you know when you ask someone;
"so, what kind of music do you listen to?"and they say - "oh you, everything".
translation?
"oh you know, what's on the radio, and music from movies, and youtube and stuff, I guess. oh and that sweet song from the telus commercial."
so..... by everything..... you mean..... nothing? nothing or crap, from what I'm getting. well maybe not all crap, but certainly a large majority of crap with the occasional gemstone of rare top-40 goodness.
So, when someone I've just met asks me "so, Jill, what kind of music do you listen to?" and I say, "oh, you know, everything" .... you best believe I mean everything.
Dance tunes? hell yes. Lil rock and roll? of course. Ruff rap? errday. Old school hip hop? even better. Twangy country? aw hell yea. Smooth jazz? yes please. Showtunes? favourite. Dirty punk rock? uh huh. Bouncy ska? bring it on. Death metal? got it's moments. Screamo? been there. Whiney boy bands? since '94. Classical? rock me wolfgang....
but sift through the 6000-some-odd songs on my Itunes (not to mention in the extensive CD collection that stopped growing when I finally caved and got an ipod) and one genre... style... mood of music if you will, always seems to dominate....
and that my friends, is the glorious combination of a boy, a guitar, and a beautiful voice. particular all-time faves in this group include Jason Mraz, James Morisson, and canadian cutie Kyle Riabko. However this past six months, one gorgeous growly man and his magic strings have taken over all my playlists. That man is none other than vancouver born Dan Mangan, and last week I was lucky enough to see him in concert. In light of this, without further delay, I give you;
The unofficial (but still totally kind of legitimate) DAN MANGAN Concert Review!... because the charlatan wouldn't give me a press pass.
Friday, October 14th. Classes end and the scramble begins. I book it out the doors of the university centre only to be stopped dead in my tracks by a bearded beauty staring back at me from the cover of Express. I pick up the newspaper and leaf through: "dan mangan's new album Oh Fortune, out last friday, totally awesome, etc. etc. etc.... will be playing at the bronson centre tonight ...."
my heart stops. tonight.. tonight!?? ... tonight!! It feels like this whole month andthensome has been gearing up to this night, and my ears can't believe it's finally here. Time to rush home with a scant FIVE HOURS to pick an outfit and get good and concert drunk.
For those of you unaware (poor things), mr mangan is a Canadian born and bred artist armed with a talent unmatched on today's airwaves. His voice has a rusty sort of clarity that lends extra intensity to those wish-you-could-hit-them notes, and his guitar work is equally enchanting. The first song that got me hooked was "Sold" - a roadtrip anthem if there ever was one - and since then my headphones and speakers have been flooded with all things DAN. I invite you to step into the musical madness of my mind, by clicking here:
the night started off slow, and thanks to excessive pre-drinking and my time-challenged friends (you know who you are...) the doors which opened at 7 weren't graced with our presence until at least 8:30. Blame it on the wrong bus stop or mr. jagermeister, but needless to say we didn't even see a sliver of the openers. but, eventually, we made it. and there he was. all stage-lit and midsong.
I suppose this is more of a last-half and post-concert review, considering we walked in a few songs deep and had to lean over the mezzanine while the punctual concert goers got seats. But I didn't care, because I was soaking in every inch of the magic unfolding in front of me. I was doubly stoked when the band took a break and dan stood alone in the spotlight with his guitar and started plucking out the tune to "The Indie Queens Are Waiting" - one of the more mellow yet still unbelievably beautiful songs from his second album. It was haunting.
The night ended with a truly epic stand-up-and-sing-along rendition of "Jeopardy" where both opening bands and two kids from the audience with robot heads (no joke) crowded the stage and sang in harmony while the audience swayed along. A moment that would move even the most cynical of hearts, it's had me singing and swooning since.
After the encore and a quick "see you at the merch table!" from the man himself, kids poured out of the bronson centre doors and into the lobby. the place was packed, with no hope of even scoring a T-shirt let alone a conversation. So I muscled through, elbowing my way past the ones who were lucky enough to make it out before I did. As I made it past the front of the table and almost out the doors, a sweaty looked scruffy man in Dan Mangan's shirt walked infront of me. Is that??? Holy shit.... automatic reactions kicked in and my tongue took it's own course.....
"DAN!" .... he turned around and smiled a hello. Oh my god, that's really your name!! it's actually you!! Being a few jagerbombs for the worse at this point and completely starstruck, our actual conversation remains a bit blurry in my memory. But through my whole frantic banter (something along the lines of "I just love your music-and my sister sent me your song while I was in australia-and it's totally like my favourite-and you're just so great-and I, I, I....") .... He was smiling a big ear-to-ear smile that was a million times more vibrant than any magazine cover pose I'd seen all over the city in the last week. When I finally stopped spouting insanities, he left me with a giant smile and a friendly handshake/arm pat (YESSSS! next stop HUGTOWN!) and thanked me for coming to the show. call me crazy... but I think he meant it.
After talking extensively with the band outside the theatre - who were also awesome dudes to the highest degree - and floating home on a cloud, I fell asleep with ringing in my ears and a smile on my face.
mission accomplished,
what a night.
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