#SingItFwdFinale @ Vogue Theatre -- 01/14/16 & 01/15/16
This is it. The end of an era. Since 2011, David and Ambrosia Vertesi have been organizing the annual #SingItFwd event, with proceeds going to the St. James Music Academy, a music school for underprivileged children in the Downtown East Side.
But this year, the shows came to an end with a giant, star-studded two night finale at the Vogue Theatre. They brought back old favourites, and new voices, for two completely different lineups to say goodbye.
Each artist got a short, 3-song set (usually) and while in past shows they had been more acoustical, this year saw a mix of stripped-down and full-band sets. Hosted by Tamara Stanners (of The Peak) and Cory Ashworth (formerly of The Peak), the night also included interstitial videos of various bands with the SJMA kids.
Both nights are covered in this post, so click through to see everyone that played, the surprise (and not-so-surprise) guests, and who covered which David Bowie songs!
Read MoreWe Are The World, We Are The Biltmore: Michael Jackson Tribute Concert @ Biltmore -- 11/25/15
David Vertesi and friends are at it again. The same folks behind 'The Biltmore Phil-harmonic' and 'Biltmore Over Troubled Water' -- tribute nights to Phil Collins and Paul Simon, respectively -- are back, this time with a night honouring the King of Pop. And like the other nights, it was all benefiting Sing It Forward and the St James Music Academy, leading up to the final Sing It Forward concert, this time TWO nights at the Vogue Theatre, January 14 & 15th.
The usual "house band" of Johnny Andrews on drums, Andrew Rasmussen on keys, Mike Young on bass, and Tristan Paxto on guitar were joined by Katie Schaan on backing vocals and Raphael Geronimo on percussion, with a rotating lineup of Vancouver singers to hit the highs (or attempt to anyway, in some cases).
The night started with some children from the St James Music Academy for an instrumental "Smooth Criminal" on violin, before the band took the stage. Like the other months, I won't give a song-by-song account, just some highlights with Christine McAvoy's photos below.
I hadn't seen Katie Schaan perform live in a long time, so it was nice to see her providing backing vocals all night, as well as belt out "The Way You Make Me Feel". If you're a fan of Bend Sinister, then it shouldn't be a surprise how good Dan Moxon was for his cover of "Smooth Criminal", Parker Bossley had the moves when he did "Rock With It", and Danielle McTaggert from Dear Rouge did a really fun "Billie Jean".
Lots of the performers were in costume, and there were even props, like when Hey Ocean! performed "Will You be There" and loosed a large inflatable orca into the crowd (sadly, the Biltmore ceiling is too low to reenact the famous ending to Free Willy).
The highlight of these tribute nights always seems to be Tonye Aganaba. She was on stage a few times, playing MJ to Chin Injeti's Paul McCartney, doing a beautiful "Man in the Mirror", but my favourite came early on as she and JP Maurice did an amazing "Beat It".
My other favourite performance was one I think should have ended the night (instead of the "better-in-theory" version of "We Are The World"); the lights dimmed and Zach Gray hit the stage in ghoulish makeup for a killer rendition of "Thriller", complete with dancers coming out from the back and into the crowd for the choreographed dance number.
And as the night ended, David Vertesi teased the next tribute night, for Hall & Oates, though didn't say when, so it sounds like these nights won't be slowing down any time soon. Who do you want to hear them do for a future tribute night? Let me know in the comments.
(Me, I suggested to Vertesi, in all sincerity, that they should do a "Weird" Al Yankovic tribute night. It would be amazing.)
Click through for a gallery of Christine's photos, and the full setlist!
Read More
Weekly Photo Roundup - November 11, 2015 ft. Fine Times, Hannah Epperson, The Zolas, Yukon Blonde, Hey Rosetta!, Youngblood, Sarah Jickling and Her Good Bad Luck
Weekly Photo Roundup for the week preceding November 11, 2015
Christine: I couldn't have asked for two better shows leading up to my birthday. Bands from out of town, bands from Vancouver, great music and people. Two very enjoyable nights of songs filled the Imperial and the Vogue.
If you're in the rest of Canada, be sure to check out Yukon Blonde & Hey Rosetta! as they head out your way.
Jess: Congratulations on Sarah Jickling & her Good Bad Luck on putting on an awesome night of girl-pop-power at the Media Club last Thursday with Youngblood & The Response!
Photos by Christine McAvoy & Jessica Brodeur
The Zolas @ Imperial -- 11/05/15
I am not entirely sure why, but out of all the venues I have seen The Zolas in, it feel the most "at home" when they play The Imperial. I have only seen them there once before, but for whatever reason, it just seems like the perfect fit.
Anyway, the Vancouver band returned home for a sold out show at the Imperial Thursday, with a pretty stacked lineup.
Unfortunately, I missed nearly all of Fine Times, the first band of the night, arriving just in time for the last song of the set, their catchy single, "Hey Judas".
Next up was Hannah Epperson, which also felt strangely fitting, since the first few times I saw her perform it was opening for The Zolas. Hannah and her violin & looping pedal were joined by Daniel Ruiz on drums, and started the set off with the gorgeous "Cat's Cradle", her soft voice floating over the swirling violin.
Between songs she was charmingly awkward as she made some jokes before introducing a "depressing medley", the beautifully haunting "Brother" seguing perfectly into "We Will Host A Party". She also debuted some new songs, introducing a microkorg to the mix, which gave her a little troubles in the first song, before ending her set off with another new one about how "hashtags suck". (She explained it was a little more complex than that, but that was the gist of it)
I was also impressed by the drumming of Ruiz. I've seen live loopers play with drummers before, and they always seemed to be trying to catch up to the looper, but that was definitely not the case here. Ruiz was more than keeping up, and if the stolen glances and grins back and forth were any indication, they were playing off each other perfectly.
And finally, The Zolas took the stage, shrouded in darkness, with Tom Dobrzanski tinkling the keys before the rest of the band came out and launching into the dancy "Invisible" and new song, written about touring out east. The sold out crowd was firmly behind the band, and that was evident early on as everyone sang along to "Ancient Mars", despite Zach Gray's teasing that he would wouldn't make it easy, pausing the song only to be overruled by the audience.
They featured their new EP Wino Oracle with some songs, including their aptly titled love letter to new York, "Fell in Love With New York" and the anthemic "Molotov Girls", as well as teased some new songs. Two of my favourite songs of the set were actually new tunes that came back-to-back part way through.Zach didn't name either (though he did say the second was the title track for the upcoming album) but I'm going to speculate they're called "Pixelate" and "Miss Mythical" based on the lyrics. The former, called "CV Dazzle" was high energy, with Gray hitting the drum pad with his guitar head while playing to spout off cries of "ooooh!" and "pixelate!" , and the latter, "Swooner", just rocked out. They were both a nice marriage of the old familiar sound, and the newer, synth-driven songs like "Invisible" and "Molotov Girls".
After about an hour, and another big songalong to "You're Too Cool" -- the crowd impressively hitting the falsetto -- Zach went into the crowd for the big finale, "Escape Artist", surrounded by fans. BUT, of course, they wouldn't leave it off their as they were back for a couple more; "Male Gaze" from the new EP, and another favourite of mine, "Strange Girl" with the crowd flawlessly clapping along to it's unusual beat.
They featured their new EP Wino Oracle with some songs, including their aptly titled love letter to new York, "Fell in Love With New York" and the anthemic "Molotov Girls", as well as teased some new songs. Two of my favourite songs of the set were actually new tunes that came back-to-back part way through.
After about an hour, and another big songalong to "You're Too Cool" -- the crowd impressively hitting the falsetto -- Zach went into the crowd for the big finale, "Escape Artist", surrounded by fans. BUT, of course, they wouldn't leave it off their as they were back for a couple more; "Male Gaze" from the new EP, and another favourite of mine, "Strange Girl" with the crowd flawlessly clapping along to it's unusual beat.
As always, The Zolas put on a high energy and just flat out fun show, the passion of the crowd reflected in the band. And while I will fully admit, I wasn't the biggest fan of "Molotov Girls" when I first heard it (though it has since grown on me, especially after giving the lyrics a good listen) , the other new songs had me very eager to hear what The Zolas have up their collective sleeves. Hopefully it won't be too long before we get to hear more.
setlist (amended thanks to "Lazos" commenting below)
Invisible, Get Dark, Ancient Mars, Fell in Love with New York, Knot In My Heart, CV Dazzle, Swooner, You're Too Cool, Molotov Girls, Escape Artist.
(encore) Male Gaze, Strange Girl.