchpin
Troubled Mind
Road Regrets
Cold in the Summer
Say When
Lay Low
Just Know It
In Your Corner (For Scott Hutchison)
Easy
Post-War Blues
Fire Escape
Robots
All My People
So Much for Everyone

Bend Sinister @ Tyrant Studios -- December 08, 2023

Just a few weeks ago, Bend Sinister announced a last minute, intimate show at Tyrant Studios, the current name for the historic music space above Vancouver’s Penthouse (yes, that one). And seeing as it had been a minute since seeing the group, I jumped at the chance for what was promised to be a “nice, snug, sweaty Rock N Roll show”.

With no opening act, Dan Moxon, Joseph Blood, Matt Rhode, and Dicky Neptune hit the stage to play two sets of high energy rock. Starting off with “Move A Little Slower”, the first set consisted of some old favourites, like the jaunty groove of “Fancy Pants” and the joyous “Show Me How To Love”. Dan’s voice belted out through the room on the dark and moody “Black Magic Woman”, and the whole band shone on the climax of the set, the sprawling, 8-minute epic “Best of You”. They finished the first half of the evening off with the anthemic “Rock ‘n’ Roll” (pausing mid-song for an action shot) and took a quick break before the second half of the show.

After mentioning the rest of the show was going to be filmed for later use, they started off with one of the recent singles they've dropped, “Price You Pay”, and from there mostly focused on new songs from their upcoming album. Highlights included the summer-jam “Hot City” and the infectious “Can I Get Your Name?”, as well as the unreleased “Big Star”, a hugely chaotic tune that instantly shot to my favourite of the new crop.
They did also slip in a few older songs, like “Walk the Other Way”, which was the most intense of the set, and the flat-out rager “Teacher”, before capping off the set with another new one, “What It Takes”.

But the intimate venue and small stage didn’t really offer anywhere to go. So after Joseph quickly ducked off to grab a makeshift Christmas tree, the band went ahead with a holiday song they released last year, “If Christmas Comes This Year”, before letting the crowd sing along to a pair of covers; first “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night and then Van Halen's “Jump”.

I've said before on this blog, one of the first bands I heard when getting deeper into the “Local Vancouver Scene” was Bend Sinister, and I am so happy to be able to see them consistently rock out. But as much as I’ve typed here, I think my favourite ‘review’ of the show came from a lone guy in the crowd (who I don’t think had even heard of Bend Sinister before that evening), when he shouted in awe during a quiet moment between songs “That was pretty good! Those guys have PRACTICED!”

setlist
(set 1)
Move A Little Slower
Got You On My Mind
Fancy Pants
Show Me How To Love
Don't You Know
Man Of Faith
Black Magic Woman
1997
Best Of You
Rock N Roll

(set 2)
Price You Pay
Heard It All Before
Renegade
Shannon
Can I Get Your Name?
Walk The Other Way
Leave The Lights On
Hot City
Big Star
Teacher
What It Takes

(encore)
If Christmas Comes This Year
Joy To World
Jump

Hannah Georgas @ Hollywood Theatre -- December 07, 2023

It has been a long time since I’ve seen Hannah Georgas perform live, a little over five years, and even longer still since her last proper headlining show in Vancouver. So I was very happy that she was ending her current tour, in support of her new album, I’d Be Lying If I Said I Didn’t Care here at the Hollywood Theatre.

I was also glad to see Vancouver’s Sam Lynch opening the show. She took stage alone with just her guitar and lovely voice filling the room, teasing a selection of songs from an album she just finished. The short set built in intensity as it went, and also included a couple songs from her debut album, Little Disappearance, from a few years ago. On “Good Year”, she had the audience softly singing along, and ended off with “Keeping Time”.
I’ve seen Sam Lynch a couple times before, opening for or performing with others, and the new songs definitely made me want to keep an ear out for when the new album is out.

After a quick turnover, Hannah’s band hit the stage, consisting of some familiar faces -- Feurd Moore, Robbie Driscoll, and Andrew Braun. They started with the instrumental “Drew’s A Beast”, before Hannah Georgas herself came out to launch into “Scratch”, the first song on I’d Be Lying If I Said I Didn’t Care.

From there, Hannah played a selection from the new album, including the punchy “What I Don’t Want”; “Fake Happy”, written about a friend she lost to a cult(!); and the soft “Beautiful View”, bringing Sam Lynch back out to sing with her.
She also delved into her catalogue, from the ethereal “Enemies” to the more upbeat “Robotic”, and showing off her gorgeous voice on “Don’t Go”.

Throughout the show, Hannah was both vocally & visibly excited to be back in Vancouver, where she started her music career. When not playing guitar or keys, she bounced around the stage dancing, and seemed as bummed as the crowd when the main set drew to a close with “Not The Name You Say”, and everyone in the band letting loose for a swirling finish.

But of course, Hannah was back after a moment, on her own for one of the first songs she wrote (and still one of my faves) “The Beat Stuff”. Then the rest of the band returned to cap the night off with the always heart wrenching “Ode to Mom”, written about her late father.

Even though she no longer resides here, I would still count Hannah Georgas among my favourite ‘Vancouver acts’, and it’s always a joy to see her perform, especially in a good venue. In the couple years since it opened, Hollywood Theatre has been creeping up the list of favourite spots in the city (particularly if they keep booking shows like this one).

setlist
Drew’s A Beast
Scratch
What I Don’t Want
Better Somehow
Enemies
Don’t Go
Lost Cause
Robotic
Beautiful View
Someone I Don’t Know
That Emotion
Easy
Same Mistakes
Fake Happy
Home
Not The Name You Say
(encore)
The Beat Stuff
Ode to Mom

Wide Mouth Mason @ The Roxy -- November 30, 2023

A couple months ago, iconic Canadian blues rockers Wide Mouth Mason released their latest album, Late Night Walking. They then hit the road, with a run of Canadian dates that including a show in Vancouver at... the Roxy.

With no opening band for the evening, Shaun Verreault and Safwan Javed hit the stage, joined by bassist Reed Shimozawa, to start off with “Habitual” and from there ran through their deep catalogue. From my favourites off the new album, like “Unshoot a Gun” and gritted-teeth bitterness of “You Pushed Me” to classics like “Smile” and “Why”, which had the bar singing along.

Throughout the set, Shaun switched back and forth between guitars and pedal steel, showing off his “Tri-Slide” technique (joking that when playing, one hand looked like Edward Scissorhands, and the other like C3PO), and often songs burst into solos and jams, where Shaun could prove himself as one of the best guitarist in the country, hands down.

Other highlights included “Sugarcane”, which features a little bit of the Stones’ “You Can't Always Get What You Want” slipped in, and “This Mourning”, which surprisingly had a little bit of Blackstreet's “No Diggity”; as well as the softer “Long Distance Love”, an older song that Verreault wrote while going cross country on a train, and re-recorded for the new album.

The trio brought the main set to an “end” with the gloomy “Midnight Rain” and a huge blues jam “Mary Mary”, but (thankfully) didn't bother with performative encore. Shaun just asked the crowd to pretend they went away for a moment and came back, before finishing off with another old favourite, the raucous “My Old Self”.

Even though I've seen Shaun play some solo shows over the past few years, it had been nearly ten years(!) since I last saw Wide Mouth Mason live. And in that time, they hadn’t lost a step, having as much energy as ever, refining their sound.
Before the show I was thinking that they are one of the longest running bands I’ve consistently been a fan of (as opposed to other bands from the 90s, which I’ve kind of fallen off & stopped following) and this show was a great example of why.

setlist
Habitual
You Pushed Me
Bodies in Motion
Every Red Light
Only Child
Unshoot a Gun
Smile
Long Distance Love
Why
Get a Hold Of You
This Mourning
Companion (Lay Me Down)
Obvious
Minus Two Minutes
Sugarcane
Midnight Rain
Mary Mary
("encore")
My Old Self

Tim Baker @ St. James Community Square -- Nov 24, 2023

With the release of his recent EP Along the Mountain Road, a companion to last year’s The Festival, Tim Baker announced a string of solo shows across the country, including a pair of Vancouver shows at St. James Community Square. Both sold out almost instantly, surprising no one, and I was incredibly excited to see the former Hey Rosetta! frontman in the former church, a gorgeous venue that I hadn’t seen a show at in something like ten years.

Opening the show was Matt Holubowski, the singer from Hudson, Quebec alone on stage with just an acoustic guitar, strumming while his captivating voice filled the room.

Highlights of his set included the gentle “Around Here” and “Dawn”, a song inspired by Homer’s Odyssey. He mentioned part way through the set that some of the acoustic songs sounded a bit different than on the album, punctuating that by telling a story about getting the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra to perform on his latest album, Like Flowers on a Molten Lawn, then launching into “Sandy Cove”.

He finished off his set with an ethereal song, “Exhale/Inhale”, and I doubt I was the only person in the room to think I needed to listen to that latest album as soon as I could.

It wasn’t long before Tim Baker took the stage, starting off with a new (I think), Christmas-y song on the grand piano, before switching to keyboard for “Pilgrims” and then “Songbirds” on guitar. He jumped between instruments for the rest of the show, while chatting with the rapt audience, telling the stories behind the songs, or just joking around.
And the audience was so attentive, that even when joining in on songs — a low rumble of feet hitting the floor, or softly singing along with the chorus of “Someday” — it may have seemed quiet or timid, but I think it was more that everyone was just in reverence of the St. John’s singer.

Baker played mostly from his solo albums, from the upbeat “The Shield”, to the incredibly crushing “Eighteenth Hole” performed beautifully on the piano, and even the looped beats of “Jungle Suite”, which allowed Baker to dance a little, showing off his best lounge singer and soft-shoe moves on stage. But he also broke out a few Hey Rosetta! tunes, quipping he’d play “old songs in ways no one ever asked to hear them”; the banjo came out for one of my favourite deep cuts, “Red Song” as well as “Kintsukuroi”, and a jaunty version of “Red Heart” saw him playing the keyboard with one hand, and grand piano with the other(!)

After a rousing “All Hands”, the crowd gave a standing ovation, and he returned, appropriately enough, with “Don’t Let Me Go Yet”. Finally, he capped off the evening with literal bells on, for the holiday song, “Carry Me Home”.

Tim Baker has an effortless charisma and charm, which often comes through in his shows with a full band, but that was never more apparent than during this solo show. Alone on stage, in an intimate venue, with an enchanted audience, made for an incredible night.

setlist
[new song]
Pilgrims
Songbirds
Someday
The Shield
New Key
Eighteenth Hole
[new song]
Red Song
Kintsukuroi
Red Heart
Dance
Jungle Suite
Pools
All Hands
encore
Don't Let Me Go Yet
Carry Me Home