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“One Evening” with Feist

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There is nothing I love more, than spending a perfect summer evening attending a concert at Deer Lake Park. Last year it was the Arcade Fire who blew me away, this years I was thrilled to be attending Feist.

Deer Lake Park is a stunning venue. It truly is the perfect outdoor venue (except for the fact that it’s in the middle-of-nowhere-Burnaby – don’t get me started on the transit issues trying to leave…). Unlike other outdoor venues that are flat fields, Deer Lake Park set-up so that the stage is at the bottom of a hill, so no matter where you end up finding a spot to place your blanket you can always see the stage. With the stunning backdrop of the lake, and the sun setting behind the crowd while the moon rises beside the stage, the whole venue has a magical feel to it.

The crowd of nearly 8,000, all seemed to be trying to get in at the same time. The line-up outside wrapped around numerous times in a zig-zag pattern, not unlike the lines for DisneyLand rides. I ended up standing in line for the entire performance of the Winnipeg-formed opening act, The Weakerthans.

Once settled inside, I still had a fair amount of time to relax before Feist was scheduled to take to the stage. The amazing thing about an artist like Feist, is the diversity of fans she is able to bring out. The crowd was made up of a mix of every age, gender, race and genre of fan imaginable, from newborns to grandmothers, from hippies to frat boys – there was not a single segment of society missing!

The second that her band, looking like painters dressed in all white, took to the stage the crowd was on their feet. Feist bounded onto the stage in her typical fashion – cute dress and guitar in hand – to the roar of the crowd. Starting with When I Was a Young Girl, from her 2004 album “Let it Die,” Feist quickly ran through some of her biggest hits like I Feel it All, My Moon My Man, and, the crowd-favourite, 1234. While she skipped out on her first single, the BeeGee’s cover of Inside and Out, she managed to cover most of the tracks from “Let it Die” and her most recent album “The Reminder.”

Between each song Feist was able to interact with the crowd, and they with her. Demanding Sea Lion Woman, Feist finally responded “if I promise to play Sea Lion, will you let me play one more song you don’t know” to the cheers and laughter of the audience.

It’s hard to call Feist, a Grammy-nominated and Juno Award winning performer, Canada’s “indie-rock darling” any longer, but despite all her success and worldwide fame, she still manages to remain just that. While she’s able to control a crowd like a veteran performer, she stills come across like the sweet singer-songwriter type she’s always been.

Whether it’s because she’s been in Vancouver numerous times or the fact that she simply does her research, Feist was able to play on all the Vancouver “jokes.” Referring to the crowd as her “mirpeople”, she struggled to determine the third category when trying to divide the crowd for a three-part harmony. “Okay, all the women, all the men, and all the bicyclists…no…people who eat granola…no…Wreck Beach goers…no…Wreck Beach goers who go completely nude!” This was only one of the many occasions she had the crowd fill in and create the ambiance that only an outdoor show can truly provide.

One of the highlights for me, although it distracted me from watching Feist perform, was the amazing shadow show that played out on the backdrop. The “shadow mistress” and her assistant, were able to create amazing stories for each song with the use of only their hands and a few props, including jewels, branches, flowers, fabric, and cut-outs.

All in all it was truly more of a performance than just a concert. The music seemed to be just as important as Feist‘s chatter, the shadow show and the beautiful summer evening.

Seahawks Season Set to Take Flight

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Seattle Seahawks tickets go on sale this week as the NFL’s jewel of the Pacific Northwest embarks on its 33rd season. Sporting the NFL’s second longest playoff appearance streak (2003- 2007) the Seahawks are aiming to get back to their form of the 2005 season when they represented the NFC playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL. Winning the Super Bowl this year would be a fitting tribute to the Seahawks coach, Mike Holmgren, who is in his final year of coaching the club.
With additions like former Dallas Cowboys running back Julius Jones, and Atlanta Falcon’s T.J. Duckett, the Seahawks have bolstered their offence with two solid running backs to complement one of the best defences in the league led by the Seahawk’s all-pro linebacker Lofa Tatupu.
You won’t want to miss your chance to be the famed “12th man” cheering with the throngs at Qwest Field – the NFL’s loudest stadium! Whether you’re sitting on the 50-yard line or up in the ‘HawksNest’ you can be a part of the game while you enjoy the grandeur of the Seattle skyline and surrounding mountains that serve as the backdrop to picturesque Qwest Field.
It’s sure to be an intensely competitive season ahead with visits from the new and improved St. Louis Rams, San Francisco 49ers and the Arizona Cardinals all leading up to a sure fire playoff teaser with the New England Patriots coming to Qwest on December 7.
So whether it’s the experience of attending a game at Qwest Field, cheering on the Seahawks to a 6th consecutive appearance in the playoffs, or to see visiting stars like Tom Brady, be sure to get your tickets soon, as the games are sure to sell-out quickly.
The pre-season begins on Saturday, August 16th with the Chicago Bears coming to play the Seahawks in a re-match their 2006 play-off match up. The home opener is on September 14th as the San Francisco 49ers make their way up the coast to take on the Seahawks.

Bittersweet Symphony

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Yesterday, I made my way with a couple of friends and a blanket, to Deer Lake Park for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s annual Symphony in the Park free concert! Not expecting a huge crowd (as it wasn’t well advertised – I live across the street from the VSO’s headquarters and didn’t hear a thing about it), we made our way a bit late and got to the park just as the performance was starting.

To my surprise the park was overflowing with lawn chairs and blankets spread out past the normal concert bowl area, spilling out past the hot dog and lemonade vendor’s booths. As the entire hilled area was covered in lawn chairs, it didn’t make much sense to try to find a spot where we could squish our blanket as we’d be starting at people’s backs, so we made our way to the back of the field…behind the vendors.

Perfoming popular classics and showtunes, the VSO played for nearly 2 hours, with a brief intermission at the half-way mark. While it was a lovely way to spend an evening, unfortunately, due to the size of the crowd, I heard more people’s conversations than I did of the symphony and I spent the entire time staring at mini donuts (although not a bad thing per se).

I’d definitely recommend attending next year – but would advise to go early. Next year I’m packing a picnic dinner and heading a couple hours before the VSO takes the stage!

I guess live Hip Hop isn’t always bad Hip Hop

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As a Nas fanatic, I found myself extremely excited to find out that the hip-hop artist was planning on coming back to my city of Vancouver. The concert was scheduled to be held at Plush Nightclub, with general admission entry. Plush, located downtown next to the Edgewater Casino, is one of the city’s biggest and most visited nightclubs and as such, is often a popular venue for smaller concerts, namely Rap and R&B shows. Though I’m not a fan of general admission entry (i.e. I prefer NOT being squished in between a bunch of sweaty people) and have always been a critic of live rap (from what I’ve seen, it involves a lot of crotch-grabbing and yelling out gibberish), I decided that seeing my favorite rapper live was a once in a lifetime opportunity. So, I grabbed a few buddies who felt the same way and headed out to Plush to see Nas perform.

The show began much later than was initially announced (as is typical with rap concerts). Through entry into the club began at 9 PM, the opening act did not take to the stage until 11:15 PM or so. This opening act was Canablis, a local Fijian rap duo, whose band name is similar to their um…preferred choice of leisure activities. Overall, Canablis were okay…I suppose. Their music is reminiscent of 1990’s G-Funk hip-hop, which features a mellow, synth-heavy sound and lyrics about lowriders and bandanas and such. While I’m not exactly a fan of the genre, I must admit, the beats were quite catchy. The problem is that the beats were also quite loud, to the point where I couldn’t hear a thing the group were saying. However, Canablis are still rookies and overall, did a great job of interacting with the crowd and getting them hyped up for the main act. As well, I appreciated the fact that the chosen opening act was an up and coming local group from Vancouver and I wish them all the best in the future (although I won’t be purchasing any Canablis albums anytime soon).

After another long wait, at approximately 12:20am, Nas finally took to the stage. Though the wait was excruciatingly long, painful and smelly, Nas’s performance, believe it or not, was well worth it. To my surprise, he performed quite a bit of his older material off of Illmatic, an album which hip hop critics consider to be the greatest of all time in the history of the genre. Though he began the show with his latest single “Hip Hop is Dead”, immediately afterwards he playfully asked the crowd if he can “bring it back” to his older stuff. As the crowd erupted in excitement, “N.Y State of Mind” came on and I began to realize that maybe live rap doesn’t ALWAYS suck.

Besides Illmatic, Nas covered a variety of his other older albums from 14+-year career. He did a lot of mainstream stuff off of It was Written, I Am…, God’s Son, Stillmatic and his latest release (at the time) Hip Hop is Dead. He also performed several of his lesser known fan favorites, including few selections off of Nastrodamous and The Firm’s mega-hit “Affirmative Action”. In between each song, Nas talked to the crowd and transitioned like a true veteran, tying each song to the next in a smooth and entertaining way. As well, after Nas finished his set and the crowd demanded an encore, Nas came out and did a solid 20 more minutes of additional material. While Nas did not perform his popular Jay-Z diss “Ether” (a smart move, considering Jay-Z is now his boss), overall, the song list was huge and chalk-full of great material, which appealed to both the mainstream and the not so mainstream listeners.

Though my overall Nas concert experience included a lot of waiting and standing around, I suppose this is the norm for rap shows. However, in terms of Nas’s performance in and of itself, the experience was nothing short of amazing. While I had my doubts about rappers’ abilities to effectively translate recorded material to a live setting, Nas proved me wrong. His performance was clear, exciting, entertaining and memorable: everything a great live show should be. Though I am still skeptical of live rap (namely the young up and comers), Nas taught me that live rap does not necessarily have to be bad rap.