Spencer Krug with Carey Mercer @ Fox Cabaret -- October 18, 2023

Hot off the release of a new album, I Just Drew This Knife, Spencer Krug returned to Vancouver alongside the album’s contributors, Eli Browning and Jordan Koop, for a rainy Wednesday evening show at the Fox Cabaret.

Opening the night was Krug's long-time friend, collaborator, and sometimes-bandmate, Carey Mercer, doing a solo set. Mercer started with a land acknowledgement -- and also acknowledging just everything going on in the world right now -- before delving into “Sound Travels From the Snow to the Dark”. From there he went through a selection of Frog Eyes songs, from the chaotic “Rainbow Stew” off the latest album The Bees, to “Bushels” from Tears of the Valedictorian, his distinctive voice filling the room.
Mercer also teased a few new songs, one which didn’t even have a name yet, as the growing crowd was rapt. One of the more attentive groups I've seen for an opener in some time.

Shortly after, Spencer Krug hit the stage alongside Browning & Koop, and kicked off with “God Knows Why This Is Where I Love You” from I Just Drew This Knife. They played just about the entire new album throughout the show, including the opener “Cry All Day”, their self-proclaimed weirdest, “Taxi After Taxi”, and “Nostalgia Is The Rose”, one of my highlights from the new release. Krug also slipped in a couple other songs from his recent solo albums, like “Slipping In and Out of Thee Pool” and “How We Have to Live”.

Throughout the show, Krug chatted with the crowd, sincerely thanking everyone for coming, but also self-deprecatingly joking he wasn’t a ‘guitar guy’ and admitting that, since the tour had just kicked off, this was only the second time the trio had played together onstage. And you would barely have noticed the fact... had it not been for a bit of a technical malfunction. Partway through the set, there was a catastrophic failure with the drum loops on the laptop, causing the set to come to a halt. But Krug eventually proclaimed “We’ll just fuckin’ figure it out” as they went into “Fading Graffiti” to continue on. There were a couple more hiccups with the laptop as the set went on, but the trio didn’t let it phase them too much, going through a few more from the new album, capping off my other favourite from the release, the soaring “Something About The Real World”.

I’ve seen plenty of shows before where things go wrong, and there are usually two things that will stop things from spiralling into disaster: the band keeping their cool, and the audience being patient. Luckily, this show had both of those in spades, so it only ended up a hiccup in the show. Krug didn’t let his frustrations affect the rest of the set, and everyone in that room was just happy to hear him play.

setlist
God Knows Why This Is Where I Love You
Cry All Day
Orcas
Taxi After Taxi
For Fear That Songs Come True
Slipping In and Out of Thee Pool
My Muscles Are Fine
Fading Graffiti
River River
How We Have to Live
Nostalgia Is The Rose
Love Song
Something About The Real World

PHOTOS: Elliott BROOD and Shred Kelly @ Biltmore Cabaret - October 06, 2023

Eliott BROOD with Shred Kelly
Biltmore Cabaret
Ocotober 06, 2023

(see Kirk’s review by clicking here)

Photos by Christine McAvoy

Elliott BROOD with Shred Kelly @ Biltmore Cabaret -- October 06, 2023

Sometimes, two bands touring together just makes sense. And that was definitely the case with Elliott BROOD and Shred Kelly on their “Across the Great Divide” tour. While the two bands have played on the odd show before, I don’t believe they’ve been through Vancouver together, so I was very happy to see them come to town. And especially because they were hitting up the Biltmore Cabaret, since (somehow) I hadn't caught a show there in about three and a half years(!).

The early show started with Shred Kelly hitting the stage as the crowd gathered, the Fernie band kicking off with a cover of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth”, before launching into the explosive “New Black”.

From there the band hardly slowed down, Tim Newton’s blurry hands over the banjo and Sage McBride’s finger flying over keys on songs, while their voiced intertwined, on songs like “The Bear” and “Archipelago”.

With a new album, Blurry Vision, on the horizon, the band teased a couple songs from it; a heartbreaking tune called “Days We Have Left” and “Nothing For A While”, which was a nearly seven minute tour de force that somehow managed to ramp up the already-high energy. And that energy carried through to the last couple songs, the frenzied “Cabin Fever” and a raucous “Sing to the Night” to cap off their set.

After a pretty quick turnaround, Elliott BROOD hit the stage, the trio of Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet, and Stephen Pitkin starting strong with a couple big singalongs and perennial faves, “Without You” and their cross-country hit, “Oh, Alberta”.

With a set that spanned their 20 year career, the band went back to their early days for songs like “Only at Home” and the gritty “Wolfgang”, to newer “Bird Dog” and “Out Walkin’”. Other highlights included the soaring “Northern Air”, another raucous singalong to “The Valley Town”, and a deceptively jaunty song about murder, “Dig a Little Hole”.

Not to be outdone, they also teased a few songs from their own upcoming album, Town, with “Stars Align”, “Dried Up” and “Rose City”, an ode their home town of Windsor, Ontario — Casey introducing it with a wry smile, claiming it was about the best city in Canada, which predictably got a… mixed reaction from the crowd.

As the set drew to an end, the band invited Shred Kelly back on stage for a fun cover of Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls”, before unveiling a surprise for the audience. In a move they haven't done in quite some time, they passed out their iconic wooden spoons & tin pans throughout the crowd, so folks could join in on the percussion (and of course, yelling along) to “Write It All Down For You”.

That ended the main set, but both bands were quickly back before the curfew for one last singalong, “Miss You Now”, a heart filled song to cap off the night.

Both bands on their own have a fun and vibrant live show, but putting them together brought out the best in each. Hopefully this tour won’t be the last time they all share the stage together.

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Shred Kelly setlist
For What It's Worth [Buffalo Springfield cover]
New Black
Jupiter (Any Other Way)
The Bear
Long Way from Your Heart
Take Me Home
Days We Have Left
Archipelago
Nothing For A While
Didn't Know
Cabin Fever
Sing to the Night

Elliott BROOD setlist
Without Again
Oh, Alberta
Out Walkin’
Dog a Little Hole
Better Times
Stars Align
Wolfgang
Bird Dog
Northern Air
Only at Home
Nothing Left
Rose City
Dried Up
The Valley Town
The Bridge
Fat Bottom Girls [Queen cover w/ Shred Kelly]
Write It All Down For You
(encore)
Miss You Now

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Louise Burns @ Fox Cabaret -- July 13, 2023

Hot of the release of the new album Element, Louise Burns celebrated with a hometown show in Vancouver at the Fox Cabaret. And not only was she commemorating the new album, but it was also her first venue-show in four years (second show, counting the past weekend's free outdoor Khatsahlano show)!

I missed the first opener of the night, Matías Roden, arriving to catch the last bit of Devours. Clad in his signature look (head-spikes, glimmering beard, and leather skirt with suspenders) he played “Mutant DIY homo pop”, as he describes it.
Alone on stage with just his equipment, he exuded a fun energy in songs that ranged from the relatively darker “10 Things I Crave About You” to the incredibly dancey “Jacuzzi My Stonewall”, which saw him wading into the crowd to cap off the set.

Not long after, Louise Burns hit the stage with her backing band in tow; regular guitarist Darcy Hancock, as well as Mike Noble and Cole George (on loan from Hotel Mira for the evening, on bass and drums respectively).

Louise started off with “Like A Dream”, as the screen behind her projected a loop of clips from recent music videos, scenery, and animals throughout the show. There was also a CRT TV perched at the front of the stage, with a live feed filmed from the back of the room, but that was probably hidden to all except the first few rows of people standing.

Burns’ warm voice rang through the cabaret as she hit songs off her new album, including the atmospheric “I Don’t Feel Like I Used To”, the upbeat “Bloom” and “Play Pretend”, which samples humpback whales(!)
She also delved into her back catalogue for favourites like “Ruby” and “Emeralds Shatter” off her album The Midnight Mass — which released ten years ago this week — as well as other highlights, “Just Walk Away” with its tropical-tinge, and the sinister “Who’s the Madman?”

After about an hour, the main set came to a close with the tempestuous “Storms”, before Burns returned for my two favourites off their respective albums. First “Let It Die” from the new album, and finally “Cry” from 2019’s, Portraits, which brought the set to a raucous end.

I think the last time I saw Louise Burns play was her previous album’s release show four years ago, so it was not only great to see her perform again, but celebrating a brand new album as well. Burns has long been a pinnacle of the Vancouver music scene — both in front of the mic and behind the scenes — and last night at the Fox Cabaret was an excellent showcase of that.

setlist
Like a Dream
I Don't Feel It Like I Used To
Who's the Madman?
Ruby
Kids
Just Walk Away
Element
Play Pretend
Hot Girls
Emeralds Shatter
Bloom
Storms
(encore)
Let It Die
Cry

PHOTOS: Khatsahlano 2023

Khatsahlano 2023
ft. Yukon Blonde, David Vertesi, Louise Burns, Tariq, Elliott C. Way, Riun Garner
July 08, 2023

Photos by Christine McAvoy