Venue: Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach California
Tickets $20
On a recent work trip, I was pleasantly surprised to find I wasn't the only Canadian girl in southern California that week when flipping through the local events. The venue was in a quaint little beach town 30 minutes north of San Diego by car. The walls were lined with artistic posters from previous shows, including Andrew Bird, Neko Case, Pinback, Colin Hay, Iron and Wine, Xavier Rudd and M. Ward. Sure signs that if I were a resident of southern California, the waitresses would know me by name. I settled into a set to the right of the stage about an hour before the show and sunk myself into some delicious fish tacos. I started chatting with the most wonderful audiophile, Chip, a retired teacher from San Diego who shared my taste in both music and podcasts. We swapped favorites and expanded our musical horizons a little.
Hannah Georgas:
Hannah Georgas, a fellow British Colombian, opened up for Ms. Edwards on this tour. I have seen her twice before: The first opening for Said the Whale at the Bricks (under the Starlite room), the second open for Royal Wood at Myer Horowitz. The first show in November 2008, was a very special show for me. I had heard a clip of her singing "The Beat Stuff" on CBC that morning, and couldn't get it out of my head all day at work. I luckily rounded up two tickets and Steph was gracious enough to humor my crazy sporadic concert. She warmed up the room well with backing from Jaycelyn, Peter and Spencer from Said the Whale. The show was amazing, and I still love the 6 album sampler that I got at that show. That was my first exposure to Said the Whale. I had seen flyers around for them the last few times they were in town, but never pursued it further. Four years later, Said the Whale is my favorite band, so sweet and personable. I've seen them more times that I can count on my hand now, and they never disappoint.
Hannah flew in that morning and got the night started around 9 with a collection of her most recent album and few new tracks she's been working on. She didn't play a couple songs that I really wanted to hear. She didn't play anything from the first album, namely The (aformentioned) Beat Stuff, The National and Let's Talk. She also didn't play Drive from the CBC song quest: Road Songs, which a great traveling song. Neither This is Good nor Lovers Breakdown from the most recent album were performed, my two favorite songs from that album. I was a little disappointed that she didn't play more songs I was familiar with, but I liked the new material she's been working on. Enough about what she didn't play, this is what she did play:
Elephant
Somebody
Enemies
Chit Chat
Waiting Game
Millions
Shine
Fantasize
She definitely earned a few more fans in that room tonight. She played with good energy and the sounds was great from where I was sitting. The I ran into another couple there form a marathon from the interior of BC. She worked the room a little after the set, meeting and greeting before she nipped back to change into her back-up singing outfit for Kathleen Edwards.
Here's a little video for Bang Bang You're Dead:
which she didn't play. Okay, okay. I'll move on...
Kathleen Edwards:
Kathleen took the stage with a keyboardist, drummer, bassist and guitarist as well as Miss. Georgas at about 10. Her banter between the songs was incredibly endearing and you really got the sense she was a total sweetheart. She discussed a little about the personal struggles she went through in the last couple years, going through a divorce with her former collaborator Colin Cripps and her budding new relationship with Justin Vernon (frontman from Bon Iver). I find that Voyageur, her most recent album really speaks to me. To me, you can tell there is a lot more emotion and depth in the songs over her previous three albums.
Kathleen is from Ottawa, and has been foraging her way through the music scene since 1999. Her album Failer from 2002 put her on the radar of Rolling Stones as a promising new artist, playing on David Letterman and making the press in Billboard and Blender who felt Failer's songs possess "an indefinable pull that makes you love the characters they describe, no matter how fucked up they are." Her follow up albums, Back to Me and Asking for Flowers showed her progression into songwriting and built on her early sucess. The first song that I heard from Kathleen was "I Make the Dough, You get the Glory" from Asking for Flowers last year on CBC 2, and thanks to shazam, I was able to pursue my ear worm to get the whole catalog. Her style is a little more country than I typically listen to, but I really like the narrative style of her songs, and maybe it's the Alberta influence, but I am allowing myself a little room for genre-ical growth.
The set was great, the band had great chemistry on stage and the energy was both honest and positive. I was thoroughly impressed with the skills of Gord Tough, the guitarist in plaid that I had a great view of from my perch. The set had a good mix of songs from the past four albums and good pacing from slow to upbeat. My favorites she played were Empty Threat, Six O'Clock, Change the Sheets and House Full of Empty Rooms.
Empty Threat
Asking for Flowers
Goodnight, California
In State
Sidecar
House Full of Empty Rooms
Going to Hell
Back to Me
Soft Place to Land
Mint
Change the Sheets
Encore:
Six O'Clock News
For the Record
My favorite song from the new album is Chameleon/Comedian, which I thought she played on this night, but didn't have it on the setlist. I would have liked to head "You Make the Dough" also. House Full of Empty Rooms and Chameleon/Comedian have been the soundtrack to my inner monologue on and off since March. I work up this morning singing house full of empty rooms, so I figured it was time I sat down and finally talked about this event. It was a great concert, I would have liked to visit with her afterwards and wish her hell on her tour, but after waiting around for 15 minutes after the show, I decided to should call it a night and get back to San Diego. I highly recommend seeing this national treasure if you have a chance.
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