Vancouver Folk Music Festival: Day Three -- 07/17/11

Well, Sunday was the final day of the 34th Vancouver Folk Music Festival (see days one and two here).
Luckily the weather decided to be somewhat cooperative, and the rain held off for most of the day. I've heard it was the first VFMF in 15 years that it wasn't a scorching hot weekend, though to be honest I would prefer a little overcast and rain to that -- though I am sure I'm the only one.
But enough about the weather, and on to the music. Sunday was filled with workshops, which are bands/artists sharing the stage to jam together, and a few shows in the evening.

The day started with an 11am workshop called "Independently Minded", with Kathryn Calder, Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band and Imaginary Cities, which was without a doubt the best workshop I had seen all weekend. There was lots of jamming and collaboration between the musicians on stage, with the members of The Weakerthans basically playing backup for both Bryson (obviously) but also Imaginary Cities. Calder also jumped in often, at the very least on a tambourine.
Each band played three songs; Kathryn threw in a new song, Jim Bryson's "Decidedly" sounded great, and everyone pitched in to help Imaginary Cities end the workshop with "Hummingbird", which was spectacular.

The next workshop was also up there, in terms of collaboration and sheer fun. "All Fired Up" consisted of Danny Michel, The Burning Hell, Imaginary Cities (again) and Jason Wilson Band. I wasn't too hyped on Jason Wilson Band, they had a bit too much of a Dave Matthews vibe, but the others were pretty great, with members of The Burning Hell being really good about jumping in, much like yesterday. Again, "Hummingbird" was a highlight, and even though it was the fourth time I had heard it that weekend, it didn't get old. The Burning Hell ended their last song with a little bit of "In The Air Tonight" slipped in, and the group finished off the workshop with a pair of covers. First Jason Wilson Band with  "54-46 Was My Number" by Toots & the Maytals and then Danny Michel with Los Lobos' "Life Is Good". Both had near everyone on stage join in, and the ending of "Life Is Good" had the crowd join in on clapping and "Ooh la la", with everyone leaving the stage, resulting in the crowd keeping the song going strong for a couple minutes after they were done.

The third workshop of the day was a "secret" one, in that it wasn't listed in the program, but was on the online schedule. It featured Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three, Wendy McNeill and Elliott BROOD, and seemed a bit shorter than the others, with each band only playing a couple songs. LaFarge was pretty fun, with a crazy washboard player, and McNeill was good as well, but the best part of the set was everyone joining Elliott BROOD for "Miss You Now".

It wasn't long after that that the evening shows started, with Kathryn Calder kicking off the night on Stage 3. Even though I'd seen her a couple months ago (and that morning at a workshop, for that matter) I was still excited to see her play a full set with her band, and she did not disappoint. Even after she mentioned it not raining, only for a trickle to start, as if on cue.
But despite the sogginess, her set was really fun, especially with such energetic and upbeat songs as "A Day Long Past Its Prime" and "Follow Me Into The Hills", and one of my favourites of hers, "Castor and Pollux", which ended the set.
There were also a couple new songs, "Turn A Light On" and "City of Sounds", teasing a new album out in October, which I am eagerly anticipating.

setlist
All It Is, Down the River, Slip Away, A Day Long Past Its Prime, If You Only Knew, Turn A Light On, Follow Me Into the Hills, City of Sounds, Arrow, Castor and Pollux.

Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band was up next, staying on Stage 3. They had a bit of an awkward introduction, and at one point there was a holler for "Tournament of Hearts", so I don't think some people (including the emcee) really "got" the concept behind members of The Weakerthans as Jim Bryson's backing band, but that didn't diminish from being a fantastic set. As well as The Weakerthans, Rusty Matyas from Imaginary Cities was also playing with the band, on keys, guitar and trumpet.
I had seen hints of it during the workshops, but the full set proved what a great storyteller Bryson is, and what an engaging frontman he is, especially when backed by a group of musicians that talented.
A few of the highlights from the set were "Decidedly" and "Up All Night", both really fun songs, as well as "Freeways In The Front Yard", which had Jenny Whiteley out for vocals. The last song of the night, "Wild Love", was probably the most energetic of the set, (finally) getting people to their feet and ended with a bit of CCR's "Proud Mary", getting the crowd to sing along. As it came to a close, members of the band left the stage one by one, with Bryson "firing" them, leaving just him.

There were a few more acts after, on both Stage 3 and the main stage, but at this point everyone was pretty beat, and we figured there wouldn't be a better way to end both the day and the festival than with Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band.

So overall, I would say the weekend was an incredible success; I am so glad I got the chance to finally go to the Folk Fest, weather be damned. I wish it had been scheduled a little differently; there were times where three things I wanted to see happened at once and times where there was nothing I wanted to see for a couple hours... But I think there was only one person that I completely missed, everyone else I was able to catch in some form or another, either a full set, a workshop or a tweener.

Now, who's ready for next year?

Vancouver Folk Music Festival: Day Two -- 07/16/11

It was a little rainy for day two of the Vancouver Folk Music Fest, (see day one here) but it was just a little wet, it was still good, and the day started early with an 11am workshop. The workshops consisted of three or four bands on stage at once, playing each one of their songs, with the chance for others to join in and jam with them. Sometimes they did that, though sometimes it just ended up being each band playing a song individually.
And again, I will attempt to keep things as brief as I can, but this was probably the most packed day, so no promises.

First workshop was the "Sounds Of Home" with Joel Plaskett, Jim Bryson, The Burning Hell and The Dardanelles, moderated by Joel, who started things off with "Love This Town". They went down the line and each played three songs, with others occasionally joining in. Though the joining in didn't happen too often, but the best at it was members of The Burning Hell, especially their baritone sax. I hadn't seen Jim Bryson live before, but he was pretty good, especially "Metal Girls" (but more on him in day three) and The Dardanelles were definitely a maritime band, with a couple sea shanties. It was a pretty fun workshop, but it would be overshadowed by the two the next day (ooh, foreshadowing!).

The next show for me was one I was looking forward to the most, Imaginary Cities playing a full set. They went on a little late due to some technical problems; which seemed to be persistent on Stage 3, where I spent most of my time at the festival, but with the sheer amount of things on stage for the weekend and the required quick turnarounds, it was forgivable.
They started off with "Say You" and played most of the songs off their amazing debut Temporary Resident. Marti's vocals were amazing live, and Rusty was as great as you would expect.
Highlights were "Ride This Out", one of my favourite songs this year, which starts mellow and then explodes, and the climactic "That's Where It's At, Sam" which ended the set. "Hummingbird" was also fantastic live. It was an incredibly fun set, and I was so glad to have seen them play a full set during the festival.

setlist
Say You, Marry The Sea, Ride This Out, Cherry Blossom Tree, Calm By Storm, Temporary Resident, Where'd All The Living Go, Hummingbird, That’s Where It's At Sam.

Soon after, the evening shows started with Danny Michel at Stage 3. I wasn't overly familiar with his stuff, but he won me over in his first song with some cool looping, which I am a sucker for.
He was really fun to watch live, and even if he hadn't told a story about finding one of Paul Simon's apples and trying to plant a Paul Simon Apple Tree from it, I would have been able to tell his influence on Michel.
There were a few songs I recognized through the set, "Maybe You Can In Your Heart", "Feathers Fur and Fin" and "Who's Gonna Miss You", and he brought the show to an end with some more looping -- after having a couple problems with the pedals, but his persistence paid off -- and then some awesome use of sound effects off his iPod, which is hard to describe but awesome to hear.

After him was The Burning Hell again, but this time for a full set of their own. They are a pretty hilarious band, but not in the "novelty song" kind of way, more like clever lyrics and storytelling. Two great examples of that would be "Flux Capacitor", the title track from their new album, as well as "Dance Dance Dance" which had its very own disco break. They also have an incredibly upbeat, folk rock sound, and the combination of both those factors make for an undeniably fun set.
They wrapped up with "It Happens In Florida", an interesting spin on a love song with lyrics like "Love, it’s like a newborn child: seems interesting when it’s young, gets pedestrian after a while", and at the end, lead singer Mathias (and his big bushy beard) was getting the whole crowd to sing along.

Next up was [the legendary] Buck 65, who I had never seen before, so was really interested to see. He had a laptop and turntable and nothing much else on stage, aside from a music stand which he read lyrics to a couple songs off of, and was joined by Marnie Herald for backup vocals, especially for a lot of the songs from 20 Odd Years. The songs were not quite the same without the likes of Jenn Grant and Nick Thorburn, but she did a really good job regardless.
Buck was really energetic and fun to watch, dancing around and hamming it up for the children in the crowd, especially during "BBC", and he was also a great storyteller -- which makes sense with his CBC Radio 2 show Drive -- as he told a tale of going to not just the wrong venue, but the wrong city to play a show in Sweden.
Some other highlights from the set were "Indestructible Sam", which had Emily Wells join him on violin, the incredibly fun "Zombie Delight", which is about exactly what the title implies, and a bit of an experiment... He mentioned he played a festival recently at the same time as John Fogerty, so as a kind of "thanks" to the people watching him, he used "Run Through The Jungle" as the musical bed for "Wicked & Weird", which was pretty amazing. He put on an incredibly fun set, and I would definitely see him live again, given the chance. (Unfortunately, I had to miss his workshops the next day)

Finally, closing out the night was Elliott BROOD. It had been a long time since I had last seen them live, and I was definitely excited to hear their new stuff. And the "death country" trio did not disappoint. Even though there was a couple times that Mark looked frustrated, the band sounded absolutely great.
The awesome instrumental "Chuchwagon" and the new single, "Northern Air", just one of the few new songs they threw into the set, were both a few of the highlights, as well as the bands intense energy. Mark and Casey, who share guitar and vocals, and Stephen on drums all had an incredible energy to them and are amazing to watch live.
After everyone sang along to "Oh Alberta", they handed out the trademark tin pans and wooden spoons -- and after seeing them live thrice before, I finally got one of my own -- to bang along to "This Valley Town", and then for the big finale of "Write It All Down For You" with the whole crowd banging and shouting along to the HEYHEYHEY!'s.
But of course, that wasn't the end, as they were back out for one more, the soft -- or as soft as the Brood can be -- and beautiful "Miss You Now". An amazing set, and definitely one of the highlights of the whole festival.

Well, that's two days down and one to go, with the last day consisting of two absolutely amazing workshops, and a couple other great concerts by Kathryn Calder and Jim Bryson & The Weakerthans Band.

Vancouver Folk Music Festival: Day One -- 07/15/11

For the last few years, I have been wanting to go to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, but have just never had the chance. This year changed all that, and it was my first ever trip. I was excited, despite the predicted weather, to take in the whole festival, and especially for a few of the bands playing, including the headliner for the first night.
And since I have three days and dozens of artists to cover, I will try to keep things brief.

Arrived a little after six to find space at the Main Stage, hosted by Lana Gay & Tariq Hussain of CBC Radio 3, in time for Freshlyground, a passionate afrobeat from South Africa. Put on a fun and energetic set, getting most people up and dancing for their final song, "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)", from the 2010 World Cup.

The main stage also had "tweener" acts, which were short, usually acoustic sets to fill the time between main acts. The first tweener I saw was The Burning Hell. With seven members crammed into a small corner of the stage, they played a couple songs and were, as usual, entertaining and funny.

The next main act was Justin Townes Earle, joined only by a stand-up bass. He had a bit of a country twang to his songs, and was an incredible guitar player, using no looping or effects (other than a little reverb), as well as a storyteller, both in his songs and in his stage banter; he had a great personality and stage presence.

CR Avery was the next "tweener", with some slam poetry and harmonica beatboxing (you read that right). Aside from that, he had a couple of more mellow, folk-y songs and ended his short set leading the crowd in a song along.

Next out was Gillian Welch, with David Rawlings backing her up on guitar. She had a really nice voice and both her and Rawlings were great on guitar, which they played for most of the set, but occasionally pulled out the banjo and harmonica a few times; once even for the same song with Welch joking that they are the two most abrasive instruments, and she decided to put them together.
As the set progressed, they got more and more chatty and joked around between songs, and they even came back out for an encore of "I'll Fly Away". She was a great musician, but perhaps a little too country-ish for my tastes, and so her set seemed to go on quite long, but was still quite enjoyable.

The final "tweener" was Imaginary Cities, with Rusty & Marti coming out for a quick acoustic set including the massively infectious "Hummingbird" and a cover of Cake's "Mexico". I hadn’t seen them live before, and this was cool, but just a teaser for their full show tomorrow.

And finally, it was time for Joel Plaskett Emergency. It was almost exactly two years since I had last seen Joel, so I was more than a little excited. The Emergency was pretty minimal, as Joel was just backed by drums & bass, but that didn't mean they were not going to completely rock out.
The set spanned most of the Emergencies catalogue, kicking off with "Come On Teacher", and even included a couple new songs, one called "I’m Yours" and one that he didn't name (but I will dub "Lightning Bolt"), which was absolutely amazing; and mark my words, when it's recorded, it will be his next huge hit. Part way through the set the band stepped out for Joel to do a couple on his own, but came back gradually for  "Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'" and the rest of the set.
Throughout the show, Plaskett proved time and again what an amazing performer he is, with great presence and some of the best storytelling, especially on things like "Work Out Fine" where he wove a story of his old cat Whitefang throughout the song.
They "ended" with everyone singing along to "Nowhere With You" and "Extraordinary" before the encore, with a trip back in time to 1999 for Thrush Hermit's "From the Back of the Film", which was an amazing way to end off the night, and the first day of the festival.

setlsit
Come On Teacher, Through & Through & Through, Let Me Down, Maybe We Should Just Go Home, Lightning Bolt [?], Face of the Earth, Light of the Moon, Rollin' Rollin' Rollin', I'm Yours, Natural Disaster, Work Out Fine, Nowhere With You, Extraordinary.
(encore) From the Back of the Film

Stay tuned for day two which has a workshop, more Imaginary Cities, my first time seeing Buck 65 and the insane Elliott BROOD. (Also, better pictures since I remembered the batteries for my actual camera, not just my cell phone snaps)

Dan Mangan @ The Vogue -- 11/13/10

Not many acts can sell out The Vogue, let alone for two shows. And not many acts can sell out two shows, only six months after another pair of sold out shows. But Dan Mangan isn't just any act, and his hometown shows are always a sight to see.

The first band up was The Crackling, who were some familiar faces. Kenton Loewen was joined by Gord Grdina and Colin Cowan, who all happen to be members of Dan Mangan's band as well. When I had seen The Crackling before, it was just Kenton, so it was interesting to see them as a full band; with Loewen on acoustic guitar, Grdina on electric and Cowan on stand up bass, they gave the songs a richness that wasn't necessarily missing last time, but was definitely welcome. Near the end of the set, they brought out a special guest to play the drums... none other than Dan Mangan himself, and had the crowd singing along to the awesomely named "Keep Me Drunk". It's rare that an opening band can get audience participation, but their engaging songs and stage presence won a lot of people over. Speaking of, they also had some great banter. Kenton has always come across as a pretty funny guy on stage, and when paired with Cowan, the back and forth between them was priceless.
I really enjoyed the set, though I wasn't able to grab a CD, which I regret... but hopefully next time.

After a short break, an emcee came up and introduced The Burning Hell as a "mediocre band from Ontario" before going off stage... and coming back as the lead singer. They had a folk rock feel, with the lead singer on guitar, backed up be a cello and a synth table, which included a glockenspiel, but was named as "whatever that stuff is". All of their songs told stories, and were pretty damn funny, but not in a "novelty song" way, rather with well written and intricate lyrics. There were even a couple callbacks in songs. It only took half a song for them to win me over, and I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only one. At any other show they probably would have outshone the headliner. I was unable to pick up their album as well, and I'm really hoping they're back soon and I get to rectify that.

And finally, it was time for Dan Mangan. He hit the stage with the band and launched into a new song -- I think, at least -- and then brought out the strings and horns for "Sold". He played a few from Nice, Nice, Very Nice before pulling out a newer one, that he's played live for a while now, "Oh Fortune". After that he went into a one-two punch of "Fair Verona" and "Basket", two of his most epic songs. A fair amount of the sold out Vogue was singing along to "Basket", too, and I'm sure there were not many dry eyes in the house for that. He went on to play a few more new ones, "Jeopardy" which consists entirely of questions and "Rows of Houses" (or "Rose of Houses", but that makes less sense), inspired by Stand By Me. All the new songs were impressive, and some seemed to have a bit more of an edge to them; I am very excited to hear them on the next record -- which Dan said they will begin working on in December. The set ended, as expected, with "Robots" and almost the entire house joining in.
He came back for the encore, kind of knocking the tradition, and said he would be doing something a bit special and different. First he brought out Veda Hille to join him on "The Indie Queens Are Waiting", which was great, and then played a damn good cover of Elliott Smith's "Waltz #2". I am very much of the opinion that encores should include special guests, cover songs, and other neat things you wouldn't get in the "main" set, so I quite liked those touches. To end the night, Dan not only called The Burning Hell back on stage, but enlisted the help of the audience for backup "ooh-ooooh's" for "So Much For Everyone", which is always a powerful ending to his shows, especially as he was playing [almost] completely unamplified.

It was a very good show, as you would expect, but he seemed to be a bit less talkative this time. There was some banter and back & forth with the crowd and his band mates, but it didn't seem as much as he usually does. Mangan is as great at the banter as he is a musician, so it was noticeably missing. There was another issue I had, but it was a minor quabble and hardly the fault of the band, and that was the lighting. There were some parts, all throughout the night, that it seemed like every three seconds I was getting eye-meltingly-bright lights directly in the face. Maybe I just had unfortunate seats, but it got to be quite annoying.

Those minor issues aside, it was still an amazing time, and Mangan continues to cement his place as not only one of Vancouver's, but one of Canada's greatest talents.

setlist
[new song?], Sold, You Silly Git, Road Regrets, Tina's Glorious Comeback, Oh Fortune, Fair Verona, Basket, Jeopardy, Leaves Trees Forest, Rows Of Houses, Some People, Robots.
[encore] The Indie Queens Are Waiting, Waltz #2 (XO) [Elliott Smith cover], So Much For Everyone.