PHOTOS: Hannah Georgas, Sam Lynch at the Hollywood Theatre - December 07, 2023
Hannah Georgas, with Sam Lynch
The Hollywood Theatre
December 07, 2023
Read Kirk’s review of the show here.
Hannah Georgas @ Hollywood Theatre -- December 07, 2023
It has been a long time since I’ve seen Hannah Georgas perform live, a little over five years, and even longer still since her last proper headlining show in Vancouver. So I was very happy that she was ending her current tour, in support of her new album, I’d Be Lying If I Said I Didn’t Care here at the Hollywood Theatre.
I was also glad to see Vancouver’s Sam Lynch opening the show. She took stage alone with just her guitar and lovely voice filling the room, teasing a selection of songs from an album she just finished. The short set built in intensity as it went, and also included a couple songs from her debut album, Little Disappearance, from a few years ago. On “Good Year”, she had the audience softly singing along, and ended off with “Keeping Time”.
I’ve seen Sam Lynch a couple times before, opening for or performing with others, and the new songs definitely made me want to keep an ear out for when the new album is out.
After a quick turnover, Hannah’s band hit the stage, consisting of some familiar faces -- Feurd Moore, Robbie Driscoll, and Andrew Braun. They started with the instrumental “Drew’s A Beast”, before Hannah Georgas herself came out to launch into “Scratch”, the first song on I’d Be Lying If I Said I Didn’t Care.
From there, Hannah played a selection from the new album, including the punchy “What I Don’t Want”; “Fake Happy”, written about a friend she lost to a cult(!); and the soft “Beautiful View”, bringing Sam Lynch back out to sing with her.
She also delved into her catalogue, from the ethereal “Enemies” to the more upbeat “Robotic”, and showing off her gorgeous voice on “Don’t Go”.
Throughout the show, Hannah was both vocally & visibly excited to be back in Vancouver, where she started her music career. When not playing guitar or keys, she bounced around the stage dancing, and seemed as bummed as the crowd when the main set drew to a close with “Not The Name You Say”, and everyone in the band letting loose for a swirling finish.
But of course, Hannah was back after a moment, on her own for one of the first songs she wrote (and still one of my faves) “The Beat Stuff”. Then the rest of the band returned to cap the night off with the always heart wrenching “Ode to Mom”, written about her late father.
Even though she no longer resides here, I would still count Hannah Georgas among my favourite ‘Vancouver acts’, and it’s always a joy to see her perform, especially in a good venue. In the couple years since it opened, Hollywood Theatre has been creeping up the list of favourite spots in the city (particularly if they keep booking shows like this one).
setlist
Drew’s A Beast
Scratch
What I Don’t Want
Better Somehow
Enemies
Don’t Go
Lost Cause
Robotic
Beautiful View
Someone I Don’t Know
That Emotion
Easy
Same Mistakes
Fake Happy
Home
Not The Name You Say
(encore)
The Beat Stuff
Ode to Mom
PHOTOS: The Matinee @ Guilt and Company - December 01, 2023
The Matinee
Guilt and Company
December 01, 2023
Wide Mouth Mason @ The Roxy -- November 30, 2023
A couple months ago, iconic Canadian blues rockers Wide Mouth Mason released their latest album, Late Night Walking. They then hit the road, with a run of Canadian dates that including a show in Vancouver at... the Roxy.
With no opening band for the evening, Shaun Verreault and Safwan Javed hit the stage, joined by bassist Reed Shimozawa, to start off with “Habitual” and from there ran through their deep catalogue. From my favourites off the new album, like “Unshoot a Gun” and gritted-teeth bitterness of “You Pushed Me” to classics like “Smile” and “Why”, which had the bar singing along.
Throughout the set, Shaun switched back and forth between guitars and pedal steel, showing off his “Tri-Slide” technique (joking that when playing, one hand looked like Edward Scissorhands, and the other like C3PO), and often songs burst into solos and jams, where Shaun could prove himself as one of the best guitarist in the country, hands down.
Other highlights included “Sugarcane”, which features a little bit of the Stones’ “You Can't Always Get What You Want” slipped in, and “This Mourning”, which surprisingly had a little bit of Blackstreet's “No Diggity”; as well as the softer “Long Distance Love”, an older song that Verreault wrote while going cross country on a train, and re-recorded for the new album.
The trio brought the main set to an “end” with the gloomy “Midnight Rain” and a huge blues jam “Mary Mary”, but (thankfully) didn't bother with performative encore. Shaun just asked the crowd to pretend they went away for a moment and came back, before finishing off with another old favourite, the raucous “My Old Self”.
Even though I've seen Shaun play some solo shows over the past few years, it had been nearly ten years(!) since I last saw Wide Mouth Mason live. And in that time, they hadn’t lost a step, having as much energy as ever, refining their sound.
Before the show I was thinking that they are one of the longest running bands I’ve consistently been a fan of (as opposed to other bands from the 90s, which I’ve kind of fallen off & stopped following) and this show was a great example of why.
setlist
Habitual
You Pushed Me
Bodies in Motion
Every Red Light
Only Child
Unshoot a Gun
Smile
Long Distance Love
Why
Get a Hold Of You
This Mourning
Companion (Lay Me Down)
Obvious
Minus Two Minutes
Sugarcane
Midnight Rain
Mary Mary
("encore")
My Old Self
Tim Baker @ St. James Community Square -- Nov 24, 2023
With the release of his recent EP Along the Mountain Road, a companion to last year’s The Festival, Tim Baker announced a string of solo shows across the country, including a pair of Vancouver shows at St. James Community Square. Both sold out almost instantly, surprising no one, and I was incredibly excited to see the former Hey Rosetta! frontman in the former church, a gorgeous venue that I hadn’t seen a show at in something like ten years.
Opening the show was Matt Holubowski, the singer from Hudson, Quebec alone on stage with just an acoustic guitar, strumming while his captivating voice filled the room.
Highlights of his set included the gentle “Around Here” and “Dawn”, a song inspired by Homer’s Odyssey. He mentioned part way through the set that some of the acoustic songs sounded a bit different than on the album, punctuating that by telling a story about getting the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra to perform on his latest album, Like Flowers on a Molten Lawn, then launching into “Sandy Cove”.
He finished off his set with an ethereal song, “Exhale/Inhale”, and I doubt I was the only person in the room to think I needed to listen to that latest album as soon as I could.
It wasn’t long before Tim Baker took the stage, starting off with a new (I think), Christmas-y song on the grand piano, before switching to keyboard for “Pilgrims” and then “Songbirds” on guitar. He jumped between instruments for the rest of the show, while chatting with the rapt audience, telling the stories behind the songs, or just joking around.
And the audience was so attentive, that even when joining in on songs — a low rumble of feet hitting the floor, or softly singing along with the chorus of “Someday” — it may have seemed quiet or timid, but I think it was more that everyone was just in reverence of the St. John’s singer.
Baker played mostly from his solo albums, from the upbeat “The Shield”, to the incredibly crushing “Eighteenth Hole” performed beautifully on the piano, and even the looped beats of “Jungle Suite”, which allowed Baker to dance a little, showing off his best lounge singer and soft-shoe moves on stage. But he also broke out a few Hey Rosetta! tunes, quipping he’d play “old songs in ways no one ever asked to hear them”; the banjo came out for one of my favourite deep cuts, “Red Song” as well as “Kintsukuroi”, and a jaunty version of “Red Heart” saw him playing the keyboard with one hand, and grand piano with the other(!)
After a rousing “All Hands”, the crowd gave a standing ovation, and he returned, appropriately enough, with “Don’t Let Me Go Yet”. Finally, he capped off the evening with literal bells on, for the holiday song, “Carry Me Home”.
Tim Baker has an effortless charisma and charm, which often comes through in his shows with a full band, but that was never more apparent than during this solo show. Alone on stage, in an intimate venue, with an enchanted audience, made for an incredible night.
setlist
[new song]
Pilgrims
Songbirds
Someday
The Shield
New Key
Eighteenth Hole
[new song]
Red Song
Kintsukuroi
Red Heart
Dance
Jungle Suite
Pools
All Hands
encore
Don't Let Me Go Yet
Carry Me Home