DUFFY - ORPHEUM THEATRE VANCOUVER CONCERT REVIEW & NEW MP3:















(stock photo)

I missed Duffy the last time the young Welsh singer played in Vancouver and got a free last minute pair of tickets for her show tonight at the Orpheum Theatre. Duffy started the show with the song 'Syrup & Honey' , just her and one of her guitarists and her 'eh eh eh eh' style (I don't know what else to call it when she holds those notes) was so grating I thought the night would be a mess. Luckily she was joined by the rest of her very competent six-piece band that upped the cool quotient of the night and helped mask her singing style, especially on the faster songs that she performed. Duffy wore a super tight red dress for the entire concert really playing up the sex kitten persona with very limited 60's MOD style dance moves and the overdone spinning her microphone around on it's cord to get a crowd response. Luckily she did hit the mark on songs like 'Rockferry', 'Stepping Stone', 'Tomorrow' and 'Mercy'. One of the highlights of the evening was the performance of a new song (just went to radio in the U.K.) called 'Rain On Your Parade' (you can download the song here for one week). The song will probably be a huge hit across the pond and could do well on North American radio also if released. She finally got the crowd up on their feet by inviting us to get up and dance our 'Canadian asses' to the song 'Tomorrow' and the crowd remained standing for the rest of the show.

Duffy proved she can hit the right notes at times, but for my money Adele is a much better singer and has way more personality. I saw her live at the Red Room back in May (my review) and she really impressed me with her style, talent and sense of humour. I recommend you try and watch Saturday Night Live this Saturday as Adele is scheduled as musical guest. I hope you'll be impressed enough to go out and buy her cd '19' after you see her perform (that's if you haven't already got a copy in your collection).

Setlist:
Syrup & Honey
Rockferry
Hanging On Too Long
Serious
Breaking My Own Heart
Rain On Your Parade
Warwick Avenue
Delayed Devotion
Stepping Stone
Tomorrow
Mercy

Encores:
Scared
Distant Dreamer
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ADELE - CONCERT REVIEW, THE RED ROOM, VANCOUVER, B.C. - MAY 25TH, 2008:





















Photo Copyright KulPop

Adele has just started her mini tour of North America to promote her album '19' that has already been a success in the U.K. (it has been available in Canada since early February, will be released in the U.S. on CD June 10th). The roughly 400 capacity Red Room appeared sold-out and Adele came on around 9:30 with no opening band. First two songs were just her and her guitar and right away you know she is the real deal, amazing vocalist with a great sense of humour. Adele recently turned 20 and commented that she was happy she could drink legally in Canada and that she planned to get drunk after the gig!

On the third song she was joined by her guitarist Ben Thomas and her keyboard player Steve Holness joined them for the fourth song 'Melt My Heart To Stone (entire setlist below, show was just under an hour in length). The set was also sprinkled with some cover tunes, including her favourite song of all time, 'Fool That I Am' by Etta James. Highlights for me were 'Cold Shoulder', 'Chasing Pavements' and 'Hometown Glory' that was dedicated to Vancouver as she was staying overnight in the city. She joked around quite a bit, showing the audience one of her $8 pair of shoes, and went on about the sexuality of a lead singer of famous British band she fancied, the audience corrected her telling her he was actually married to a woman. She mentioned she will be back in September with her full band, hopefully by then radio over here will have picked up on her great talent and she will have no problem selling out bigger venues (only merchandise for sale was the cd ($10) and vinyl copies of the album, and they sold out of their stock).

Setlist:

Daydreamer - solo guitar
Best For Last - solo guitar
Right As Rain - guitarist Ben joins her
Melt My Heart To Stone - keyboardist Steve also joins them
First Love
Make You Feel My Love (Bob Dylan cover)
That's it, I Quit, I'm Movin' On (Sam Cooke cover)
Cold Shoulder
Hometown Glory

Encores:
Crazy For You - solo guitar
Fool That I Am (Etta James cover)- guitarist back on stage
Chasing Pavements - keyboardist back on stage also

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ELBOW AND AIR TRAFFIC - ST. ANDREWS WESLEY CHURCH VANCOUVER REVIEW:











I had the great pleasure of seeing ''Elbow' and 'Air Traffic' live in concert at a beautiful old church in downtown Vancouver last night. Things got started a bit late but Air Traffic didn't disappoint and played a good set of tracks mostly from their debut cd 'Fractured Life'. These young guys can play (especially bass player Jim Maddock) and the crowd seemed to get into them considering most of them had probably never heard of them before. The band certainly have the talent and energy to rival some of their contemporaries like 'The Arctic Monkeys' and 'Hard-Fi'. Highlights included 'Come On', 'Never Even Told Me Her Name', 'No More Running Away' and 'Shooting Star' that closed their set (and was written for/about someone who lives in Vancouver who was in attendance according to lead singer Chris Wall). I had downloaded their album but when I saw it for sale for $10 I decided to pick it up and got it signed by everyone but the drummer from the band who were out in the lobby after their set.

I have a couple of Elbow cds but have never been a massive fan for some reason (I picked up their latest cd 'The Seldom Seen Kid' also for $10, all bands should sell their cds for this reasonable price). The band were pretty amazing and I definitely see why they have a lot of fans and wonder why they haven't become huge (could be because they don't have the typical rock star look). Lead singer Guy Garvey had some great stories from his days as an alter boy and he seemed truly honoured to have the band playing in this church. Highlights would have to be the new track 'Mirrorball', and their performance of "Newborn' ranks up there as one of the best concert performances I have ever seen. If you aren't familiar with the band do check out the two above mentioned songs. It was a great concert and the only unfortunate thing was that they didn't come out for an encore (which was probably due to local noise bylaw restrictions as the church is in a residential area).

Imogen Heap has a new video blog (#23) where she plays some of a new song titled 'A-ha' which sounds promising. She doesn't mention anything about her walk with Jeff Goldblum, good for her to keep her personal life personal.

SETLIST:

Air Traffic 8:05 - 8:35 pm

Never Even Told Me Her Name
Time Goes By
Come On
I Can't Understand
Charlotte
Take Your Hands Off Me
No More Running Away
Shooting Star

Elbow 9:15 - 10:40 pm

Starlings
The Bones Of You
Leaders Of The Free World
Great Expectations
Mirrorball
Grounds For Divorce
The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver
The Stops
Switching Off
Newborn
One Day Like This
Station Approach
Scattered Black & Whites

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