Feist and last and always

My plan last Thursday was too wrap things up at work, zip home to eat dinner, then dash over to the Capital Music Hall to see Feist. While I handled the zipping, eating and dashing well enough, wrapping things up at work proved a little more troublesome. By the time I got there, about two hours later than I had planned, Peter Elkas had come and gone and Paso Mino was down to their last couple of songs.
This caused me a few problems picture wise - every other show at the Capital Music Hall I've managed to snag a place in the front row; this time around I was one of the last people to arrive. As you'd expect of a woman who recently won two Junos on the strength of her reputation-making sophomore album, Let It Die, Feist easily sold out the 1,000-person capacity Capital Music Hall, and all of them were between me and the stage when I arrived. Thus, this entry is long on text and short on pictures (all five of which are crap, anyway, so no harm there).
Anyway, the last few songs from Paso Mino sounded good. I saw them provide backing duties for folk-rocker Jason Collett at Ottawa'’s Bluesfest in the summer of 2005. At the Capital they sounded like hazy, fertile Americana and drew a good crowd response.

You can sort of make them out ...



The audience was super-keen to see Feist, and as her expected arrival on stage drew nie just about everyone who wandered on (sound people, guitar techs, Paso Mino members retrieving their gear) drew expectant yells.
Feist has a diverse set of influences, most of which emerged on stage. Her first band, Placebo, had their start as an opening act for the Ramones. Since then she'’s performed with Toronto rockers By Divine Right and Broken Social Scene. She'’s roomed and recorded with smut-rapper Peaches and hip hop production ace Chilly Gonzales. She'’s sung with the Kings of Convenience and Jane Birkin.
Her sophomore album blended chansons, bossa nova and indie rock, and included songs by Francois Hardy, The Bee Gees and Ron Sexsmith, among others.The result of this melting pot is the Left Bank'’s answer to Kate Bush, a woman who can make a garage rock riff sound like a flamenco lick.
Her star has risen far in Canada, and there was a roar of approval when she bounded on stage wearing tight white slacks and matching shirt-jacket, very little of which can be made out in this picture:



She performed her first song a cappella, singing into one microphone, looping the result and singing over it. She then picked up her Guild semi-hollowbody guitar for a more rocking tune before summoning her backing trio to flesh out her songs with a wide variety of instruments: Drums, vibraphone, French horn, bass, guitar and a small and cheesy synth gave her music a far more robust sound than it had on record, but her aching croon still conveyed their melancholy heart.



After a few tunes with her backing band, she sent them off and switched to a parlour acoustic for a few solo songs, including some from the album she intends to start recording in a month'’s time.



Feist was an active stage presence; shaking her past-the-shoulders shaggy '‘do, swinging her guitar during her all-guns-blazing version of Sexsmith'’s Secret Heart; shadowboxing and miming tears while the audience sung the chorus to Fighting Back the Tears. She also invited a couple up on stage to slow-dance, shushed some chatty show-goers during an encore of Intuition and raised the roof with her cover of the Bee Gees'’ Inside and Out.

At the end of the show various members of Peter Elkas' band (including Alanna Stuart) and Paso Mino came out to sing along.



One more cruddy picture ...



I'm definitely looking forward to her next album.