What was this gig?? A free Friday night show from one of the best up-and-coming punk bands, and they'd come all the way from Australia for it? Boy, was I happy that I caught wind of them a few days before and not afterwards or I'd have been sore.
An American fellow, Koji, opened the show by first going around the group and personally introducing himself to the small assembled crowd. It was an odd but inclusive way of doing things and his zeal shone through for the entire set. Admittedly I'm writing this months later and musically I cannot recall much about it but the vibe was wholesome and real, connections based in people and in music. When he smiled at you it was true pleasure in sharing that moment alive together.
Mutt played next and to be brutally honest it was very mundane. Nothing was particularly bad about it but it felt like they wanted their schtick of having a female singer in a rock band to carry them through. Unfortunately for me there just wasn't anything there to grab my attention.
Oh my goodness, what a set from Press Club. I mean I knew I enjoyed their music (having only discovered them that week) but I wasn't quite ready for the raw energy that erupted. The lead singer roamed the room like a ghoul - a snarling, Aussie ghoul and it was incredible how she commanded that room. Backing her up the band were tight with their aggressive punk-rock riffs rumbling the room. A highlight in a blistering set was Get Better, a tune not yet even released but with a phenomenal hook of a chorus after the chunky timing changes. The music, the energy, the swagger, the good spirits, it all added up to a stellar performance for a band on the up. How the heck was this put on for free!?
Friday, May 3, 2019
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Laura Veirs - St Pauls Church - Feb 8, '19
Sam Amidon
The opener, Sam, varied his guitar playing throughout to cover a few different genres between folk, indie and traditional. Quite skilled and professional he was a match for Laura who he would have up on stage with him nearer to the end of his set.
Laura Veirs
Laura came on to the cheers of the church crowd. Commenting on the pulpit, layered in candles, she made the space her own. Her guitar playing is understated and appears effortless even when she is bending it to her whim while mixing music from her catalogue. I'll admit I only gave her latest album a proper go based on my love for the Case/Lang/Veirs disc from a few years ago but fortunately she played a healthy selection from each of these and the other cuts were in no way lacking either. Swapping between acoustic and electric the show seemed to fly by, as we were entranced by her musical prowess. Repaying the favour she brought Sam back up on stage to join her again partway through and he stuck around for awhile. Although they were a good fit I may have preferred solo Veirs to the duo. Either way it was a beautiful show in both setting and show.
Laura came on to the cheers of the church crowd. Commenting on the pulpit, layered in candles, she made the space her own. Her guitar playing is understated and appears effortless even when she is bending it to her whim while mixing music from her catalogue. I'll admit I only gave her latest album a proper go based on my love for the Case/Lang/Veirs disc from a few years ago but fortunately she played a healthy selection from each of these and the other cuts were in no way lacking either. Swapping between acoustic and electric the show seemed to fly by, as we were entranced by her musical prowess. Repaying the favour she brought Sam back up on stage to join her again partway through and he stuck around for awhile. Although they were a good fit I may have preferred solo Veirs to the duo. Either way it was a beautiful show in both setting and show.
Vistas, Circa Waves - Institute - April 23, '19
Vistas
As promised the Edinburgh buzz band of the moment, Vistas, took to the stage with the 4 of them at a combined age under 70. The kids in the crowd about the same vintage were pumped up and before the end of song one were pushing back to start a pit. Perhaps not yet commanding the stage with swagger they at least looked comfortable up there and properly played their instruments to boot. The drummer seemed to be taking his job very seriously and it paid off while the singer was just as good with his electric axe as the mic, chatting Birmingham up a little too. Guitar and bass to the sides diligently did their jobs while everyone ate it up. To be honest, the first half of the set was above average but not necessarily standout, however by the time they hit their groove it got real good. Calm was the highlight for me, both recorded and live now, though Retrospect and closer, Tigerblood, were also done real well. By the time they're done with their autumn headline tour I'm sure they'll be fully set and ready to take on the world.
TNC - The Night Cafe
The four lads had the crowd pushing around from the get go, but it was one of those kind of shows as between sets felt like a club night at Snobs with the chanting along and jumping up and down. I'd be fine with it but the activity didn't match the music. It was fairly straight tempo rock, sang with a decent voice that wasn't as Liverpudlian as their banter. The singer and drummer chatted a little, mostly drumming up sales for their upcoming headline tour and merch. The penultimate song had all the womenfolk singing along "you're addicted to me" while the finale brought the tempo up slightly for people to bop around to again.
Circa Waves
This might be the type of showmanship that the guys from Vista could draw inspiration from. The four members came on stage with swagger - I mean you've got to when you have enough strobe lights to brighten a coal mine and five cannons spewing pyrotechnics meters into the air. Musically I would hope that Vistas will take their strong start and surpass the offerings from these fellas - not that CW are bad with their upbeat indie rock but there are higher heights to hit. Time Won't Change Me went over well with me, while most anything else went down with the hyperactive young crowd. I'll admit that I sheltered just under the overhang to avoid dripping beer and too much of the constant swell that consumed most of the dance floor. That wasn't even when the band tried to split the audience to have them collapse on each other as a singalong hit. The set closer was Fire that Burns, appropriately using orange strobes and a spray of sparks as background. Despite one of the quietest, most lacklustre encore breaks (grumble, grumble, entitled generation..) Circa Waves came back for a couple anyhow, of course. Sticking with the literal they played Goodbye - not sure if it's a normal phenomenon for half the crowd to get on the shoulders of the other half to sway along to this ballad. As true finale they asked the seated upper deck (of a near sellout) to stand up and singalong as they fired up the pyro again.
As promised the Edinburgh buzz band of the moment, Vistas, took to the stage with the 4 of them at a combined age under 70. The kids in the crowd about the same vintage were pumped up and before the end of song one were pushing back to start a pit. Perhaps not yet commanding the stage with swagger they at least looked comfortable up there and properly played their instruments to boot. The drummer seemed to be taking his job very seriously and it paid off while the singer was just as good with his electric axe as the mic, chatting Birmingham up a little too. Guitar and bass to the sides diligently did their jobs while everyone ate it up. To be honest, the first half of the set was above average but not necessarily standout, however by the time they hit their groove it got real good. Calm was the highlight for me, both recorded and live now, though Retrospect and closer, Tigerblood, were also done real well. By the time they're done with their autumn headline tour I'm sure they'll be fully set and ready to take on the world.
TNC - The Night Cafe
The four lads had the crowd pushing around from the get go, but it was one of those kind of shows as between sets felt like a club night at Snobs with the chanting along and jumping up and down. I'd be fine with it but the activity didn't match the music. It was fairly straight tempo rock, sang with a decent voice that wasn't as Liverpudlian as their banter. The singer and drummer chatted a little, mostly drumming up sales for their upcoming headline tour and merch. The penultimate song had all the womenfolk singing along "you're addicted to me" while the finale brought the tempo up slightly for people to bop around to again.
Circa Waves
This might be the type of showmanship that the guys from Vista could draw inspiration from. The four members came on stage with swagger - I mean you've got to when you have enough strobe lights to brighten a coal mine and five cannons spewing pyrotechnics meters into the air. Musically I would hope that Vistas will take their strong start and surpass the offerings from these fellas - not that CW are bad with their upbeat indie rock but there are higher heights to hit. Time Won't Change Me went over well with me, while most anything else went down with the hyperactive young crowd. I'll admit that I sheltered just under the overhang to avoid dripping beer and too much of the constant swell that consumed most of the dance floor. That wasn't even when the band tried to split the audience to have them collapse on each other as a singalong hit. The set closer was Fire that Burns, appropriately using orange strobes and a spray of sparks as background. Despite one of the quietest, most lacklustre encore breaks (grumble, grumble, entitled generation..) Circa Waves came back for a couple anyhow, of course. Sticking with the literal they played Goodbye - not sure if it's a normal phenomenon for half the crowd to get on the shoulders of the other half to sway along to this ballad. As true finale they asked the seated upper deck (of a near sellout) to stand up and singalong as they fired up the pyro again.
Rufus Wainwright - Symphony Hall - April 22, '19
Rachel Eckroth opened from behind a slew of boards. Primarily a keyboardist she also built the songs on the fly through loops, drum tracks and vocoder. Her voice wasn't bad and neither were the songs but there also wasn't much to set her apart. I ended up closing my eyes to take in a chunk of the set and it worked just swell.
Rufus Wainwright
The band assembled on stage before Rufus' silhouette, top hat and all, fell onto the giant projection that backed the stage. In a striped suit he took to centre stage surrounded by a drummer (wearing giant over-ear protection), a bass player, two keyboardists including Rachel, and an older gentleman with white hair (dyed red and black like a crow had bloodied it by diving into him) who was the musical director for the show and excellent guitarist to boot. That booming voice filled the giant symphony hall with his signature sound as they played through a good selection of songs from his debut and others from the catalogue. Between the man and the ego he bantered about all the times he'd played this room and told interesting stories about his mother Kate McGarrigle, as well as Leonard Cohen (though not before Hallelujah, I will note). A highlight had to be telling the story of playing Joni Mitchell's 75th birthday party before launching into stand-out of the night, Both Ways, which he funnily lamented he didn't actually play for her because Seal stole that honour. He sang this after removing his jacket to reveal a dazzling and sparkly sleeveless golden shirt. "Pretty good for 45," he quipped. Seemingly part of the act now Rufus gave off a holy (or holier than thou?) presence, built up by having his tech not only bring his guitars when changing but also plugging them in for him.
Following the intermission he came back in a similar manner but with the projection, the top hat and the jacket changed. The opener of Poses was the song I was here to see more than any other and he nailed Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk. Unfortunately for me it was all kinds downhill from there as the life of the set was lost as they stuck to the Poses track list and, good as it is, I'm not intimately familiar and it stagnated. Even the ridiculously large jacket made of a million jewels which he needed help taking off and replacing with a similarly adorned black one that covered the entire piano didn't spice it up that much. Following another hour plus in the second set alone they wrapped Poses and the set opened up again. A near standing ovation greeted his first departure though not all joined in. The entire band returned for one or two, including his version of Across the Universe which awkwardly saw a handful of fans (?) standing on stage with a candle but they failed to wave it when appropriate despite Rufus' prompting. It was a nice ending, no Hallelujah, but provoked another ovation perhaps larger than the first and the grand master left for good.
Rufus Wainwright
The band assembled on stage before Rufus' silhouette, top hat and all, fell onto the giant projection that backed the stage. In a striped suit he took to centre stage surrounded by a drummer (wearing giant over-ear protection), a bass player, two keyboardists including Rachel, and an older gentleman with white hair (dyed red and black like a crow had bloodied it by diving into him) who was the musical director for the show and excellent guitarist to boot. That booming voice filled the giant symphony hall with his signature sound as they played through a good selection of songs from his debut and others from the catalogue. Between the man and the ego he bantered about all the times he'd played this room and told interesting stories about his mother Kate McGarrigle, as well as Leonard Cohen (though not before Hallelujah, I will note). A highlight had to be telling the story of playing Joni Mitchell's 75th birthday party before launching into stand-out of the night, Both Ways, which he funnily lamented he didn't actually play for her because Seal stole that honour. He sang this after removing his jacket to reveal a dazzling and sparkly sleeveless golden shirt. "Pretty good for 45," he quipped. Seemingly part of the act now Rufus gave off a holy (or holier than thou?) presence, built up by having his tech not only bring his guitars when changing but also plugging them in for him.
Following the intermission he came back in a similar manner but with the projection, the top hat and the jacket changed. The opener of Poses was the song I was here to see more than any other and he nailed Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk. Unfortunately for me it was all kinds downhill from there as the life of the set was lost as they stuck to the Poses track list and, good as it is, I'm not intimately familiar and it stagnated. Even the ridiculously large jacket made of a million jewels which he needed help taking off and replacing with a similarly adorned black one that covered the entire piano didn't spice it up that much. Following another hour plus in the second set alone they wrapped Poses and the set opened up again. A near standing ovation greeted his first departure though not all joined in. The entire band returned for one or two, including his version of Across the Universe which awkwardly saw a handful of fans (?) standing on stage with a candle but they failed to wave it when appropriate despite Rufus' prompting. It was a nice ending, no Hallelujah, but provoked another ovation perhaps larger than the first and the grand master left for good.
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