Tim Baker has been busy. With the release of his latest solo album, The Festival, the former Hey Rosetta! frontman has been getting back into touring shape, as seen on the series of shorts on his youtube channel, It's Gonna Be Great. And it's a good thing he did, because his current tour landed him here in Vancouver, at the legendary Commodore Ballroom.

Opening the night was Georgia Harmer, alone on stage with all her guitars -- joking about wanting to show each one off now that she could tour again. Playing stripped down versions of songs off her laetst album, Stay in Touch, her voice managed to cut through the chatter Friday night crowd. The catchy & rollicking “All In My Mind” and the breezy “Top Down” caught people's attention, before “Be Here”, a gorgeous closer.
I managed to see a little bit of her set when she opened for Dan Mangan earlier this year, and I was quite happy to see her again this night.

As the lights dimmed and the the sound of waves crashing filled the room, Tim Baker took the stage with his All Hands band. He started off with “Lucky Few”, at first just his soft voice alone at the piano, a single spotlight on him, before the rest of the band slowly joined in, bathed in a blue light as the song grew.

From there the set ebbed and flowed — much like his songs themselves often do — swelling up with intensity like the soaring “The Shield”, before crashing down like the melancholic “Dance”. Other highlights included my two favourites off his new album, “Year of the Dog” exploding into a heartwarming finish, and the fun and bouncy “Some Day” that had the crowd joining in.

Part way through the set he slipped in a couple old Hey Rosetta! songs, first a “Soft Offering (For The Oft Suffering)” and then “Welcome”, a classic which hit me way harder emotionally than I was expecting, building to an incredible finish.

After a huge fun singalong to “All Hands”, Baker ending the main set, appropriately enough, with “Don't Let Me Go Yet”. Which the crowd did not, calling him back for more; the joyful Hey Rosetta! tune “Harriet” and yet another appropriate closing song, “Goodnight Everybody”.

If you were to force me to make a list (which I hate doing) of my favourite bands, I think Hey Rosetta! would rank pretty high. But even though they went on an “indefinite hiatus” in 2017, it's been hard to miss them, as Tim Baker has continued on, making some excellent solo albums, putting on incredible, emotional live shows.

setlist
Lucky Few
The Shield
Spirit
My Kind
Dance
Strange River
Jungle Suite
Year of the Dog
Some Day
Soft Offering (For The Oft Suffering)
Welcome
Echo Park
The Festival
All Hands
Don't Let Me Go Yet
(encore)
Harriet
Goodnight Everyone