Show: Red Sparowes and Caspian

At last Caspian! They came to Vancouver for the first time. They sure do look like a rock band. Somewhere between arty and blue collar, they exist and devote everything to their music. Their show was good, yet it was amazing that they did not play "The Raven". It's probably because they have played the piss out of it and wanted to salvage some magic from one of their best songs for future tours. They do tour a lot.
One of the guys in Caspian looks so much like Jim Smith, right down to the Chuck Taylors. With all those pedals, it was like having good ole Jimbo back in the Pacific Northwest. We miss you, Jimmy All The Time! Caspian's set was kind of average, to be honest - until the last three songs. "Brombie" just had something extra to it, and I was moved to head bang. The final two songs were some of fans' least favorites, but they were so good live I was quite pleasantly surprised. "Vienna" and "Sycamore", the final diptych of Tertia, closed the show, and it was one of the only moments that I was into the show, not overthinking things, not thinking "where is the raven, god dammit?" It slayed, and having everyone smash the drums together is an exhilarating way to end a show.

Julia was at this show with me. Beforehand we had a dinner date (our first in months!), drank some choice red wine, got all happy and jogged through some rain over to the Biltmore. We stood up at the stage for Caspian, but happiness was wearing thin as far as "standing" went, so most of Red Sparowes was taken in at the back on The Biltmore's nice velour couches. I have to hand it to Red Sparowe's design team. Their visuals were so professional and engaging this time around, and really, when a band moves this seldomly, the visuals are a huge plus. Nonetheless, we were so tired. Yet another show went down where I took my wife, and we either fell asleep, got morning sickness or jumped ship because one of us was pregnant and unsure of how a fetus would react.

I kind of decided after this show that I wasn't really into going to post rock shows anymore. Despite how much I love the music, the shows are just not compelling enough (I will probably still go to them anyway! On guestlists). I was extremely bummed out that Fang Island did not make it through the border to this show. Honestly, that was the band I was pumped to see. Now they're off with Coheed or STP or something, playing arenas. All you asshole Americans with criminal records constantly disappoint me! At least all of Red Sparowes made it through the border this time (unlike last time). Their new guitar player is a lady, but no more interesting than their former player(s). I like to think they added changed guitar players so they could come to Canada... and Europe and anywhere else. Ah well. We will always have the pedal steel. It truly makes watching this band worth it.

Cue the video (not from my show) (in fact none of these photos are either, but they are from the same tour)

Red Sparowes - A Hail of Bombs from Jon Mancinetti on Vimeo.