Destroyer w/ Blackout Beach @ Rickshaw Theatre -- 06/12/14

I've never really been a fan of the Rickshaw Theatre as a venue. The first time I was there the poor sound ruined what should have been an otherwise great show, and the few shows I saw after were not much better. It got to the point where I just avoided going to shows there.
So when Dan Bejar announced a solo Destroyer show -- with Blackout Beach opening as well -- I was conflicted. But I decided to give the Rickshaw another chance, figuring it would be hard to mess up the sound for a single guy with an acoustic guitar. And you know what? It sounded pretty good.


It had been a while since I've seen Carey Mercer in any incarnation, so I was very glad that the Frog Eyes frontman (and Bejar's bandmate in Swan Lake) was opening under his solo alter-ego Blackout Beach. He took the stage with an acoustic guitar, and a bag of tricks in the form of looped beats and plenty of distortion pedals. His incredibly powerful voice drove most of the songs -- a couple times he even stepped off the mic and belted out the words -- with an almost frantic intensity. Never more apparent than in "Three Men Drowned In The River" from his Skin of Evil album.

In contrast to the intensity of the songs, though, his stage banter was light and funny. Part off-the-cuff, with a dash of self-effacing humour, Mercer joked with the crowd between each song, asking things like if the beats were "too techno, or not techno enough?" (they were somewhere in the middle).
He wrapped up the set with a pair of Frog Eyes songs from his most recent album Carey's Cold Spring; "Claxxon's Lament" provided unparalleled emotion, and he wrapped up with the advice "Don't Give Up Your Dreams", his distorted guitar wailing to an ending.


The last time I saw Destroyer, it was the full band at the Vogue Theatre, with the band filling out the rich and lustrous sound of their last couple albums. But this time it was only Dan Bejar, armed with his acoustic guitar, and speaking a word he silenced the din of the crowd just by launching into his first song, "My Favourite Year". In fact, other than some recognition applause and cheers at the start of most songs, the crowd was in an awed silence the entire night, as long as Bejar was playing -- the one memorable occasion being when half the packed show shouted "the fucking maniac" at the appropriate part of "European Oils"

Bejar played a packed set, just shy of an hour and a half which spanned his illustrious career, going back to almost twenty years for the song "Streets of Fire" from We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge all the way up to "Bye Bye" from his newest Five Spanish Songs EP.
Other highlights included the gorgeous and fragile songs like "Chinatown" and "Foam Hands" as well as dramatically stripped down versions of more upbeat tunes, "Your Blood" and "Savage Night At The Opera", and also the aforementioned "European Oils", a personal favourite.

In contrast to Mercer's humour, Bejar didn't say too much between songs (as you would expect) but as the set went on he loosened up and a few times his dry sense of humour came through; joking that a few of his songs were suspiciously similar when stripped down to the acoustic, and proclaiming the last song of the night would be the best (and them promptly feigning a complete loss of self-confidence) before launching into a stunning rendition of "Don't Become The Thing You Hated".
But of course the packed theatre was not done yet, cheering for more as Dan came back out with another couple songs to cap off the night with "Virgin With a Memory" from 2001's Streethawk: A Seduction

And with that he bowed one last time, leaving the audience with one of the better shows I've seen so far this year.

setlist
My Favourite Year; Your Blood; The Chosen Few; Bye Bye; Foam Hands; Light Travels Down The Catwalk; Downtown; Helena; European Oils; Self Portrait With Thing (Tonight Is Not Your Night); Chinatown; Streets of Fire; To the Heart of the Sun on the Back of the Vulture, I'll Go; Farrar, Straus And Giroux (Sea Of Tears); Savage Night at the Opera; Don't Become The Thing You Hated.
(encore) What Road; Virgin With a Memory.

Plants & Animals @ Rickshaw -- 03/21/12

Don't ever let it be said that I don't give second chances. A couple years ago, I went to one of the first shows at the then-new Rickshaw Theatre, and came away utterly disappointed. The reason was because of the terrible sound -- the venue is more or less a giant cement box -- and I have all but avoided it since, even passing on some good bands there. But when Montreal's Plants & Animals announced that would be their Vancouver date, I had to put aside my trepidations, because there was no way I was missing them.

The opening band was another from Montreal, Little Scream, which is not the name of the band, but the stage name for Laurel Sprengelmeyer. She was, however, joined by a band (which including one member on bass flute) for some dark and moody music, occasionally a little haunting and ethereal. My favourite song of their set was "Cannons", as well as some great covering for a broken string; while her guitarist went off stage to restring it, she showed off her powerful voice with an a capella song.
I quite enjoyed the set, and I look forward to hearing more from her in the future.

Not too long after, the Plants & Animals kicked off their set, the trio of Warren Spicer, Matthew Woodley, and Nicolas Basque were joined by a fourth member on bass, starting a bit soft with "Song for Love", but immediately exploded into "Feedback in the Field". The sound for the set was... okay. Not as bad as I had feared, and certainly not so bad as to ruin the show, but the reverberations of the sound off the concrete walls was still very much noticeable. Despite this, the band put on a fantastic set; they had a good rapport with the crowd, bantering between songs, and each member had a great energy. And most importantly, they are all fantastic musicians, making everything they did on stage seem utterly effortless.
Highlights of the set included the bluesy swagger of "Crisis", one of my favourites off the new album, and "Undone Melody", a show burner that build to a huge ending. After about an hour, they "ended" with a bit of a sing along to "Bye Bye Bye", before coming back out to a chanting crowd for a couple more; the raucous "Why & Why" and what they more or less admitted was their own favourite song to play, "Faerie Dance", starting off slow and light and then exploding into a phenomenal climax with the band just jamming.

In the end, I was a little disappointed they didn't play the title track from the new album, The End of That, which has quickly become one of my favourite of theirs, and especially disappointed that they didn't play "Mercy", one of my favourite songs period, but despite that -- and despite the sound -- it was still a great set, and I am definitely glad I gave the venue another shot, because I would not liked to have missed this show.

setlist
Song For Love, Feedback in the Field, Crisis, Before,  Runaways, Lola Who?, The Mama Papa, Control Me, Game Shows, No Ideas, Undone Melody, Light Show, Bye Bye Bye.
(encore) Why & Why, Faerie Dance.

Zach Gray @ Rickshaw & David Vertesi @ Cafe Deux Soleil -- 12/10/10

Another busy night in Vancouver, with three people that I wanted to see playing shows. I chose using a very complex series of algorithms (read: which cost less), and decided upon seeing Zach Gray at the Rickshaw, followed by David Vertesi at Cafe Deuz Soleil. (The third was Aidan Knight at the Jon & Roy Holiday Extravaganza)

First stop was the Little Mountain Gallery Fun-Raiser at the Richshaw for Zachary Gray, of The Zolas, doing a solo set. After the first band, World Peace, he said he needed a better name to be able to yell, and jokingly dubbed himself “Lesbian Kissing” for the show. He did a set of mostly Zolas songs, but an older Lotus Child and a cover of (Talking Heads), and like last time, the songs were really cool to see done solo, but did seem kind of missing the “rest” of the song. Maybe I'm just too used to the full band. Zach also went off on a few stories between the songs, which is always cool to see. Well, only if you have a good storyteller on stage, which Zach was, luckily.

And as an aside, I am still no fan of the sound at the Rickshaw. Zach didn't sound too bad, cos it was just him, but the more people you get on stage, the more terrible the sound is. I absolutely hated it my first show there, and I don't think I am going to catch too many more shows there in the future.

After that it was off to Cafe Deuz Soleil for the Megaphone Magazine fundraiser. Vertesi was headlining, but first was the aptly named Julia & Her Piano and also Andrew Lee, of 41^st & Home. Very nice & pleasant sound and a good voice, despite mentioning she was a bit under the weather and Lee's trumpet and backup vocals helped round out the sound. It was a bit chatty in the room, as is wont for shows in places like this, so I wouldn't mind seeing her again in a more ideal setting.

Next up was Ladner and they, too, fit their name, as they were kind of flat and boring. All of their songs ran together and sounded pretty similar, like the same, long song.

And finally, David Vertesi. He was again joined by Dave Joseph helping out on bass, and a wicked keytar. The aformentioned chatter continued through his set as well, but despite that, Vertesi managed to capture the crowds attention with his songs, which he admitted were all about love, for better or worse. And the more I see him play – and listen to his album, for that matter – the more I think the former, as his raw lyrics bring give his [damn catchy] songs relevance amongst all the other songs about love. I think he mentioned, after the set, that the next time he plays (this Friday at the Biltmore) will be with a full band, and that has me very intrigued, as each time I've seen him so far he has been more or less solo.

Pink Mountaintops @ The Rickshaw Theatre -- 09/27/09

It's a shame when an otherwise awesome show get ruined by outside forces. Like shitty venues. If I never go back to the Rickshaw Theatre, it'll be too soon. Located just off Main & Hastings, the crazies were out in full force as we waited an hour after doors were supposed to open to be let in. Once inside, it was none too impressive. A converted movie theatre, it looked more like an old warehouse with a stage and seats. But who cares how it looks, right? As long as it sounds good? Well, no such luck in that category either. The sound was murky and echoy, and seemed to drop in and out. It didn't help that there was a myriad of technical problems, at least at the start of Pink Mountaintops set, and at one point a tech guy was fiddling with something mid-song, causing ear piercing feedback. I know Vancouver needs all the venues it can get, especially now, but.... no thanks.

But enough ranting about the venue, onto the show itself. The first of the all-Vancouveronian show was The Pack A.D., and boy, do they know how to put on a fucking rock show. The garage blues duo, consisting of singer/guitarist Becky Black and drummer Maya Miller, were all energy and blew the roof off (and given the venue, it wouldn't surprise me if that literally happened). The only reservation about them is a lot of their songs are kinda... similar; a fact they they jokingly acknowledge when introducing songs. I had heard a fair amount of them on CBCR3, but never really had any inclination to look into them any further. I'm not sure if that has changed, but I would probably not hesitate to see them live again.

And then finally, Stephen McBean and co. hit the stage as Pink Mountaintops came out. The Pack A.D. sounded okay on the sound system, with their minimalistic sound, but once you have six members on stage playing sweeping music, you definitely notice the faults. Despite all this, however, they still managed to put on a pretty great show. focusing mostly on the new album, Outside Love, they played a decent mix of old and new. A lot of the songs sounded a but edgier and more punched up live, but the slower songs, like Vampire, were appropriately (and beautifully) toned down. McBean didn't say much during the show, but it was hard to tell if that was his usual untalkativeness, or frustrations. He even managed to break three strings over the course of the set. It was probably due to his sheer awesomeness, but if I could find a way to blame it on the venue...
They played for about an hour and change, before coming back out for the obligatory encore of a couple songs. It was about as good a set as could have been done.

I know this review is mostly me trashing the Rickshaw, but man... it was pretty bad. I don't know if it was just the scope of Pink Mountaintops was grander than the theatre could handle, but considering their website boasts they are "a place with amazing acoustics and a top notch sound system"... mind you, it also lists "working bathrooms" as a feature, so....
I don't know how many shows they have had there before last night, so I am hoping it's just the kinks of a new venue, and that if they continue to hold shows there, they can get their shit together. But for now, I think I'll be staying away.