Black Mountain @ Vogue Theatre -- 03/10/17

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I never knew how much I wanted to see Vancouver psych rockers Black Mountain at a soft-seat theatre venue until this show popped up. It's been nearly five years since the last time I saw them live, so I probably would have been excited wherever they played, but the combination of their soaring sounds with the Vogue sounded like a great match. 

First up was Dutch duo zZz (pronounced exactly as it looks). I caught the last half of their set, with Daan Schinkel on organ & synths and Björn Ottenheim with drums & vocals making more noise than you would expect from two people. Björn's Billy Idol-esque yelps and the fast fingers of Schinkel created a cacophony of sound, with crashing drums and swirling synth through their set. They were definitely a strong choice to warm up the crowd.

From there it was a bit of an odd shift, as Destroyer was the other supporting act... but not full band Destroyer, just Dan Bejar alone with an acoustic guitar. Which was definitely a bit weird between the two other heavier acts, and I think a few people in the crowd were taken aback (at the very least, the guy behind me was). That being said, I always enjoy Destroyer, full band or acoustic, and it was nice to see him in a venue like the Vogue. 
Bejar is always a little enigmatic on stage, and this night after every song he would step back from the microphone, take a bow, crouching down for a sip of whiskey, a sip of beer, then right back to it. He talked to the crowd a few times, thanking everyone and introducing songs, but mainly just ran through his vast arsenal; from older songs like "Watercolours Into The Ocean" and "English Music", to newer "Times Square", and even a few that I think were brand new. His unique voice trembled through the room with his occasionally-poetically-dense, occasionally-la-da-de-dah lyrics serenading. I think in the end there ended up being a mix of those who knew and appreciated the Vancouver mainstay, those who were won over, and those who were just confused by the main with an acoustic guitar opening for Black Mountain.

But speaking of them, it wasn't long after that before it was time for Black Mountain. Stephen McBean and Amber Webber took the stage at first, starting the older, eponymous song "Black Mountain" as the rest of the band joined them, before blowing the roof off with one of my favourites, the bone-shaking, tempestuous "Stormy High". The first half of the set actually featured a fair amount of their '08 album In The Future including the moody "Queens Will Play" showcasing both McBean's guitar shredding and Amber's powerfully haunting (and hauntingly powerful?) voice. 
Of course, they also delved into more tracks from their newest, the appropriately named fourth album IV. Highlights including "You Can Dream" and "Space To Bakersfield", the ten-minute song taking an entire theatre's collective breath away to end the main set.
Though they didn't even leave a pretense of the show being over, with the guitars still reverberating as the crowd started stomping in unison for the encore. Obviously they obliged, back out with the absolutely intense "Mothers Of The Sun", finally wrapping up after a good hour and a half with "Mary Lou" twisting and turning to an astonishing finale. 

Maybe it's because, even as a local band, they don't play all that often, they don't over-saturate themselves, I always forget just how incredible they are live. Their intensity and raw power is hard to match, and especially in a venue like the Vogue, they shone bright. 

setlist
Black Mountain
Stormy High
Florian Saucer Attack.
Angels
Queens Will Play
Tyrants
You Can Dream
Line Them All Up
Rollercoaster
Wucan
Space To Bakersfield
(encore)
Mothers Of The Sun
Mary Lou

Destroyer w/ Blackout Beach @ Rickshaw Theatre -- 06/12/14

I've never really been a fan of the Rickshaw Theatre as a venue. The first time I was there the poor sound ruined what should have been an otherwise great show, and the few shows I saw after were not much better. It got to the point where I just avoided going to shows there.
So when Dan Bejar announced a solo Destroyer show -- with Blackout Beach opening as well -- I was conflicted. But I decided to give the Rickshaw another chance, figuring it would be hard to mess up the sound for a single guy with an acoustic guitar. And you know what? It sounded pretty good.


It had been a while since I've seen Carey Mercer in any incarnation, so I was very glad that the Frog Eyes frontman (and Bejar's bandmate in Swan Lake) was opening under his solo alter-ego Blackout Beach. He took the stage with an acoustic guitar, and a bag of tricks in the form of looped beats and plenty of distortion pedals. His incredibly powerful voice drove most of the songs -- a couple times he even stepped off the mic and belted out the words -- with an almost frantic intensity. Never more apparent than in "Three Men Drowned In The River" from his Skin of Evil album.

In contrast to the intensity of the songs, though, his stage banter was light and funny. Part off-the-cuff, with a dash of self-effacing humour, Mercer joked with the crowd between each song, asking things like if the beats were "too techno, or not techno enough?" (they were somewhere in the middle).
He wrapped up the set with a pair of Frog Eyes songs from his most recent album Carey's Cold Spring; "Claxxon's Lament" provided unparalleled emotion, and he wrapped up with the advice "Don't Give Up Your Dreams", his distorted guitar wailing to an ending.


The last time I saw Destroyer, it was the full band at the Vogue Theatre, with the band filling out the rich and lustrous sound of their last couple albums. But this time it was only Dan Bejar, armed with his acoustic guitar, and speaking a word he silenced the din of the crowd just by launching into his first song, "My Favourite Year". In fact, other than some recognition applause and cheers at the start of most songs, the crowd was in an awed silence the entire night, as long as Bejar was playing -- the one memorable occasion being when half the packed show shouted "the fucking maniac" at the appropriate part of "European Oils"

Bejar played a packed set, just shy of an hour and a half which spanned his illustrious career, going back to almost twenty years for the song "Streets of Fire" from We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge all the way up to "Bye Bye" from his newest Five Spanish Songs EP.
Other highlights included the gorgeous and fragile songs like "Chinatown" and "Foam Hands" as well as dramatically stripped down versions of more upbeat tunes, "Your Blood" and "Savage Night At The Opera", and also the aforementioned "European Oils", a personal favourite.

In contrast to Mercer's humour, Bejar didn't say too much between songs (as you would expect) but as the set went on he loosened up and a few times his dry sense of humour came through; joking that a few of his songs were suspiciously similar when stripped down to the acoustic, and proclaiming the last song of the night would be the best (and them promptly feigning a complete loss of self-confidence) before launching into a stunning rendition of "Don't Become The Thing You Hated".
But of course the packed theatre was not done yet, cheering for more as Dan came back out with another couple songs to cap off the night with "Virgin With a Memory" from 2001's Streethawk: A Seduction

 And with that he bowed one last time, leaving the audience with one of the better shows I've seen so far this year.

setlist
My Favourite Year; Your Blood; The Chosen Few; Bye Bye; Foam Hands; Light Travels Down The Catwalk; Downtown; Helena; European Oils; Self Portrait With Thing (Tonight Is Not Your Night); Chinatown; Streets of Fire; To the Heart of the Sun on the Back of the Vulture, I'll Go; Farrar, Straus And Giroux (Sea Of Tears); Savage Night at the Opera; Don't Become The Thing You Hated.
(encore) What Road; Virgin With a Memory.

Destroyer @ Vogue Theatre -- 06/29/12

It was an unusually busy night in Vancouver with over half a dozen good shows going on, but ultimately it was an easy choice: the Vogue Theatre for Vancouver's Destroyer, as part of the Jazz Fest. I hadn't seen Dan Bejar and company in a while, and the Vogue seemed like a perfect place for the band to showcase songs from last year's Kaputt.

Opening the night was another local band, Inhabitants, taking the dimly lit stage and, after a moment to set up, launching into a dark and moody instrumental set. With long songs that ebbed and flowed, the four piece created unique and complex sonic soundscapes. There were a few times, though, that it was a bit too cacophonous; where it seemed like the four members were just playing simultaneously and not playing together, and between songs there were awkward pauses and silences before the next. But otherwise it was very interesting and unique, and I am looking forward to seeing them again.

It wasn't long after that the lights dimmed and recorded music started playing to build the suspense before Destroyer hit the stage. Dan Bejar was joined by seven others to round out the band -- including fellow New Pornographers John Collins and Dave Carswell, as well as Black Mountain drummer Josh Wells -- with a wide variety of instruments from the usual guitars, bass, drums, and keys to saxophone, flute, trumpet and space clarinet EWI.
Starting off with an older track, "Your Blues", the set hit songs off the band's last few albums, including the gorgeous "European Oils" from Rubies, but focused mostly on the newest album, Kaputt. They were even joined by Sibel Thrasher, who sang on the album, for a few songs, her strong and soulful voice adding great depth to songs like "Chinatown".
The notoriously introverted Dan Bejar seemed a bit of a reluctant front man; he can be completely captivating when singing, but didn't talk much otherwise -- aside from the usual thanks-you's to the festival, the venue and the opening act -- and he was frequently crouching down when not singing, to let the rest of Destroyer shine. And shine they did, each member of the band on top of their game.
An incredible trumpet solo, run through all sorts of distortion, lead into the hauntingly beautiful intro to "Suicide Demo for Kara Walker" which ended the set. But they were of course back for the usual encore, with "The Temple", and were about to play one more but were having some technical issues, so Bejar proclaimed they would play the "complete opposite song" -- though assured us it was thematically similar -- and ending the night with "Hey Snow White", exploding into swirling guitar and horns.

I've seen Destroyer a few times now, and this was definitely among the best. Bejar has always been an eccentric and enigmatic individual, but when the band comes together and really clicks, they put on an unforgettable show.

setlist
Your Blues, Savage Night at the Opera, European Oils, Chinatown, Blue Eyes, Downtown, Self-Portrait with Thing, Song for America, Rubies, Libby's First Sunrise, Suicide Demo for Kara Walker.
(encore) The Temple, Hey Snow White.

Destroyer @ Commodore -- 03/17/11

I have always felt that Dan Bejar rides that line between genius and insanity, and Destroyer has always fascinated me. Having seen them live a few times before, it's always been a different show -- including one show that was just Bejar solo and acoustic -- and the new album, Kaputt, takes such a different direction that I really wasn't sure what to expect from the show.

First up though, was Blackout Beach, who I was quite excited to see. The band is a solo project of Carey Mercer (who you may better know from Frog Eyes or Swan Lake) and I hadn't seen him play, in any incarnation, in a couple years. The band consisted of Mercer, with a keyboarsist and drummer, so the set was pretty minimal, and a little calmer than his other works. The songs were quite catchy, and nothing you wouldn't expect from Mercer, and even though it was more chill, he had no less energy on stage. Despite a couple lulls between songs, when he was playing, Mercer had a pretty song stage presence, and even stronger voice. A few times he stepped back off the mic and just let loose.
The set was only about a half hour, and it would have been nice to see some more, but it definitely had me wanting to see Frog Eyes again.

After a pretty quick turnaround, it was time for The War On Drugs. They had a more pop-rock sound, that I was actually not expecting from their name, or look. It was pretty catchy, and aside from one misstep at the start of a song, they were quite musically adept, but it didn't really do anything for me. A few of the songs sounded a bit similar, and the lead singers voice didn't really have too much range. It was Perfectly Acceptable Music, but not much more.

And then was Destroyer, as Bejar and the band of eight came out of the fog to take the stage. The band included horns, keys and one member who occasionally playing the trumpet at they keys at the same time.
The set started off with the first couple songs off of the new album, Kaputt, and while there were a few older songs, they focused mostly on that. Because of this, the show was a bit more slow and relaxed, given the albums more jazzy influence. Though not completely mellow, as midway through the set, they launched in to "3000 Flowers", one of my favourite Destroyer songs, and one I have never seen played live. It was, however, a bit odd, with Bejar reading the lyrics off of a piece of paper, but it was an incredible song otherwise. Probably my favourite of the main set, along with the hauntingly beautiful "Suicide Demo for Kara Walker"
And then came the encore, with Bejar joking if we had half an hour to kill, and then the familiar strains of "Bay of Pigs" starting. I was pretty thrilled at that, as I adore the song and I wasn't sure if they'd be playing it live in its 12 minute glory. It wasn't perfect, though; a little bit into the song there was a bit of a mixup, and at least twice Bejar started to crack up while singing -- and a little more of reading the lyrics during a portion of the song -- but those small things really didn't detract from the song too much, and it was still pretty incredible to hear live. I'm just wondering, since this was the first show of the tour, if it was maybe the first time they had played it live.

In all, though, it was a pretty great show. Two songs I did not really expect to hear live, and some incredibly talented musicians sharing the stage.

setlist
Chinatown, Blue Eyes, It's Gonna Take An Airplane, Downtown, Savage Night At The Opera, Certain Things You Ought To Know , Kaputt, 3000 Flowers, Painter In Your Pocket, Suicide Demo For Kara Walker, Song For America.
(encore) Bay of Pigs.