NEW PHOTOS : Vancouver Folk Music Festival 2010

The 33rd annual Vancouver Folk Music Festival, held at beautiful picturesque Jericho Beach, wrapped up last night with lanterns, song and dancing. The weather fully cooperated and there were many sunkissed and sunburnt happy faces in hats and bikinis. My best estimate in terms of attendance is ~4000. There were many in attendance who have traveled from other parts of BC, including Vancouver Island, to celebrate folk and folk-like music under the blue skies.

There were several personal highlights for me at the Folk Fest this year, the biggest being the Malahat Revue's homecoming show. The chemistry and interactions between the four artists/bands - Hannah Georgas, Aidan Knight, Said the Whale and Jeremy Fisher - brought smiles to the faces of the audience, and songs like Knight's "The Sun" were palpably lush with an intensity that's impossible to create with himself alone.

Other highlights include:

Shane Koyczan's moving poetry set to the competent backing of his band the Short Story Long.

The workshop Saturday morning with Tucson, Arizona's Calexico, Alex Cuba from Smithers, BC, and Bahamas (Toronto's Afie Jurvanen) where Cuba out-solo'ed Jurvanen on his own song, and the obligatory set closer "Purple Rain" was accompanied by Calexico's lap steel.

Daniel Champagne, a young guitarist hailing from Australia, blew everyone away with his amazing guitar prowess. He tapped and beat at his faithful acoustic and made amazingly rhythmic arpeggios of sound come out of the violence he was doing to that guitar. Definitely an artist I'm looking to check out more.

The Gertrudes and the United Steelworkers of Montreal accompanying Timber Timbre and magnifying TT's forest of eerie folk with their horns and strings. and that it was incredibly captivating to be enveloped in these moody, nighttime tunes under the beating sun.

For the full photo sets from Friday, Saturday and Sunday, check out my Flickr. And stay tuned for interviews with Timber Timbre and the Malahat Revue!

FREE DOWNLOADS : Dan Mangan to perform with Shane Koyczan on NBC's Today Show

From Dan's blog:

I am incredibly proud to announce that I am performing with dear friend Shane Koyczan on NBC’s “Today Show” with Matt Lauer, airing 8am (PST/EST) on Friday, February 26th!

If you perhaps found your way to this site via the magical interweb on behalf of this broadcast and are seeking confirmation that you’ve found the right place - you most certainly have.

I watched Shane blow the world away with one of his poems “We Are More” at the 2010 Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies. An undeniable highlight of the event, Shane Koyczan just stepped up to the proverbial plate. How many people watching? 2 Billion? 2.5 Billion? Some say 3 billion? I’d seen Shane tame a crowd of thousands with words alone before, but never with the added power of modern television. Koyczan 2.0.

I’m completely honoured he has asked me to join him for his performance on NBC.

To celebrate this event, I wanted to offer a free two-song download to new (and old) visitors to the website.. "Road Regrets" is the lead-off track to my new album Nice, Nice, Very Nice, and "Tragic Turn Of Events / Move Pen Move" is a fairly heavy piece that Shane and I originally recorded for his album A Pretty Decent Cape In My Closet and was eventually released again on my Roboteering EP in 2009.

Live Blogging Olympic Music : Malajube & Opening Ceremonies

I kicked off my Olympics celebrations at the cozy, kitschy corner of Vancouver known as Granville Island, where la Place de la Francophonie was located. After dinner, we caught the beginning of the Canadian anthem and bolted out the doors (after paying, of course) and ended up at the outdoor PdlF just in time to catch the last sustained note. What followed was 3 hours of standing in the pouring rain with about 150 other people, mostly francophone, in the outdoor plaza as we watched the visually stunning pageantry known as the opening ceremonies. Music-wise, it was a bit disappointing to note that all the performers were lip-syncing, although some were very, very good at it. The most touching moment was definitely when the entire stadium stood to honour Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who had passed away earlier in the day due to an accident during practice. A minute of silence was observed, which resulted in a silent BC Place, as well as silence throughout our plaza.


All in all, the highlights of the Opening Ceremony can be summarized thus-- killer whales, Koyczan and k.d. lang. The visual effects simulating our wildlife drew gasps throughout the audience; BC slam poet Shane Koyczan delivered an impassioned poem highlighting the place of Canada in the world, and k.d. lang performed a spotless and thoroughly worthy rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." (was that really lip-synced? don't believe it) A tweet I read post performance summed it up quite nicely; "That's Canada for you. A vegan lesbian from Alberta singing a song written by a Quebec Jew."

Thankfully, the set by Montreal's Polaris-nominated Malajube was indoors at Performance Works theatre. The theatre was standing room only by the time we arrived, half an hour before their set was slated to begin. And by the time they took to the stage, the wide wooden floors of the theatre were covered with the bums of an eager audience. And they did not disappoint. Mixing sparse English and French banter in the beginning of the set, Malajube quickly got down to business, interspersing their trippy, nudging hardcore and prog-rock with only a few "merci, merci"s. 

Guitarist and lead singer Julien Mineau's vocals were in top-notch form, and in the few songs where he and keyboardist Thomas Augustin screamed the lyrics, the crowd went absolutely ape-shit and it was amazing. Augustin also reminded me of Foo Fighter's Dave Grohl with his demeanor and mustache. Instrumentally, the set was near flawless, with a few technical difficulties in the beginning soothed out a couple of songs in. The two songs that I knew well, "Porte Disparu" and "Luna" from their latest Labyrinthes were played back to back in the beginning of the set. The band was not afraid to take the audience on a ride, often stretching out the songs into long, instrumental freak-outs. The audience more than happily returned the favour by slam dancing and crowd surfing. All in all, it was a fucking concert.

What made the night special, on top of Malajube in their top form, was seeing the most eclectic group of fans rock out gleefully in Performance Works. Myself, my Mexican friend, his francophone boyfriend, the nearby group of teen Chinese girls were all singing along at the tops of our lungs. Middle aged couples were front and centre, in the middle of the most enthusiastic and non-hostile mosh pit I've seen. When someone pushed, they pushed back with big grins. Some up front (like me) had their wet shoes off from being outside and were dancing without worry. When an older lady side stage was flinging her arms about and sending voodoo arms toward the stage (so looking generally awkward), two high school girls jumped from in front of the stage to join her in her strange Macarena-like dance. The crowd was bloody brilliant, and very Canadian.

As my friend Cody at @cdnmusic would say, Malajube pour le gagner (PLG)!

Here's the set list for the night:

For more photos from the Malajube set, visit my Flickr!

Dan Mangan at the Cultch

Dan Mangan took to the Cultch in East Vancouver for the CD release for his latest Nice, Nice, Very Nice. He played 2 nights; these are some shots from the Friday night show.

Mangan's album title makes reviewing the show easy, easy, very easy. There's a certain magic and energy that is inadequately captured on the disk, but comes tumbling through in vaults when playing live. His phenomenal three-piece band were my surprise gem of the evening, providing tight harmonies, and injecting new dynamics into the songs.

The Cultch is a newly renovated venue, and the acoustics and lighting were phenomenal. Judge for yourself (lighting-wise) below.

Aidan Knight (Victoria, BC) opened Friday night, with his band the Darlings

Dan Mangan and his very talented band made Nice, Nice, Very Nice come to life.

Special guest Shane Koyczan joins Dan on stage for some spoken word on the song Fair Verona.

Dan invites his friends on stage for the encore-- Ashleigh Ball of Hey Ocean!, Hannah Georgas, members of Said the Whale, Aidan Knight and the Darlings.

For more shots of Friday evening, visit my Flickr.