The Strumbellas @ Biltmore -- 11/05/13

Hot off the heels of the release of We Still Move On Dance Floors, their follow up to the Juno Nominated My Father and The Hunter, The Strumbellas hit the Biltmore Cabaret this Tuesday. The last time I saw them was at the tiny Railway Club and they nearly tore the place down, so I was excited to see them again live.
And as an added bonus, they were joined by a couple of strong local acts to round out the show.

 Starting off the night was John Sponarski. One half of Portage & Main, John has recently been playing more solo shows, and he took the stage armed with little more than an acoustic guitar & a harmonica, accompanied by Savannah Leigh Wellman of Redbird to lend her voice to backup vocals.
I saw Sponarski fairly recently, opening for Elliott BROOD, and he seemed much less nervous and more comfortable this time. His solo material was a little more on the country side than Portage & Main, with songs being clearly personal. From "Corn Whiskey" -- based off the traditional "Rye Whiskey" -- written after someone questioned his alcohol intake, to one written after visiting his grandmother in a resting home, the emotion put into the songs really drove them home.
He ended with a great closer; a bit of a sing along, a rousing song both lamenting and celebrating a broken up band. I mentioned it last time, but that song was my favourite of the set, and would be killer with a full band behind it.

Next up was Rolla Olak. Keeping it stripped down, he only had John Sponarski with him on pedal steel, and also kept the same mellow, folk-country vibe throughout most of his set. He had a clear passion while playing, but was lacking a bit in stage presence. I saw him recently as a part of the Peak Performance Project and liked his full band set, but couldn't quite connect to his more acoustic set; maybe it was just a bit too laid back. Which is why my favourite was the last song of the set, as he invited The Strumbellas on stage to pick up instruments and sing along to his final song, a rousing and passionate song, "It's Alright" for a strong finish.

It wasn't long before the stage filled with The Strumbellas, in stark contrast to the previous, two-piece acts. The six piece from Lindsay, Ontario started off the set with "Home Sweet Home", wasting no time showing off their tight harmonies and raucous alt-country roots rock. The whole band was full of energy, but especially keyboardist David Ritter and frontman Simon Ward, who started the show a little shy, by his own admission, but by the end of it he had opened up & was more chatty between songs, even talking directly to crowd members yelling things at the stage.
The set focused mostly on their new album, We Still Move On Dance Floors, with highlights being
the anthemic "End of an Era" and the building intensity of "Ride On". They rounded out the set with some older ones, the explosive "Lakes", and even a great cover of Modest Mouse's "Float On", with Ward getting the crowd to sing along to the chorus, a warm up for another sing along to "The Sheriff", an incredibly catchy tune.
After "ending" the set with "Rhinestone", they didn't even do the fake-leave, rather ended the night by inviting everyone up on stage to dance along with the big closing number, "Pistol"

The Strumbellas put on an incredibly fun live show, and I would not be at all surprised to see them tearing up larger venues like the Commodore in years to come.

setlist
Home Sweet Home, Lakes, Ride On, In This Life, Run, The Fire, End of an Era, Sailor's Blues, Float On [Modest Mouse cover], The Sheriff , Sailing, [mystery song], Rhinestone, Pistol. 

Elliott BROOD @ Media Club -- 09/29/13

Ten years ago, Mark Sasso, Casey Laforet, Stephen Pitkin got together and released Tin Type, the very first Elliott BROOD album. To celebrate that anniversary, they embarked on a tour of smaller clubs and venues. In Vancouver, that meant the very first place they played here, The Media Club. And considering the last time they were here they sold out the Commodore, a place with five times the capacity, it was sure to be one hell of a show.

 As an added bonus, opening the night was John Sponarski of Portage & Main. He took the stage armed only with an acoustic guitar, the occasional harmonica, and his secret weapon, Savannah Wellman of Redbird helping on vocals. John played a set of his own solo songs, which were a little more countrified than the roots-rock of Portage & Main, and his voice a little more gruff, contrasting nicely with Savannah's lovely voice.
The songs were personal and full of emotion, as John told the stories behind them between songs. He admitted it was only his second time playing solo after he flubbed a song, but that can be somewhat forgiven as he also explained that some of the songs were a mere two days old; even the "oldest" ones had only been written a couple months ago. 
My favourite of the set was the last song, a passionate song that was equal parts celebration and lamentation as a reaction to a band breaking up, with a bit of a sing along. It was a great song, and I am not sure if John plans to do more solo shows, or get some hired guns, but it would sound killer with a full band giving it their all. 

Before Elliott BROOD even stepped on stage, the packed crowd was already buzzing, and there was an explosion of enthusiasm as the trio started off with "Will They Bury Us?" from their latest album, Days Into Years. They played a lengthy set that spanned their entire ten years, and those years of experience has refined their live show to a well oiled machine of "death country".
They are an incredible live band, full of energy and fiery passion. Everything from the songs to the banter seemed effortless, Steve's incredibly tight drumming, Mark switching between guitar and banjo and ukulele, Casey playing guitar while playing bass pedals with his feet.
They got the crowd into early on with the massive sing along to "Oh Alberta", everyone clapping and stomping along, and it hardly slowed down from there; even the the softer and more sombre "Northern Air" had an intensity to it. "The Valley Town" garnered another huge sing along, and they wrapped up the set with "Fingers and Tongues".
But they were only off stage for a moment before jumping back in, somehow upping the energy and intensity with the instrumental barn burner "Chuckwagon", and the night came to and end with the absolutely explosive "Write It All Down For You" and every single person stomping and "hey! hey! hey!"-ing along. It is normally an impressive song to see live, but with the culmination of all the energy and emotion in the room, I am surprised the floor wasn't stomped clean through.

Elliott BROOD is normally a very impressive live show, but put them in a small venue filled with the most passionate crowd I've seen in a long time, and you have one unforgettable show. I can only hope they'll be back to the Media Club for their twentieth year anniversary.


setlist
Will They Bury Us?, T-Bill, Wolfgang, Oh Alberta, President (35), Garden River, The Bridge, Rusty Nail, Northern Air, The Trail, Bowling Green, Lindsay, If I Get Old, Only At Home, The Banjo Song, Old Dan Tucker [traditional cover], The Valley Town, Hold You, Fingers and Tongues.
(encore) Chuckwagon, Johnny Rooke, Write It All Down For You.