Doves-May 21, 2009 at The Commodore Ballroom

Winter Olympic 2010 news. Pounding from the Doves, The Last Broadcast is being used by the 2010 Winter Olympics in commercials, Watch it here.
Jimi Goodwin

After four long years, the Doves are finally back with a new album, Kingdom Of Rust. I've been a huge fan since 2000 when Lost Souls was released and they were the new "it" band and "Catch The Sun" is still one of my all time favourite songs.

Jetstream, from the new album, opened the show which was unusual. Unusual because Jez isn't the main singer, that Jetstream is biggest departure from the "Doves" sound, and that apparently Jez was recovering from laryngitis. It turned out to be a good choice as he sounded great and the heavy bass/electronic beat got the crowd moving.
Jez Williams

Jimi Goodwin sounded great as usual. He has the most amazing voice and the fact that he can pull it off live has always been a joy for me. He also looks great so the time off has been good for him. 10:03 from the new album was also particularly great. I love they way it builds into an almost completely different song.

The last time I saw them was in 2005. One of the things that moved me was the fact that they had the most inspiring multimedia show with trippy video and a stunning light show. Not so much this time. Blame technical problems? It was clear during the stage setup that they were planning on using a visuals on the stage based on the projected message that was on the screen on the stage, however this did not happen. Also, the stage seemed bathed in darkness except for the lights which eminated from behindy Andy's drum kit.
Andy Williams

My only other comment on the show are that they didn't play Catch The Sun....AGAIN!

Opening the show was Wild Light from New Hampshire. I have almost nothing good to say about them based entirely on Co-leader Timothy Kyle's pants.
Jordan Alexander (got the stove pipes just right)

Yes, they have a great song. It's "California On My Mind" and you should check it out here but seriously, I could not get past the pants. Who would tell him he looked good in those really monstrous tight white stove pipes. At one point, a crowd member yelled "Nice Pants" to which Tim replied "Always about the pants. Thank you, I'm going to assume it's sincere." It wasn't. When I'm horribly distracted and appalled by your pants, enough to waste a paragraph on them, I urge you to discard them forever and let me concentrate on your music.
Seth Pitman

(Notice no photos of offensive pants. I have standards as to where I aim my lens.)

Junos - March 29, 2009 at GM Place in Vancouver

My first Junos. To those of you not in Canada, the Junos are Canada's Music Awards or the Canadian Grammy's if you will.

Here are a few of my photos from the show.

Nickelback


Elvis Costello

Bryan Adams and Kathleen Edwards

Dallas Green (City And Colour) with Gord Downie

Loverboy - Hall of Fame inductee's

Simple Plan

Ok Go - March 28, 2009 at Chop Suey in Seattle

I've seen Ok Go four other times, and despite it being Junos weekend in Vancouver, and despite the high probability that I would be invited to all the coolest events, I choose to truck to Seattle and see Ok Go.
Damian Kulash

I understand the concept of taking it on the road to try out the new songs but Chop Suey? Chop Suey is a tiny tiny club in Seattle. The stage is the size of a shoebox, and there is no air conditioning or air circulation at all for that matter. Sounds like a great venue for a hard core Ok Go fan on paper, but not so much in practice.
Andy Ross

In other words, it was hot in there. Sweltering, in the crowd, and probably even hotter on the crowded tiny stage under those lights. This (along with singer Damian Kulash's recent illness) probably contributed to it being the least fun Ok Go show I've seen. Don't get me wrong, it was fun, but Damian didn't seem like his usual "sarcastic bastard" self.

Most famous for amazing Treadmill video, and well known for closing their shows with the Backyard Dance, their latest fun gimmick is an interpretation of "What To Do" with handbells. A really lovely idea and execution.

Many new songs from the much anticipated new album were introduced, and they were all great and I really look forward to hearing it but until then, here is a an acoustic song that Damian introduced as "a simple love song".

It was my Marsi's first Ok Go show, and I told her she should make a sign because my experiences had shown that if Damian saw it, he'd surely say something. Well, sadly, he didn't see it, but after the show, Dan did and loved it.

Airborne Toxic Event - Feb 18,2009 at Richards on Richards

So, Richards on Richards is moving to the old A&B Sound location on Seymour! I'm so excited that Vancouver isn't losing a live music venue to condo development.

Airborne Toxic Event, indie darlings from L.A., brought their show to Vancouver on Wednesday despite a toxic throat infection being suffered by leader Mikel Jollett.
Mikel Jollett


It was a sold out crowd but the poor sound quality, and lackluster performance (perhaps due to the illness) led to a generally unappreciative audience.
Anna Bulbrook

I'd just been about to mention to the couple next to me that I could hear their conversation more then I could hear the band when Mikel berated the audience about the excessive chatter.
Daren Taylor

The throat definitely caused some problems with the show. Mikel had a problem with any high range vocals which led to an unsatisfactory rendition of some of the songs. Gasoline probably suffered the most from that loss.

Overall though, the sound and show got better as the night progressed. Mikel became more lively and he and Anna roamed through the bar and the crowd during one number. Of other notable mention was guitarist Steven Chen. An actual live Asian rock star! Other then James Iha, the only one I've seen in anything but a local band. I'm half Japanese, so I was all over that.
Steven Chen

The encore was a generally raucous affair where Mikel tried to make up for his earlier bad attitude by inviting everyone who wanted to, onto the stage.


Check out Airborne ToxicEvent and especially check out the video for the amazing song, Somewhere Around Midnight.

Opening act The Henry Clay People where notable for the energy and fun they brought to the night. Opening with a sing-a-long count out and generally wrapping the crowd around their fingers with their youthful hijinks, brothers Joey and Andy Siara made the most of the opening slot.
Andy and Joey Siara

Transmission 2008

The third annual Transmission Festival. Yeah! Transmission is my favourite music festival.

It's a place to see some really excellent breaking bands under the best possible circumstances. The sound is amazing, and the staging and lighting are gorgeous.
Betty Bonifassi of Beast

My favourite show was Montreal's Beast. They are probably best known for Betty Bonifassi's work with Champion a few years ago. The dramatic lighting lent an extra component to the set that was already magical.
Alex Cuba

Another highlight for me was Alex Cuba. After years of playing with traditional Cuban groups in his native Cuba, Alex moved to Smithers B.C where he's spread his "Go With The Fro" world music vibe worldwide.
Mark Sasso of Elliot Brood

I'd run out of batteries, so this photo isn't great, but my other favourite band of the fest was Elliot Brood. Kind of a hillbilly Social Distortion?
Shane Nelken of The Awkward Stage

The Awkward Stage had the, um, awkward opening slot of the evening. I guess I should mention that I only made it Wednesday and Friday's shows. If you went on Thursday, let me know how it was. Anyways, I'd never seen them before, but would check them out again.
Bison B.C

Bison B.C. is a Vancouver band who I will remember most for the fact that their own brand of Bison beer was served at the fest and featured the warning, "Do not throw this bottle at the stage" on it's label.
Courtney Wing

Courtney Wing recruited a five piece choral section especially for the show.
Ben Worcester of Said The Whale

And lastly I present one of my favourite Vancouver bands, Said The Whale. In fact one of my favourite "Christmas" songs lately is This Winter I Retire which I could play on repeat for hours. Download their Christmas EP for FREE HERE!

Gogol Bordello - October 11, 2008 at the Commodore

Eugene Hütz

I first heard Gogol Bordello brand of "Gypsy Punk" at Bumbershoot 2007. We were wandering around the market place as the stalls were closing, and individually, we each were drawn to the music from the neighboring stage.

Within minutes we were immersed in the music, a combination of Soviet folk music with polka/punk beats which had has jumping around like crazy people.

We were pretty excited to see a real show and with two sold out shows, apparently everyone else in Vancouver was excited too.

There was no opening act, just a stage full of musicians playing everything from accordions to fiddles, and all led by bear hat wearing, fire drum playing Eugene Hutz.

Elizabeth Chi-Wei Sun & Pamela Jintana Racine

The Music was great, just as fun as we remembered. The stage full of musicians included two very hot multi-ethinic chicks who banged cymbals and marching drums and prowled the stage like wild animals.

Sergey Ryabtsev on fiddle

Much jumping ensued, lots of screaming, and singing. At one point a guy jumped on stage and Eugene wouldn't let security take him away. Instead he let him sing the last verse of "Start Wearing Purple" before watching him leap into the audience.
Thomas 'Tommy T' Gobena

Was it a little bit over the top? Maybe, but who cares! It was fun! They were having fun! We all had fun and you will to. Go check them out when you get a chance.
Yuri Lemeshev

Bumbershoot-Day 1 August 29, 2008

I'm starting with my favourite of the day, West Indian Girl.
Mariqueen Maandig

Robert James

West Indian Girl were my second favourite of the entire fest actually. This was my first show at the EMP Sky Church (um, second if you don't count the unmemorable Mono In VCF which is following)

A Myspace discovery, I wasn't really expecting them to be as cool as they actually were. Mariqueen is actually my new girl crush!

One of my favourite songs of theirs is "To Die In LA" which was rewritten after recording This new version was slower and missing the cool vibe of the recorded version. Another favourite is Blue Wave which you should totally check out on their MySpace!
Francis Ten


Okay, now let's try for some order. We started the day seeing Neko Case. I hate the Main Stage, and think I'm vowing not to return unless some serious changes like video screens are added.
Neko Case

Love her in the New Pornographers, but not such a fan of her country career.

Then it was off to the Rockstar stage for Seattles own Barcelona.
Brian Fennell

After our first Happy Hour of the weekend and well fortified, we started our afternoon in earnest with the Walkmen. I've liked them for ages and have seen them before.
Hamilton Leithauser



Our next choice was Mono In VCF as they'd had an okay vibe when we checked them out on myspace and we were going to EMP Sky Church anyway for West Indian Girl.
Kim Miller


Hunter Lee


Skipping around now, as I've already written about West Indian Girl, are Nada Surf, one of my favourite bands of all times. This is despite the fact that I've never even contemplated suicide.
Matthew Caw

Nada Surf were great despite the notable absence of bassist Daniel Lorca who was absent due to an inconvient knee injury. Daniel had also written a hilarious Bumbershoot primer for The Seattle Weekly publication.

Ended the night with Beck. As you'll see again and again, I hate the Bumbershoot Main Stage and will be forever banning it.
Beck

The sound was awful, and it didn't help hat I've never warmed to Beck's music.

Bumbershoot- Day 2 August 30, 2008

Let's start with my favourite of Sunday, The Shackeltons.
Mark Redding

They took to a stage that covered with branches, no, LIMBS of trees and a bounty of dahlia's. Dressed in old school military uniforms, they put on one of those shows where you like the band a whole lot more after you see them.

Lead singer Mark Redding is as much of a performance artist as he is a singer and has a particular affinity for falling, sometimes from a straight standing position.

Justin McDanel

Highlights of the stage banter included enticements to purchase CD's with the offer to pinch drummer Sean Hallock's baby fat or the chance to discuss being half black in America with bassist Justin McDaniel.
Sean Hallock

But topping all the stories was the orgin of the stage forest. Apprently it's a $500 fine for, um, pruning trees in the city limits, so it was a good thing they'd liberated the trees at a location out of city limits.

Okay, now on to what else I saw. It was a busy day.
Let's see.
Biggest disappoint was Sons and Daughters from Glasglow. Loved them on myspace, hated them live.
Adele Bethel

Loved them so much that we'd spontaneously break into the opening of the "The Gift" while walking around the Bumbershoot grounds. This was an example of where you like a band a whole lot less after you see them.
Scott Paterson

Worst of all?? No it wasn't that the sound was awful. It was after all that spontaneous singing, we'd done, they didn't even play "The Gift"!

Also on the agenda and a band that didn't disappoint were Seattle's own The Blakes.
Snow Keim

I'd totally go see them again. I think they are great!
Garnet Keim


Hmm. I'm all over the map here as far as timeline goes. Let's see....we started the day with Lushy who are art of Shag in musical form.
Annabella Kirby

Mostly percussion, Lushy have a mellow effervescent quality which was fun, especially for the hipster oldsters dancing away in the crowd.
Andrew Sodt

I don't know what instrument is shown here in this photograph, but I do know that Glen wanted one.

Also, highly anticipated but a bit of a let down, were The Whigs. I was probably a bit (a lot) drunk by this time (love the Seattle Happy Hours) so I should go a bit easier on them.
Parker Gispert

I especially like the song "Like A Vibration" from their Mission Control album.
Ben Deaux

Julian Dorio

Scott Weiland

Next up, in no particular order, is Stone Temple Pilots. Despite showing up a half an hour late and being escorted directly to the stage in the tour bus, Scott Weiland was in pretty good form.

Yeah, these photos suck, but I was pretty far away, and you get the picture.
Hating the Main Stage (horrile sound, unmanagable size) we left STP for Tapes 'n Tapes who I'd seen once before at SXSW.

Bumbershoot 2008 - Day 3 September 1, 2008

Rhett Miller of the Old 97's

I've loved the Old 97's for years. I must have had a period when I was really depressed that I don't remember anymore because the 97's and Nada Surf were my must see choices of the fest, and I have spent hours listening to their CD's.

The set was great, and was comprised of mostly new material that I didn't really know. I loved it though, and really loved guitarist Ken Bethea who showed you don't have to be a kid to rock..
Ken Bethea

Langhorne Slim



Strange Fruit
Performance art from Australia

Monotonix
Ami Shalev

Last but not least, the highlight of the day for me which was Tel-Aviv rockers Monotonix's aborted 15 minute set at the Exhibition Hall.

When we arrived, we found their equipment set up on the floor instead of the stage, and when the band finally began their set I couldn't see a thing as I was pretty much in the back of the throng. Having no barrier between band and audience made for a crazy, anything can happen, energy, so I eventually made my way through he crowd as close as possible. At that point, Ami was pretty much performing atop the audience limbs. In that slim 15 minute set he managed to moon the crowd, play 3 or 4 songs, and ride atop the crowd in a garbage can. Reports are the the fire marshall shut down the show for the tossing of said garbage can.

Catch most of the show plus Avi's closing remarks at YouTube HERE

Dandy Warhols- Richards On Richards June 18, 2008

Finally a really great Dandy's show!

I've seen the Dandy Warhols probably a dozen times. They are one of my favourite bands, and I would never miss them, but it's been awhile since I saw them put on a truly memorable show. In fact, they've been so consistently unmemorable that I didn't even right anything about the last show I saw.

This show was a pretty short notice practice show in anticipation of festival season across the pond. The entire "tour" consisted of only 4 shows, and Vancouver was one of the lucky cities.

One of the VERY lucky cities, because this show was the best I've ever seen them. What was different? Maybe the fact that they'd "Practiced a lot" which Courtney jokingly told the crowd when someone yelled out how great they sounded. Maybe the fact that they seemed to be genuinely having fun. Maybe the long stretch off the road had made them hungry for it again.


Maybe it was that the new material they played off the new album, Earth To The Dandy Warhols may be the strongest songs they've released in years.

Courtney definitely brought his "A" game, being very dramatic with his performance both with his instrumentation and with body. They sounded amazing and except for a few dropped lyrics that I'm sure only Glen noticed, they were all I could have hoped for.

They'll be back in September and so will I!