The Tom Fun Orchestra @ David Lam Park -- 07/04/11

As the Vancouver International Jazz Fest wrapped up for another year, they put on a day of free shows at David Lam Park, and closing out the festival was one of my favourite live bands, The Tom Fun Orchestra. I've seen them twice before, in small clubs, and while both were amazing shows it was really cool to see them on a big outdoor stage on a beautiful evening.

They took the stage seven members large with no two members playing the same instrument (well, if you count acoustic & electric guitars as separate) and launched into a new song, "Miles Davis". It was a perfect song to start the set, with a great energy, and they even slipped in a few covers; a verse from "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, and some of Bonnie Tyler's "It's a Heart Ache". From there the set was a a mix of old songs, from 08's You Will Land With A Thud, and new ones. They didn't mention when/if a new album was due, but if the live songs are any indication, it will be pretty amazing.
The new songs sounded very "Tom Fun", their eclectic mish-mash folk, roots, blues, rock and punk, which is complimented perfectly by Ian MacDougall's gravely, raspy vocals. I didn't catch the name of most of the new ones, but my favourite started off calm and exploded into the usual Tom Fun cacophony of noise.

They brought the set to an end with "You Will Land With A Thud", somehow topping the energy that they had all night, which was no easy feat. You could tell throughout the set that they were having loads of fun, with MacDougall talking and joking between songs, from effectively stalling while they fixed a couple technical difficulties, to praising the crowd and city skyline, to inviting a couple people in cardboard robot heads from the crowd on stage to dance.

And while there were a couple small technical difficulties through the set, as mentioned, they were mostly nothing too distracting, except for one; the female vocals (not Carmen Townsend, but I didn't catch her name) were a little too low, so sometimes you couldn't hear her. But that aside, it was an incredibly fun set, and I already can't wait to see them again, and especially for the theoretical new album.

Hey Ocean! @ David Lam Park -- 07/04/10

Vancouver JazzFest came to a close yesterday with some free shows at David Lam Park in yaletown. There were a few bands playing, but I stopped by just to see Hey Ocean!, as I'd never seen them live before, so what better than a free show to check them out?

Admittedly, I'm not as familiar with them as I should be. I've heard the latest album a few times, and while I think it's good, I guess it just kind of fell through the cracks for me. But their live show, wow! Not to seem detrimental of their recorded material, but their live show just seemed so much better. Full of energy and incredibly engaging. The show started with everyone seated in the grass, but a few songs in they threw out a new one called "New Dance" which got everyone up and moving.
The set lasted over an hour, which is awesome for a free show, playing a mix of old and brand new, from the upcoming album, and even threw in a cover. Mid-set they decided to do some 90s reminiscing (the amount of people that cheered when Ashleigh Ball asked "who was born in the 90s" made me feel old) and launched into a cover of The Cardigans' Love Fool, which somehow segued into the theme from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, with accompanying kazoo.

The set wrapped up with more audience participation for "Fish" before they were brought back for an encore -- surprising for a free show like this, but the crowd was going pretty nuts. They played a couple more before finally ending the set, and I am pretty sure they have made a fully fledged fan out of me.