sometimes they rock & roll / sometimes they stay at home
This last week has been filled with some great live music, friends both old and new, and most importantly, Stanley Cup hockey. Vancouver is a-buzz with our beloved Canucks in the finals (see: insane fans on Granville Street last night) for the first time since 1994. I was five years old at the time and some of my earliest memories are of that playoff run. I still have a Western Conference Champions towel that my parents brought home from one of the games in the finals against the New York Rangers. I wonder where all of those holographic hockey cards from McDonalds that I spent years collecting (and eating far too many Happy Meals as a result) ended up…
All the bands coming into town this week (thanks to Sasquatch) were just an added bonus to all of the excitement. Late Saturday night I grooved (people still say that, right?) to Yeasayer within the confines of the beautiful Commodore Ballroom, and two nights later returned for what could potentially be Wolf Parade’s last show ever.
Just a little back story on my relationship with Wolf Parade: When I was about 15, I still listened to some pretty shitty music (which shall not be named) — until one day I was introduced to a collection of new artists who fell into the “Canadian indie rock” category, and in an instant my life changed. Wolf Parade led that pack (see what I did there?), along with Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Feist, and Stars. Damn, 2004 was a good year. I still vividly remember the feeling of being floored by ”I’ll Believe in Anything” the first time that I heard it — there was nothing else like it.
Monday night marked the third time Wolf Parade had torn me to shreds in concert, but as the show went on, it began to feel like the very first. I shouted out the words of ”I’ll Believe in Anything” at the top of my lungs and got a little teary-eyed knowing that it might be the last time I’ll ever get to hear it live. At 1am, the band was summoned back out for a second encore and they invited the audience up onstage for a sing-a-long of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”. You’ll have to forgive the graininess of the above photo which I took with my cell phone — you can see a video of the very emotional final minutes here.
mp3: Wolf Parade - I’ll Believe in Anything from Apologies to the Queen Mary [2005]
mp3: Wolf Parade - Fine Young Cannibals from At Mount Zoomer [2008]
The next night, I headed to the cozier Biltmore Cabaret to see Noah & the Whale and Bahamas (a.k.a. Afie Jurvanen, Feist’s guitarist) and to meet up with my “musical twin” and e-mail buddy of the last couple years who happened to be in town, Heather Browne of Fuel/Friends. We had a great night talking about the craziness that is Sasquatch, the ups and downs of blogging, and how exactly to fit a hopeless obsession with music into a busy life. I love corresponding with readers via comments and e-mails, but it was a completely different experience to actually have a face-to-face conversation with someone that I met this way. Holy hell, the internet is cool.
mp3: Noah & the Whale - Waiting For My Chance to Come from Last Night on Earth [2011]
mp3: Bahamas - Hockey Teeth from Pink Strat [2009]
