It's been quite a week...though my feelings about the Olympics are mixed to say the least, one thing I will say is that t has allowed for a fantastic convergence of remarkable artistic talent in our fair city (and with this sunshine, it is more than fair, it's fantastic). This week's entertainment?:
Tuesday: New Songs/New Voices - which featured 4 singer/songwriters from across the country (Meaghan Blanchard, Romi Mayes, Jason Plumb and Dan Mangan); excellent show, and gorgeous sound at the Roundhouse. I'm hoping they will continue to present music there - so few small QUIET venues in Vancouver. And, being the hometown boy, Dan brought the house down, but I also really enjoyed Meaghan Blanchard and Romi Mayes.
Wednesday: Delusion, the new performance piece by Laurie Anderson. The highlight of the week for me, for sure. It's a bit hard to explain her amazing twining together of story, music, visuals, but it was astounding and completely transfixing. One of those things I just feel very lucky to have had a chance to see. As an aside, the slightly curmudgeonly and surprisingly tiny Lou Reed was sitting in front of us, which was kind of cool. When we left the venue he was busy reaming out a technical person for the misplacement of one of the lights on the stage, so his cranky legend lives on.
Thursday: Hal Wallner's Neil Young Project - a Neil Young tribute that brought together a huge whack of diverse musicians (Broken Social Scene, Sun Kil Moon, Joan as Policewoman, Eric Mingus, Teddy Thompson, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Emily Haines to name a few). Overall a very enjoyable, if uneven, night. They couldn't quite get the energy in the place just right, but when the performances worked, they were fantastic. Below is the only clip I took, and unfortunately it was one of the low points for me of the night - Kevin Drew and gang do their best to close the night off, but the energy wasn't there.
Friday: The Blue Dragon, by Robert Lepage (oh how I love thee RL!) - for the second time. As always, an amazing production. I didn't find it as powerful as the two solo works of his that I have seen, but I'm starting to realize that there is a resonance that a one person play can have - at least for me - that can't really be touched by ensemble work. Great to see it twice, and to notice how he had modified the work over time. Also had the good luck to listen to a Q&A with the cast; Lepage is a wonderfully open guy, great to hear him speak about his process.
It has been a GREAT week. Sorry about the brief, not all that insightful post, but I just had to get it down on paper...I mean, on computer...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Thanks for the Olympic round-up. Wish I went to the Laurie Anderson show. And I basically agree with your assessment of the Hal Willner-Neil Young concert. I could have done without Vashti Bunyan, and a few others, but most of it was pretty enjoyable!
Must feel a bit like a ghost town these dats ;-)
Post a Comment