Tight black pants? check. Black high top Keds? Check. Red plaid shirt? Check. Thick Rimmed Glasses? Double Check.
"Yeah, so I booked this gig a while ago, and it was supposed to be a solo, acoustic show... I decided to bring a six person band." -MBF.
Seven thirty rolls around and we finally stumble upon Communitea to an already small gathering of people waiting outside to grab seats.
Eight thirty brings us to "The Kiteless Flights" {as Steve #2 lovingly named them} who take the stage. They were basically a wicked little band where the oldest musician was pushing it at 16. They took hold of their instruments and completely shocked me with a great rendition of Glen Hansard's "Falling Slowly". After playing a few original tunes, the crowd; mostly filled with proud parents, applauded their little ones.
Nine o'clock or so brings us to the night's main attraction. Every seat is taken and Michael opens the show with himself, his guitar and his trusty loop peddle. Now, I will let myself indulge in a quick fan moment and say that when he opened with "Heroes" I was über stoked. First, I have never heard or seen videos of him playing this live before. Second, his layering of harmonizing vocals on top of one another made it impossible to focus on anything else. Throughout the night he got good use out of his loop peddle. Case&Point, he did a loop with the entire band for the first time which sounded glorious.
The song "Suzie (I Love You)" brought around a dedication to the "Suzie" in the crowd that night a.k.a. my friend Lizzie.
Shortly after Michael telling loving stories of the first time he played in Canmore, the band stepped in to bring "Maxine" to life while the horn section hilariously mimed the words to the song when their lips weren't pressed to brass.
The rest of the set included bringing out older tracks like "Mary Me Mary" and "Black and White Phonetics". Also, Andrew {drummer}, and Michael got all of Communitea to it's feet with Brand New Spaces' iconic - Stomp, Stomp, Stomp, Stomp&Clap. And not to forget the nights first MVP, who was an older gentleman whom Michael jokingly called out for getting up and walking to the bathroom by saying:
Where are you going, sir?
Give the guy about 5 minutes and he returns and replies with:
I was getting you a beer.Well played sir, well played.
Overall, I can tell you that this "small cafe show" was none of the sort. With exuberant Saxophone and keyboard solos and hilarious crowd participation it was a night I won't soon forget. Sorry you had to miss it.
Next on the sched. Aidan Knight opening for Dan Mangan. Can't wait for some awesome "Robots" sing along.
Peas & Luhv.
Brie
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