The Darcys @ Wise Hall -- March 31, 2022

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Touring can be difficult for musicians right now, especially when the venue you were planning on playing has a flood, meaning you're forced to move both the location and date of your show. But the plus side of that can be if a person who wanted to go see the show couldn't make it the original date because they were, say, hosting a Simpsons Trivia night. Hypothetically, of course. So sometimes moving the night of the show can actually be beneficial to at least two people!

I arrived a bit late in the evening and unfortunately missed Vancouver's Fake Shark opening the night, arriving shortly before The Darcys hit the stage. The duo of Jason Couse and Wes Marskell started off with the moody title track to their last album Fear & Loneliness, then kicked off with the high energy “No Regrets”, hardly slowing down for the next hour or so.

Highlights included the thumping “Boys Don't”, “Just Here With My Friends” (which sadly did not feature July Talk's Leah Fay appearing out of nowhere for her vocals on the song), the incredibly catchy & danceable "Miracle”, and the simmering intensity of “The River”, the lone song from their last album as a 4-piece, Warring.

The pair also joked around between songs, with the crowd and each other, telling stories of meeting Robert Pattinson in the twilight of his fame, asking the person on lights to just go crazy with them, and teasing a bit heavier of a cover than the one they went into; a really fun version of Rihanna's “Desperado”.

They capped off the set with their latest single “Running for the Hills” but were sheepishly back on stage a few minutes later, admitting they were not planning to do an encore, but forgot to tell the sound person to hit the house music as soon as they were off stage. So Wes called it a "non-core" and they finished the night with another cover that had at least a few people singing along, "Don't Dream It's Over" originally by Crowded House.

Even before these last two years, it had been a minute since I last saw The Darcys play live, and they were as fun as ever. Hopefully with all the new music being released, they’ll be back for another show (with fewer complications) sooner rather than later.

setlist
Fear & Loneliness
No Regrets
Look Me in the Eyes
River
Boys Don't
Desperado [Rihanna cover]
Alibi
San Diego, 1988
Miracle
Washed Away
Just Here With My Friends
Hurt
Coming Up For Air
Chasing the Fall
Running for the Hills
(non-core)
Don't Dream It's Over [Crowded House cover]

Said the Whale @ Vogue Theatre -- March 26, 2022

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One of the hardest working bands over the last two years, despite... everything... has been Said the Whale. Aside from putting on frequent live streaming shows, they wrote, recorded, and released a brand new album, Dandelion. And while they weren't able to tour the album immediately after its release in late 2021, as they normally would, they were finally able to hit the road this month, capped off by a hometown show at the Vogue Theatre.

Opening the night was Dad Sports, the first time playing Vancouver for the Ottawa band. They had a fun, upbeat indie pop vibe with catchy songs like “out 4 a breather”, off last year’s EP I AM JUST A BOY LEAVE ME ALONE !!! They seemed to be having a blast on-stage, and that energy spread through the crowd for a strong opening set.

After a between-set-music mix that featured a good helping of Foo Fighters (no doubt in honour of Taylor Hawkins) Said the Whale took the stage and launched into the first song off their new album, “The Ocean”. From there they played nearly two hours of songs new and old, from “Sweetheart” which drew to a big, climactic finish, and the hard-hitting “Honey Lungs”, to the perennial singalongs “Camilo (The Magician)”, and “Oh K, Okay”.

Midway through the set they stripped it down a little to an acoustic three-piece, something that they enjoyed doing during their frequent zoom shows. Though they joked the only downside in real life was the lack of a mute button -- and despite their best efforts, there were still pockets of chatter under their gorgeous acoustic songs like Ben's ode to a friend “Holly, Ontario” and the heartwarming “Level Best” from Tyler to his firstborn, who was in attendance that night.

They ramped the energy back up to finish out the set, with highlights being the irresistible “Loveless”, fan-favourite deep cut “Love is Art/Sleep Through Fire”, and “Show Me Everything”, where they were joined by a string quartet.

The main set came to a close with a very raucous “UnAmerican”, the crowd chanting along with each and every “hoo-hoo”. And after the quick break, Jacelyn returned to the stage, backed only by the string section, for “February 15”, a breathtaking piano & strings instrumental written for her husband, which (mostly, but also finally) got the crowd to fall hush and listen intently. And then to cap off the night, the rest of the band rejoined for a couple more raucous songs; the always-fun “The Light Is You” and “I Love You” to send the audience home on a high.

setlist
The Ocean
Sweetheart
Step Into The Darkness
Camilo (The Magician)
Honey Lungs
Oh K, Okay
Everything She Touches is Gold to Me
The Gift of a Black Heart
Moonlight
Holly, Ontario
Level Best
99 to the Moon
Return To Me
Wake Up
Loveless
Love is Art/Sleep Through Fire
Show Me Everything
Emerald Lake, AB
Unamerican
(encore)
February 15
The Light is You
I Love You

PBR20 w/ Frog Eyes, Gold & Youth, Frankiie @ The Rickshaw Theatre -- 03/04/22

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Twenty years ago, Paper Bag Records released their first album, Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It in People. Since then they've worked with countless bands, including (but not limited to) Stars, controller.controller, Tokyo Police Club, You Say Party, Sam Roberts, The Dears, Frankiie, Gold & Youth, and Frog Eyes. And last Friday, the latter three took to the Rickshaw Theatre for the Vancouver chapter of the PBR20 celebration, a weekend of live shows in venues across the country, and livestreamed to the world.



The first band up was Frankiie, who were down a member thanks to our "good friend movid". But the remaining three picked up the slack for a fun set of their dream-rock sound. And despite being a little short, the band was clearly having a good time on stage, joking around with the audience between tunes.
Songs like the crunchy "Easy Breezy (Je Sais)" and the witchy “Funny Feeling" — which closed out their set — were easy standouts, for the band’s set that seemed to go by too quickly.
I had been meaning to catch Frankiie live for a while now (well, I mean, even before our good friend movid) and hopefully it won’t be too long before their next ‘full strength’ show!

Next up the stage filled with smoke and blue lights as Gold & Youth launched into the Nick-Cave-ish "Empire State of Mind" from their latest album Dream Baby. The song started soft and built to a crescendo that set the tone for their time. The voices of Matthew Lyall and Louise Burns intertwined together very well on songs like "The Worse The Better", with Burns even taking center stage for "Ruins". Other highlights included the brooding rhythm of "Maudlin Days (Robocop)" and the finish of the set, an almost-spoken-word "90s Night".
However, I don't think it's a secret that the Rickshaw is... not my favourite venue in the city, and sometimes the room does no favours to bands, especially ones as rich & dense as Gold & Youth can be.

And finally, closing out the night was the reunited Frog Eyes. Their first show since 2018, Carey Mercer, Melanie Campbell, and Shyla Seller were joined by the illustrious Paul Rigby for a set mostly focusing on their upcoming album The Bees.
The album isn't out until next month, but songs like "Scottish Wine" and "Speck of Dust" caught my ear immediately, having the familiar sounds of Mercer's voice chaotically wailing through the room, and the frantic intensity as you would expect from the band.
Aside from the preview of new songs, they also slipped a couple older ones in, like the old favourite "Idle Song", and a brief encore consisting of "A Latex Ice Age". Even before the band split, it had been quite some time since I last saw them live, so I was very happy to hear not only about the reunion, but to see them live again.

In all, it was a very fun night showcasing some of the finest among Paper Bag Records’ current roster, and a room full of familiar faces there to support the bands, the label, and the local scene.