KJames199
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|  #1 Posted on 15.10.16 2012.24
Reposted on: 15.10.23 2012.29 | Well, this should be short. This was one of those evenings where the tunes were good and it was a nice night out but I don't really have anything to say about it.
I was vaguely aware of Basia Bulat the first time I saw her play, which was nearly ten years ago now. I knew her name, anyway, though not how to pronounce it - I got that wrong for years. Am not particularly confident now. But I digress. Some friends of friends had a show at Amigo's in Saskatoon, and she opened for them. That seemed a bit weird, given that I had actually heard of her. Seems more weird now.
I remember thinking that her songs were very pleasant and enjoyable. I saw her again at the Regina Folk Festival a few years later (which was now a few years ago, in what has to be some kind of time paradox) and felt much the same. You may note the lack of details or strong opinions here. That's how it goes sometimes. Sometimes you just say "that was nice" and move on.
But nice is good! I like nice. So when the Folk Festival announced that they were bringing her back for a show this fall, I picked up a ticket. I figured that it might be the kind of show I'd be tempted to skip out on if I didn't buy in advance. And I was right, since the show took place during the first snowfall of the year. I had to brush snow off the car, scrape the windows, all that nonsense. Staying inside was a tempting offer, but out I went. Toughed it out. For YOU. Mostly for me, but a bit for you.
I got to the Exchange and the place was surprisingly full. I go to lots of half-attended concerts in Regina, and between this and Fred Eaglesmith, you can really see where the Regina Folk Festival's promotional efforts pay off. The casino does good work too, but I wonder what could be leveraged to get people out to other shows? musicreginalive.ca is great, but you need to proactively check it. There's a business idea here. One that likely involves a ton of work for very little reward.
Anyway, you don't care about that. What you care about is that I sat by the wall in the same place that I sat for the previous show. Also I maybe had a Diet Pepsi? Can't remember. Sounds like a thing I might do. And Other James was there, but he was seated far away and we never crossed paths. He later messaged me to tell me that I missed a great show.
Our openers were Oh Pep!, a duo from Australia. Olivia and Pepita. Here's what you need to know: Olivia's least favourite nut is the cashew nut. Her most favourite nut is the Brazil nut. Olivia has ass-backwards taste in nuts, is what I got out of this. But despite that, these folks were pretty charming. They were touring their first album and played a set of classical-influenced pop (note that I don't really know what constitutes "classical-influenced pop;" they just mentioned studying classical music together in school so sure, let's go with that). Basically, if you like Basia Bulat, you'll probably like them. Normally they tour with a full band, but being far from home, it was just the two of them. I enjoyed this and would like to hear what they sound like with some extra musicians. Maybe they'll come back - their new album was recorded in Canada, and also they seemed really delighted that they got to experience snow.
Conversely, this was my first time hearing Basia Bulat with a backing band. I'm still not hugely familiar with her music - she's one of those people I only ever seem to listen to when I see her in concert - but I enjoyed the fleshed-out sound. It was a full poppy tunes with a little more energy than I've seen from her before. This was all nice. I recognized the last song she played. And that was really about it. I'll likely go see her again in a few years and I won't be any better at this. | Promote this thread! |             | | ALL ORIGINAL POSTS IN THIS THREAD ARE NOW AVAILABLE |
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