Ive seen a couple of shows since im in Vancouver, ill discuss a little each of them :)
***Update***
Japandroids with No Gold @ Lifetime Collective
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Lifetime Collective is the smallest venue Ive ever been to. It looks like a small warehouse or really small lounge.
I didnt know much about Japandroids(heard a couple of samples of some songs before) and nothing about No Gold.
Show started an hour after it was supposed to so it was really a long wait and I was getting sleepy. Then No Gold started and i found out a really interesting band: funny, changing rythmn, easy listening, good beats and really friendly musicians.
Then came on Japandroids... first time since im in vancouver that i actually see Vancouver people actually move during a show and when they move they move! it was a non-stop trash and mosh pit pretty much everywhere in that small venue. Incredible i would say ;)
It was a lot heavier than I expected. I danced around to the music with people I just met and I had a blast. They played a pretty long show playing all songs on their new album + old ones.
Anyways i enjoyed the evening once it started and now have another band to follow around.
Plus i met a bunch of really fun people who I talked to during the evening :)
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Stars with Hey Rosetta! @ Orpheum
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The Orpheum is the most beautiful music theater ive ever been to. Covered in gold, paintings on ceilings, greek columns, marbre all over the place... its like a palace for music kings.
Usually the place is used by orchestra, but that day was Stars and Hey Rosetta! playing.
Unfortunately I was sitting down on the balcony level and it seems that those who build the theater made it beautiful and all but not so practical since the inclination of the balcony levels is not high enough for everyone to see correctly so you had to stand up to actually see the scene down there because when there was someone sitting in front you could see much.
Hey Rosetta! was a really impressive band they only played approx 20min but that time was worth it to me and people next to me also. They were entertaining and the sound was good thanks to the acoustic of the place.
I didnt know much about Stars, but they revealed to be a good listening even though I wouldnt bother to buy an album. It's calm and relaxing to listen to.
Korn @ Queen Elizabeth Theater
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Old Songs, Old Singles! :)
I wasnt expecting much from Korn since I hadnt listened to them in 10 years and last saw them during their Family Tour back in Montreal a while ago.
They ended up pleasing everyone including me by playing all the best singles and songs from earlier albums. Changing the background to the album covers of their next songs made people happy about what was going to happen next. People were dancing to the songs, standing up and having a good time to those old songs and bringing back great memories of the past.
Interesting fact about the singer: Jonathan would inhale Oxygen through a mask after each song and a sip of energy drink
great show!
Metric with Nico Vega@ Showbox Sodo (Seattle)
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Nico Vega: Big Surprise and so much energy from the singer. she was jumping all over. Also, they have great songs live!
Metric: Energetic! Crazy! Fun!
what can i say about metric really ... Emily is just a fantastic front(wo)man with a great voice, a superb aptitude to captivate the crowd and bring it to her world. She is playing keyboard, singing, jumping, dancing and talking to the fans. All the songs they played were good and dancing prone and the fans were dancing to the beats and having a great time.
I saw metric in montreal at the beginning of their tour and it was not has energetic as the Seattle show... maybe the enthousiastic fans made a difference, maybe Emily felt more in shape,... i dont know what happened but it was definitely worth the travel to Seattle. Go Metric Go! Hope they continue improving and creating music that more people can enjoy.
Crystal Castle @ Gossip Nightclub
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Noise, Crazy people, Crazy singer
I love Crystal Castles albums. I cant say I like all their songs since the songs are so different and some are more noises than beats, but during a show it becomes all noises ... maybe the acoustics of the club wasnt great or soundcheck was not done properly but ...
I enjoyed it but couldnt say it was one of the best experience at a concert ;)
You Say Party We Say Die @ Rickshaw Theater
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Great Band, Dancing, shortened, ironic ...
After 3 opening bands, YSPWSD came on stage and the party started!
The Rickshaw located in the dodgy area of Vancouver is a small venue with some character.
There wasnt a lot of people at the show, but this doesnt mean its not a good band ... people should listen to this great band. So they started playing and it was fun. I was really into it, until the ironic event happened during the 5th song of the show ... so while we were partying, the drummer collapsed on the ground without anybody noticing it even the band continued playing until the sound guy ran to the stage to rescue the poor drummer who was knocked out.
The show stopped, the drummer wasnt moving for 15 minutes until the ambulance arrived.
They announced that people should leave and so I did. Its sad that it happened ... just read that the drummer had a brain hemorrhage and is now on life support with poor prognostic ... :(
got the news that he died after a surgery that did not help after all.
Jonsi @ Vogue
--------------------
Genius, Relaxing, Moving, Energy, Incredible Visuals, Outstanding Performance
This could be words used to describe this fabulous singer, musician and his music.
It could be described as Sigur Ros++ since Jonsi (singer from Sigur Ros) created here the same quality we would wish for from a Sigur Ros album, but he adds energy and beats uncommon to his other band. Also, the presentation of the concert added so much to the musical performance with animated videos projected on many different screens and each screen showed a piece of the puzzle to this great story he was telling us. Burned stage, animal life, rainy night, art pieces created in front of the audience.
The band playing with so many unusual instruments such as a suitcase used as a bass drum, playing guitar with violin bow, etc...
The songs really take a different twist live and they are all playing diffently than on the album and it propagates emotions to the crowd.
One of the best shows Ive ever been to ... I even wanted to go back the day after, but word of mouth had to happen and the next show became sold out really fast!
To be enjoyed absolutely!
Charlotte Gainsbourg @ Vogue
--------------------------------------
Good songs from her albums, great songs from her father, most boring performance ever
I didnt know what to expect going to a Charlotte Gainsbourg show... she's an actress I figured she could act and create a great performance, but that did not happened. Charlotte seemed like someone who was really shy, unsure of herself and unable to move an inch through her performace except during a song taken from her dad's catalog and in the encore.
Holding the microphone in one hand, other hand in her pocket, looking at the floor in front of her and not the crowd... this was a receipe for disaster and it was! More insulting was the fact that at some point she got a chair and actually sat down ... really and did this is at a moment when I thought it couldnt be more dull :(
Fortunately, her main guitarist Nicole was moving, seemed to have some fun and tried to entertain the crowd a little bit. Great band though behind her and great songs from Air and Beck who wrote her albums.
Just an unfortunate spending.
Soon:
LCD Soundsystem @ Malkin Bowl
Melvins @ Rickshaw
Our Lady Peace (Clumsy Set) @ Vogue
dimanche 18 avril 2010
samedi 17 avril 2010
Great artist with stories
Im currently working with Sean and found out that he was doing great drawings and telling everyday stories through them.
look at his blog its interesting to me anyways :
http://seankaremaker.blogspot.com/
look at his blog its interesting to me anyways :
http://seankaremaker.blogspot.com/
hello Vancouver
Ive been visiting Vancouver for 3 months now (already!) and here's what i think of it as of now.
So far I've visited most of downtown area, a little bit of Burnaby, Granville Island, Squamish and drove through a portion of south west Vancouver.
Downtown
--------------
I live in downtown Vancouver and i love it! (Yaletown)
This is certainly the most fun area if you are into music shows, bars, shopping, nightclubs and good restaurants, but its also really loud on weekend through the early hours of the night.
Ive been walking a lot trying to visit and see as much as possible.
Granville street and Robson are the streets with the most activities and traffic at night since a lot of people are going out at night even on Sundays so everyday is a day where you can go out and have some fun! The hardest part of it all would be to select the bar/nightclub that you will like... which will not be a trivial task. So many of them right next to each other doesnt help a lot, maybe you can look at people going in and you'll figure it out...
Vancouver Art Gallery
-----------------------
Here you can find the Leonardo Da Vinci human body drawings covering all possible muscles, bones and their reason to be there. This is an incredible exposition since it shows how clever Da Vinci was at that moment in history where the only information about the human body was found by actually doing dissections on dead body at night. Moreover, you will be amazed at how much detail he could draw using ink that you couldnt erase ... so its a one time think... dont screw up otherwise you start all over and with all those details im sure he wouldnt want that.
Really interesting to see.
Stanley Park
--------------
Stanley Park on a sunny day is one of the best things about Vancouver ... enjoy a day biking, hiking, getting a tan at one of the beaches and going to the Aquarium. The park has those huge trees that you can only find in Pacific Northwest area. The waterwall is a great place to bike around the park next to the water, beaches and mountains. On the beaches you will have great views of the water(obviously), boats and the best part of it all the high mountains with snow on the top while you get a tan in the hot sun. On the beaches you will find big tree logs that you can use to sit on or relax leaning on them. Each beach has a variety to it some with volleyball nets, kids games or restaurants.
Aquarium
-----------
The Aquarium is a must see visit because it has some of the weirdest fishes, reptiles, and animals that live in the area and tropical settings. You will get to see astonishing black and white Dolphins that were rescued after being trapped and injured in nets. You can listen to some trainers who will talk about those dolphins and entertain the crowd playing with the dolphins who do great tricks. Those dolphins cant be released in the wild since they would not survive with those injuries they have so they are taken care of here and used as research to help understand more about them.
Also, you will be able to see a family of Belugas who seem to be enjoying their pool swimming around, playing with each other. You'll be able to learn more about them as well.
Throughout the aquarium you will see things you never saw before and maybe touch a see star ... its a great place to go. I enjoyed it for a couple of hours before leaving for third beach.
Going there on a sunny day is a better option since you will be spending a lot of time outside.
Gastown (Chinatown)
---------------------
I visited Gastown/Chinatown the other day and it was a stressful time I found.
Why? Because this area includes the infamous approved drugged/poverty district of vancouver... pretty much a dodgy area i would say... it doesnt feel safe at all with fights occuring, drug dealing and other such activities.
I walked around avoided certain areas as much as possible, the best thing to visit is the free garden but not really worth the walk i found.
Walked there at night yesterday to get to a music venue that was located in the middle of that dodgy area... I survived but ...
Granville Island
-------------------
I went to Granville Island during the Olympics so obviously there was a lot of people there. Next time I go might be a really different experience, but I found a great micro-brewery, good fish & chips, good restaurants and a good art institute (Emilie Carr). Nice to visit and you can get there by boat-taxi which is a faster and cheaper way to get there.
Kits beach area
------------
Kitsilano beach area has a lot to offer from the beach itself with volleyball nets laying around, the huge pool, restaurants, Space Museum, Vancouver museums.
It was really windy when I went so it was so great, but the view was really nice with those nearby snow covered mountains and the bike trails is used by a lot of people and you can pretty much go anywhere using it.
SouthEast-ish Vancouver/UBC area
------------------------------------
The area around British Columbia University is the next best thing after the downtown area Ive visited so far. The area feels like a calm suburb with really great looking houses and grass around! This could potentially be a great place for families since it looks good and safer than some areas in gastown... The University with its museum, soccer fields, japanese garden and great architecture needs to be visited. I need to do it too ;)
Burnaby
----------
I travelled to Burnaby twice. The first time to go see the Vancouver Whitecaps playing the Seattle Sounders at the Vancouver stadium. It was a boring game ending in a 0-0 draw, but still got to see some soccer action with an MLS team. The way to Burnaby is not so beautiful and you really know when you leave downtown Vancouver heading east to go to Burnaby since everything looks older and poorer which looks a lot like Hollywood Blvd in L.A.
Today I went to 2 soccer shops outside Vancouver: The soccer shop, which had great selection, but the staff was really not friendly so it was not a great place to go. Then I found in Burnaby on Eastings Saveco Sports which is smaller, feels more like a family shop and the owner was really friendly and we had a talk about Holland and having a hard time selling those shirts. is it that holland fans dont buy merchandise or they keep their old jerseys and never change them ?
Squamish
------------
I went to Squamish to visit but mostly to do some marketing research not so long ago.
Squamish is the Outdoor activities capital of Canada where you can pretty much do any outdoor sports you want in a great natural setting. The mountain called the Chief is one of the highlight of the area where you can do some hiking, moutain climbing, jump off the cliff, skiing (?). In the area, you can bike, kayak, kite surfing, skating and any other outdoor activity you can think of. People we met there were really interesting and friendly. You can get all the gear you desire in the area with great local shops to really get the info you deserve to know about everything.
Worst place I went to was the Activity Information Center where we were really poorly received (thats the least i could say) and left almost as fast as we arrived eheh.
well this is it for the places i visited so far ...
So far I've visited most of downtown area, a little bit of Burnaby, Granville Island, Squamish and drove through a portion of south west Vancouver.
Downtown
--------------
I live in downtown Vancouver and i love it! (Yaletown)
This is certainly the most fun area if you are into music shows, bars, shopping, nightclubs and good restaurants, but its also really loud on weekend through the early hours of the night.
Ive been walking a lot trying to visit and see as much as possible.
Granville street and Robson are the streets with the most activities and traffic at night since a lot of people are going out at night even on Sundays so everyday is a day where you can go out and have some fun! The hardest part of it all would be to select the bar/nightclub that you will like... which will not be a trivial task. So many of them right next to each other doesnt help a lot, maybe you can look at people going in and you'll figure it out...
Vancouver Art Gallery
-----------------------
Here you can find the Leonardo Da Vinci human body drawings covering all possible muscles, bones and their reason to be there. This is an incredible exposition since it shows how clever Da Vinci was at that moment in history where the only information about the human body was found by actually doing dissections on dead body at night. Moreover, you will be amazed at how much detail he could draw using ink that you couldnt erase ... so its a one time think... dont screw up otherwise you start all over and with all those details im sure he wouldnt want that.
Really interesting to see.
Stanley Park
--------------
Stanley Park on a sunny day is one of the best things about Vancouver ... enjoy a day biking, hiking, getting a tan at one of the beaches and going to the Aquarium. The park has those huge trees that you can only find in Pacific Northwest area. The waterwall is a great place to bike around the park next to the water, beaches and mountains. On the beaches you will have great views of the water(obviously), boats and the best part of it all the high mountains with snow on the top while you get a tan in the hot sun. On the beaches you will find big tree logs that you can use to sit on or relax leaning on them. Each beach has a variety to it some with volleyball nets, kids games or restaurants.
Aquarium
-----------
The Aquarium is a must see visit because it has some of the weirdest fishes, reptiles, and animals that live in the area and tropical settings. You will get to see astonishing black and white Dolphins that were rescued after being trapped and injured in nets. You can listen to some trainers who will talk about those dolphins and entertain the crowd playing with the dolphins who do great tricks. Those dolphins cant be released in the wild since they would not survive with those injuries they have so they are taken care of here and used as research to help understand more about them.
Also, you will be able to see a family of Belugas who seem to be enjoying their pool swimming around, playing with each other. You'll be able to learn more about them as well.
Throughout the aquarium you will see things you never saw before and maybe touch a see star ... its a great place to go. I enjoyed it for a couple of hours before leaving for third beach.
Going there on a sunny day is a better option since you will be spending a lot of time outside.
Gastown (Chinatown)
---------------------
I visited Gastown/Chinatown the other day and it was a stressful time I found.
Why? Because this area includes the infamous approved drugged/poverty district of vancouver... pretty much a dodgy area i would say... it doesnt feel safe at all with fights occuring, drug dealing and other such activities.
I walked around avoided certain areas as much as possible, the best thing to visit is the free garden but not really worth the walk i found.
Walked there at night yesterday to get to a music venue that was located in the middle of that dodgy area... I survived but ...
Granville Island
-------------------
I went to Granville Island during the Olympics so obviously there was a lot of people there. Next time I go might be a really different experience, but I found a great micro-brewery, good fish & chips, good restaurants and a good art institute (Emilie Carr). Nice to visit and you can get there by boat-taxi which is a faster and cheaper way to get there.
Kits beach area
------------
Kitsilano beach area has a lot to offer from the beach itself with volleyball nets laying around, the huge pool, restaurants, Space Museum, Vancouver museums.
It was really windy when I went so it was so great, but the view was really nice with those nearby snow covered mountains and the bike trails is used by a lot of people and you can pretty much go anywhere using it.
SouthEast-ish Vancouver/UBC area
------------------------------------
The area around British Columbia University is the next best thing after the downtown area Ive visited so far. The area feels like a calm suburb with really great looking houses and grass around! This could potentially be a great place for families since it looks good and safer than some areas in gastown... The University with its museum, soccer fields, japanese garden and great architecture needs to be visited. I need to do it too ;)
Burnaby
----------
I travelled to Burnaby twice. The first time to go see the Vancouver Whitecaps playing the Seattle Sounders at the Vancouver stadium. It was a boring game ending in a 0-0 draw, but still got to see some soccer action with an MLS team. The way to Burnaby is not so beautiful and you really know when you leave downtown Vancouver heading east to go to Burnaby since everything looks older and poorer which looks a lot like Hollywood Blvd in L.A.
Today I went to 2 soccer shops outside Vancouver: The soccer shop, which had great selection, but the staff was really not friendly so it was not a great place to go. Then I found in Burnaby on Eastings Saveco Sports which is smaller, feels more like a family shop and the owner was really friendly and we had a talk about Holland and having a hard time selling those shirts. is it that holland fans dont buy merchandise or they keep their old jerseys and never change them ?
Squamish
------------
I went to Squamish to visit but mostly to do some marketing research not so long ago.
Squamish is the Outdoor activities capital of Canada where you can pretty much do any outdoor sports you want in a great natural setting. The mountain called the Chief is one of the highlight of the area where you can do some hiking, moutain climbing, jump off the cliff, skiing (?). In the area, you can bike, kayak, kite surfing, skating and any other outdoor activity you can think of. People we met there were really interesting and friendly. You can get all the gear you desire in the area with great local shops to really get the info you deserve to know about everything.
Worst place I went to was the Activity Information Center where we were really poorly received (thats the least i could say) and left almost as fast as we arrived eheh.
well this is it for the places i visited so far ...
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