The first of a couple of sold out nights at the Dakota Tavern offered to make up for a last minute postponement of their New Year's Eve gig - with good reason as Casey's wife gave birth to Toronto first baby of 2013 at the stroke of midnight. Despite the friendly, intimate confines it still took til nearer the end of the opening set for things to really hit their stride. The three-piece have a definite sound and while there is a coherent theme throughout some songs hit a bit harder, and in the first set these were notably newer - If I Get Old and Northern Air, though Second Son was also a winner. As they'd played while opening for Wintersleep last autumn they whizzed through the kazoo-laden Old Man Tucker, that is until the final verse that had more than a couple false starts before they finally nailed it.
Being a Wednesday night you can't blame people for taking off during (or even before) the second set but you can blame them as this is where EB hit their stride. There were extended jams and shots and laughs. How's this for a string of shout 'em out, clapalong tunes - Oh Alberta!, into the dual ukes on The Valley Town, Write It All Down For You, then a banjo-driven song before finally rounding out the night with the go-to Miss You Now. Sure I may not have been planning to go to the New Year's eve show anyhow but I'm glad I reaped the benefit of this make-up show.
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