Matt Mays w/ Skye Wallace @ Vogue Theatre -- 10/23/19

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Continuing the 2019 trend of ‘put some rad bands together on the same bill’, last night was the Vancouver stop on Matt Mays current Howl At The Night tour, with Skye Wallace as support. The cross-Canada tour kicked off a few days earlier on the island, so they were still on the first leg of it as they hit the Vogue Theatre.

To start off the night, Skye Wallace came out swinging with the soaring "Always Sleep With A Knife" from her latest, self-titled album, her powerful voiced filled the theatre.

Her all-too-short set ranged from the gritty and raucous "Coal In Your Window"; to "Iced In", which saw Skye enlisting in the help of the audience to clap while she sang unaccompanied; to the darker and more personal "Midnight", introduced by mentioning a charity she was working with, CAMH, or The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Throughout the set, Skye was visibly thrilled to not only be back in Vancouver, but gracing the stage of the Vogue, reminiscing about some of the shows she had seen there. And judging by the reaction of the crowd, she not only (deservedly) made at least a few new fans, but I bet there was at least one person in the audience who saw Skye and inherited her hope of one day being in her place.

Not long after, Matt Mays came out alone at first, sitting behind the "space keyboard" (as he put it) for the titular tour song "Howl At The Night". From there, he was joined one by one by members of the band, literally a new person joining each song until the full 8-piece band was onstage.

The set started with some slower or more acoustic songs, ranging from "Downtown" off his first ever release, to "The Past" from the faux soundtrack to the never-made movie …When The Angels Make Contact, and the more recent "Ola Volo", about the local Vancouver artist whose work Mays say and he immediately had to write a song about her -- "Not in a weird way", Mays joked when recounting the story about meeting the artist for the first time, after writing the song.

At about the half-way mark of the set, once everyone was onstage, they launched into "Travellin'", starting off mellow but halfway through the song, shooting out of their chairs & kicking them back, exploding into the full-on rock and roll finish to both the song, and rest of the set.

From there they cranked out bangers like "Building a Boat" and the brand new, bouncy "Let There Be Love". There was a huge sing-along for the nostalgic "City of Lakes", and the set came to a finish with one of my all-time favourite songs, an absolute emotional rollercoaster, "Terminal Romance". Mays stalked the stage, going right up to the edge (literally and figuratively), pouring everything into the heart wrenching song, and even picking up one of the spotlights at the foot of the stage, shining it into the crowd and on himself.

If they had not come back, I would have been more than satisfied with the show ending there. But of course, the encore was yet to come. When the band returned, they first wen into a fun, bluegrass version of "Tall Trees" that Mays said they started playing as a joke before it worked its way into the actual show. And then, capping off the night, Mays invited Skye Wallace and her band back out for a big group jam of "On The Hood", that included almost the entire theatre singing along as well.

I’ve always thought encores should NOT just be 'and now here’s our hit' but rather bands having fun, playing around with their songs, doing covers, jamming with the openers, that kinda thing. And this was a perfect example. In fact, my favourite live sets are always ones that build, seem to have a progression to them rather than just 'a bunch of songs', so combined with the encore, this was quite possibly the most perfectly structured set I could imagine. Starting soft and slower and acoustic, building to the big rock-shift, and finally the explosive emotional climax. That, along with Skye’s killer opening set, means this show is already taking its place among my favourites of the year.

Skye Wallace setlist
Always Sleep With A Knife
Stronghold
Mean Song 2
Scarlet Fever
Iced In
Coal in your Window
Midnight
Death of Me
There Is A Wall

Matt Mays setlist
Howl At The Night
Drive On
Dark Promises
Downtown
Ola Volo
Ain't That The Truth
The Past
Spoonful of Sugar
Travellin'
Building A Boat
Indio
Station Out of Range
City of Lakes
Take It On Faith
Let There Be Love
Terminal Romance
(encore)
Tall Trees
On The Hood

Conversations with Nick Cave: An Evening of Talk and Music @ Massey Theatre -- 10/10/19

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A little over a year ago, prolific singer-songwriter Nick Cave started a project called the Red Hand Files, where fans could write in with questions, and he would answer them on the website. Recently, this has turned into a new type of show he’s started touring with, called Conversations with Nick Cave: An Evening of Talk and Music.

After the spoken-word piece "Steve McQueen" played over the speakers, Cave walked out and took a seat behind a grand piano on stage, starting off with "The Ship Song" before introducing the concept of the evening. He would be fielding questions from the audience (helpers going to seats signalling the stage with flashing light sticks) and weave in some music throughout the night.

Without going too far into the details, the questions Cave tackled ranged from his music to grief to mental health, and everywhere in between. With open and honest sincerity -- and occasional interjections of a wry sense of humour -- he talked about his writing process and collaborations, his novels and film scores, and the concept of "separating art from the artist". But also opened up about addiction, about faith and dealing with the death of a son. And many of the questioners themselves were just as candid, sharing their own stories and heartache, a couple even likening it to a sort of group therapy session. A fact that Cave pointed out was interesting, because he never specifically intended for that; not having a plan for the shows, he lets the audience dictate the tone and mood -- but embraces it with open arms and compassion.
Which can be risky for unplanned Q&As, but the questions were all very good, with only a couple people being... let's say "overly enthusiastic" or asking something that he just flat-out couldn't answer.

But it was a night of Talk and Music, and every few questions Cave would segue into a song, either fielding requests or finding a natural transition. He admitted his "fucking jealousy" for Leonard Cohen before going into a cover of "Avalanche" and after a question on his old band The Boys Next Door, played "Shivers".
Songs spanned his career and projects with “Palaces of Montezuma” from Grinderman, and fan favourites like "The Weeping Song" and one of my personal all-time faves, the heart-wrenchingly gorgeous "Into My Arms". Other songs were given a bit of a makeover, as Cave was alone at the piano. The fractiousness of "The Mercy Seat" was only slightly tempered, and the raucous "Papa Won't Leave You, Henry" kept its sinister tone.

After three hours(!) of taking questions, he was given the sign to wrap it up. Having previously talked about the the ultra violent and over-the-top murder ballad "Stagger Lee", he played that, once again the translation on piano losing none of the vitriol or hatred as Cave spat out the narrative. And then he finished off the night by doing a complete 180, like only Cave can, with an absolutely beautiful rendition of "Breathless".

It felt like Nick Cave could have gone on for far longer, if he wasn’t cut off. And honestly, I could have, too. There are few musicians that I’d want to see play for three hours, let alone talk at length, but Nick Cave’s captivating presence, both performing and preaching, made for an incredibly memorable night.

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setlist
The Ship Song
The Weeping Song
Avalanche [Leonard Cohen cover]
The Mercy Seat
Into My Arms
Jubilee Street
Shivers [The Boys Next Door]
Papa Won't Leave You, Henry
Palaces of Montezuma [Grinderman]
Stagger Lee
Breathless