A few weeks ago I tried to get tickets for this show and was devastated when I found out it was sold out. Tickets on Kijiji were around $100, which is way more than I was willing to pay for a concert, so I faced the hard fact that this was a show I would have to sit out. As the day got closer, I was a actually a bit relieved because I had an insanely busy week with school and presentations and labs and probably shouldn't have been going to a concert anyways. At around 3pm I got a text that a friend had an extra ticket. Even though I had way to much school work to get done and knew I really shouldn't do it, I hastily took him up on the extra ticket.
Chet Faker played a rowdy and packed Commodore Ballroom. He was the best electronic musician I have ever seen. I hesitate to even call him a DJ because I feel like most DJs just hit play and jump around with their arms in the air. Chet was sweating through his beard, and pouring every once of himself into each knob and switch while performing his own vocals. It was quite incredible to watch. I was surprised when he played 'Drop the game' (one of my favourite songs at the moment) because I thought it was a Flume song. Turns out Chet Faker and Flume are roomates in Australia and created that song together. The highlight of the show for me was when he played Gold in the encore which is my favourite. The only downside of the show was that we couldn't understand a word that he said to the crowd because his accent was so thick. Overall, I am totally glad that I took the opportunity to go even though the next day of school was brutal. Sometimes you have to be a little irresponsible.
I am now back in Vancouver for the next 8 months, which is exciting because there are so many great music venues with SO MANY good shows coming up (and not enough money haha).
Owen Pallet played at The Imperial, a new music venue in downtown Vancouver, on September 9th. I had never been to The Imperial before and was pleasantly surprised by how well set up it was for live shows, and even had a fish tank. The only downside is that it's just around the corner from East Hastings, making for a bit of a sketchy endeavor. Fiction in Foxes and Avi Buffalo were the openers. I don't particularly like Avi Buffalo mostly because of his vocals, however they were much better live than recorded and had some great guitar riffs and keyboard. It was hilarious when a lady rushed to the stage after their set shouting, "Owen! Owen! Why didn't you play 'I am not afraid'" to which he replied, "Because I'm not Owen Pallet". How embarrassing eh?! But it was true...they were no Owen Pallet.
I am a huge fan of Owen's music but was completely swept away by his live performance. He began solo with just his keyboard and violin to create the most beautiful music. It was amazing seeing the songs live and seeing how all the different sounds are made and come together with the looping. It was really quite impressive that he was able to keep track of everything while singing too! Song of five & six was probably my favourite from this section. About half way through the set, Owen's band came to join him. They comprised of a base player and an incredibly talented drummer. The bass and drums added even more colour to Owen's looping. 'The Riverbed' was particularly mind melting. I was a bit sad however because he never played 'Man with no ankles' which is by far my favourite Owen Pallet song, and the song I was most excited to hear live. However, he closed the show with 'Lewis takes off his shirt', which is another great song and was a perfect way to end the show. That song was stuck in my head for the remainder of the evening (even after a freaky screaming homeless lady lunged at me on the way to the bus stop).
Andy Shauf is a Canadian musician from Regina. I was hooked on his music after hearing his first song at the Calgary Folk Fest. He has a unique voice and his melodies are hauntingly beautiful with lovely lyrics that tell dark stories. 'The Bearer of Bad News' is gorgeous and captivating journey from start to finish. The piano, guitar, and clarinet coalesce to create a timeless sound. 'Hometowen Hero' and 'Jesus she's a good girl' are my personal favourite tracks. Definitely recommend this gem.
Arcade Fire played at the Calgary Saddledome this summer and I was lucky enough to snag floor tickets nearly a year in advance for a front row experience. I knew they are a large band but I was shocked to see 12 people on stage playing so many different instruments from bongos to accordion. The band kicked off the show strong with 'Normal Person' from their latest album Reflector. They didn't waste any time before getting into their older stuff and played 'Rebellion Lies' next. I nearly cried. Rebellion Lies was one of those songs from my youth (junior high to be exact) that first showed me how good music could be. I loved the message to not blindly accept the world but to take action and to not believe people who tell you that you can't do something. This song was the highlight of the show for me. The energy was high throughout the whole show and the songs were a good mix from all of their albums and included a cover of Calgary's Feist's 'I feel it all'. 'Sprawl II (Mountains beyond Mountains)' really stood out to me as one of their best live songs. The band closed with an epic performance of 'Wake Up' dedicated to Robin Williams complete with confetti. Although I am not normally a fan of arena concerts, and the Saddledome's acoustics are far from great, Arcade Fire took advantage of the space and theatrics while staying true to the music resulting in an outstanding performance.
"I've got high hopes, it takes me back to when we started
High hopes, when you let it go, go out and start again
High hopes, when it all comes to an end
But the world keeps spinning around"
Kodaline is one of my favourite bands that came out of ireland, their songs are beautiful but also catchy and they make some stellar music videos. Here's a remix I am obsessed with at the moment.
After all the years I have missed out on folk fest and thought, "next year I will go" I finally decided to just buy a ticket way in advance this year and work around it, and man am I glad I did!!
This also meant I had no definite plans of who I would be going with and I ended up spending a large majority of my time at the festival on my own. There is definitely something to be said for attending a music fest on your own though. It meant I could see exactly who I wanted to see, become fully absorbed in the music, and easily sneak up to the front of every stage.
My favourite thing about the festival was the "workshops" that include about four different bands jamming together on stage. A lot of the best and most memoral music from the weekend came from those sessions.
Trampled by Turtles kicked things off Thursday night with an awesome high energy performance. Unfortunately I massively underestimated the amount of people that would show up early at the main stage stage (think soccer field full of tarps and blankets) and was pretty far back for that show. Basia Bulat then put on a stunning performance at a less crowded stage, and quickly won over the audience with her cute stage banter, multi-instrument talent and chill inducing vocals. Then it was back to the main stage to catch the second half of Hey Rosetta!. They played the golden hour with sun streaming through the trees and sounded great. Andrew Bird finished off the night with some beautiful violin and some whistling. Unfortunately he didn't play a lot of his more popular songs, but non the less it was still an incredible performance complete with "Three White Horses" my favourite of his.
Friday I only caught one band; Great Lake Swimmers. And they were enough to make me feel completely satisfied about my night after they closed with "Easy come, easy go". I would highly recommend checking out one of their shows.
Saturday kicked off strong with Jaron Freeman Fox, who was playing a smaller shaded stage and quickly attracted quite a crowd with his talent on the violin supported by clarinet, guitar and drums. In my opinion, he was the best artist at folk-fest. He was full of energy on stage, making the audiance laugh before taking them on wild and beautiful musical adventures, truly a great musican.
Following his performance was the first "workshop/session" that included Typhoon (11 piece complete with a horn section, violins, and xylephone) The Lone Bellow (southern rock trio) and David Birdie (piano). I didn't know what to expect but I was completely blown away by what took place. The bands alternated playing songs, and all coloured in each others songs. They even did a CCR cover (Fortunate Son) that got the whole crowd dancing and finished of their set with a cover of "Don't Stop Believing". Things slowed down a bit with Deep Dark Woods (Saskatoon) who cooled off the hot day with some low vocals, great electric guitar and an organ.
Next I caught a session that included Jaron Freeman Fox and fell in love with him a little bit more as he stole the show again (this time with three other bands on the stage). Typhoon then played a full concert. Their eleven piece band and big sound got the whole crowd dancing again and I was totally blown away, especially when they slowed it down for a moment and played the beautiful and haunting "Possible Deaths".
Just when I was thinking this day couldn't possibly get any better Chad VanGaalen took the stage and totally killed it in front of a fierce crowd of Calgarian fans. He played a lot from his new album and it all sounded awesome (he's much better live than recorded). "Where are you" and "Weighted Sin" stood out in particular. Only slightly dissapointed he didn't play "Willow Tree" for us.
Sunday I caught a wonderful bluesy workshop with Jaron Freeman Fox, Oliver Swain, The Polyjesters and David Bromberg and stayed for Oliver Swain's show after. I was super impressed by Oliver Swain's dreamy vocals mixing with the fast violin and cello.
After grabbing some lunch I caught another session with Great Lake Swimmers, Andy Shauf and Calgary's Boreal Sons and Astral Swans. Astral Swans made some beautiful music but I was most impressed with Boreal Sons. They sounded amazing live and made me want to go home and listen to their album all over again (I love when a band does that).
Andy Shauf was an artist I hadn't heard of before but I was pleasantly surprised by his talent (and young age). The next session was by far the strangest one. I went there to catch Jaron Freeman-Fox one last time but stayed for the incredible mix of sounds. There was a band called Geomungo Factory from South Korea with strange string instruments and drums that sounded almost like war music, and Iva Bittova who is a Czech singer/violinist who uses her voice to make all sorts of sounds, and James Hill who is a force to be reckoned with on the ukelele. These four bands created the most unique and wonderful music I have heard in a long time and I found myself wishing it would never end.
The last act I caught was James Hill who was charming and oh so talented with the ukelele. He even had an electric ukelele! Also, he is from Nova Scotia, and I found out he is releasing an album with Joel Plaskett in the fall which I am super excited for!
Well that pretty much sums up all the great bands and artists I experienced this weekend. What a wonderful festival we put on here in Calgary. I am already looking forward to next year!
