To this day I still remember the first time I heard ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love‘ back in 2003. Once you hear lead singer Justin Hawkins hit that falsetto you can never unhear it. As his voice got higher so did the bands spot on the charts around the world. After a 5 year hiatus the guys from England are back together and their tour has them coming to Vancouver to play a sold out show at the Commodore Ballroom on Friday the 24th – more information.
Leader, Justin Hawkins, had a very public battle with drug & alcohol abuse that lead to the band splitting up after two successful albums. Their debut ‘Permission To Land‘ went quadruple platinum in the UK while the follow up ‘One Way Ticket To Hell…And Back‘ saw smaller success. Both albums had the band touring the world for the better part of three years. They played festivals all over Europe, sold out stadiums around the world and had music videos on TV (before that became a thing of the past).
I am glad that Hawkins has beaten his demons and I am even happier that The Darkness is making music and touring together again. Part of me wants to get into costume for this show (Google the band and you’ll quickly find my inspiration). In the meantime I’m going to sip some tea with honey and give my vocal chords some rest so I can do my best falsetto this Friday.
LMFAO had one of the biggest rises to pop fame in 2011. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing Party Rock Anthem. It was atop charts all over the world, on heavy rotation on the radio, a nightly staple for most club DJ’s. Hell they shared the stage with Madonna during the Super Bowl halftime show. With this type of ride to fame you are expected as an artist to tour almost constantly. Unfortunately for LMFAO, the touring and all the ‘shufflin’ caught up to Sky Blu of LMFAO and he was not able to take part on the rest of their tour due to injury. This meant that Red Foo had to carry the show here in Vancouver at Pacific Coliseum. I wansn’t sure what to expect on this night but I knew I was in for a party.
The crowd was warmed up by a high energy set from Far East Movement and as the night moved closer to 9 it became clear that the people wanted to Party Rock. When the house lights dropped the mostly under-17 crowd erupted. One man emerged to the front of the stage as the track “Rock The Beat II” played. Red Foo came out to an even louder level of screaming. As dozens of glow sticks were tossed into the audience Foo got the everyone to show some love to Sky Blu over his back injury. Then after we gave some love to Sky the party rock band broke into “Sorry for Party Rocking”.
Even without his partner in crime, Red Foo still gave the arena a high energy show. He was joined on stage by a drummer, a guitar player and at least 5 dancers . He had wardrobe changes, the dance moves and all the jokes with the crowd that a leader needs. With two albums of dance hits to draw from there was no shortage of songs to party to. Foo even strapped on a keytar to play Lalala. I was blind sided by this move but damn was it good.
As the night drew to a close the crew on stage left, but considering they didn’t play their three most recent singles, I had a feeling the show was not over. The dancers came back out and formed a circle and battled to a slightly different version of Party Rock Anthem. Not a single person (even chaperones) was in their seat for this. They then blared into the single Champagne Showers and got their Steve Aoki on as they sprayed bottles of champagne into the crowd. Red Foo left the stage yet again after this but once again I knew this wasn’t the end. He once again emerged in a different outfit and the beat came on for Sexy & I Know It and yet again sent an eruptive roar through the crowd. Doing his best to recreate the hilarious antics from the music video, Red Foo and the dancers ripped their pants off to reveal banana hammocks.
One of LMFAO’s lyrics says ‘everyday I see my dreams’. Nearly selling out a hockey venue in Vancouver may not have been one of the dreams Red Foo and Sky Blu had in mind but it is a dream for many Canadian acts. Despite only being half of the group this LMFAO show was just as high energy as I had expected. In some cases when fans go to see a duo live and one member isn’t there it ends in disappointment not on this night. Red Foo put on the show we all wanted to see, on his own. Now I am excited to see the them on their next visit to Vancouver to get the full tilt show.
Photos © Jamie Taylor
I remember the first time Demetri Martin made me laugh; it was on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Martin’s deadpan delivery while talking with the host had me hooked. Just like Saturday Night Live has for years, The Daily Show has become a launching pad for young comedians in this day & age. You can add Martin’s name to the growing list that includes Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and debatably Lewis Black. Stand up comedy fans here in Vancouver are going to be treated to a multi medium performance from Martin.
I say “multi medium” because Demetri Martin’s live shows have elements of stand up comedy, illustrations on a “large pad” as well as songs. All of these were on display in his Comedy Central program “Important Things with Demetri Martin”. I was a fan of that show and to say I am looking forward to his performance here in Vancouver is an understatement. I’ll see you all on January 7th.
In my preview for this concert I mentioned the word “ICON” a few times. After seeing Prince live on his Welcome 2 Canada tour it is clear I didn’t use the word enough. When you can play possibly you “biggest hit” (Purple Rain) as the second song in your set and still keep a nearly sold out crowd entertained and singing/dancing along for another over an hour & a half then you know you are an icon.
For me and 1000s of other concert-goers, the night got off to a slow and annoying start. For reasons unknown to the public, entrance into Rogers Arena was moving at a snail’s pace and had line-ups wrapping around the stadium and down the street. Someone must have informed Prince of this prior to the show because as he was about to take the stage he asked “Is everybody in here now?” The answer was likely no, but most of us were inside by then.
So with 100s of fans still filling into their seats Prince and the New Power Generation took to the stage (a giant Prince symbol) and kicked into a high energy performance of 1995 song Gold that got those of us who were inside up out of their seats and in the dancing mood. It took all of 45 seconds for Prince to get the crowd in the palm of his hand and he didn’t let us out until he was ready to leave the stage. I think some of the Rogers Arena staff was ready for that moment about 30 minutes earlier, but who is going to tell Prince that he is over time?
Going into the concert I had an image in my head of what Prince was going to look like and how he was going to act on stage. I was bang on.
Sequins suit: CHECK
Boots with heels: CHECK
That moustache: CHECK
The voice & moves that make you think he might want to kiss you but then he leaves the show with your girlfriend…and mom: CHECK
Prince is a true entertainer. Whether he was belting out the lyric to any of his hits. Whether he had his guitar strapped on and was rocking out with the band. Whether he was in awe of Maceo Parker on the saxophone like the rest of us. Prince was the ring leader on stage the entire night. The band followed his every cue and so did the crowd. He asked us to clap, we clapped. He asked us to dance, we got up and danced. He asked us to put our cell phones in the air and wave them side to side during the chorus, we did. Prince could have asked us to go buy an $8 beer and pour it on the person sitting beside of us and in all likely hood we all would have done it.
Once the band started playing Purple Rain I looked to the section beside me and no joke a woman was in tears as she sang along to each word of the song. This was a prime example of what the Prince concert was like. It had been decades since he was in Vancouver. People had been waiting and waiting for this day to come for years. Once you see the man you have idolized and sang along to for decades play your favourite song the emotion takes over. Nobody judged the woman crying in section 110. All we did was smile at her and then get back in tune “PURPLE RAIN, PURPLE RAAAAAIIN!”
Thank you Prince. Please don’t leave us waiting as long for the next time you come here. I speak for millions across the country when I say: You are ALWAYS welcome in Canada.
The word ICON is overused these days. Somehow the meaning of the term has shifted into being used for a quick meteoric rise to fame and or success. I still feel that the biggest factors in being an icon are longevity and timelessness. So add up meteoric success + longevity + timelessness and what do you get? You get a true ICON. A true ICON is coming to Rogers Arena in Vancouver; that ICON is Prince.
When you write, produce, arrange, compose and play all 27 instruments on your debut album you tend to make a splash on the music scene. That is what happened when Prince released the album For You in 1978. He followed that up with a steady flow of top selling & high ranking R&B tracks for a few years. Then after playing with a wide array of musicians in his touring act and in the recording studio, things all changed. That is when Prince started to refer to his band as The Revolution and he dropped a lil gem some of you may have heard of called Purple Rain in 1984.
Fast forward to 2011 and Prince is coming Back 2 Canada. His current tour has stops in Toronto, Halifax, Ottawa, London, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver and finishes off in Victoria. Prince will be soul rocking Rogers Arena in Vancouver on December 16th. Typically I would refer to an event like this as the hottest ticket in town, but considering that it is a nearly sold out Canadian tour I am going to call it the hottest ticket in the country.
See ya there!
I recently made a list and it looked like this: GZA, RZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, U-God, Masta Killa. Considering that ODB has passed away, his name will stay on the list but this December 14th I will be able to cross one more name off of my Wu-Tang list: Ghostface Killah.
The rapper from Staten Island New York will be coming to Vancouver to play the always lively Fortune Sound Club on December 14th. With the stellar catalogue of Wu-Tang Clan hits along with his solo work spanning over 15 albums it is set to be yet another don’t miss hip hop night in our fine city. His style has changed over the years as he has gone from up-tempo raps, then a more steady flow with conscious lyrics. Recently he has even crossed over to tracks featuring heavy influence from the 70s soul era. However you cut it, Ghostface has a style that crosses over into many hip hop fans genre. We will all be treated to a taste of all of those styles on the 11th.
I can guarantee that this Sunday in Van, Fortune Sound Club will be a packed house with 100′s of W‘s in the air as the crowd yells “WU! TANG! WU! TANG!” all night long. I’ll be there with my W in the sky. Will you? – show information.
