City And Colour Dazzled Enthusiastic Kingston Crowd

City And Colour brought his A Pill For Loneliness tour to Kingston’s Leon’s Centre and he was welcomed by fans young and old.

The night was started off with a set by Ben Rogers who is signed to Dallas Green’s label, Still Records. Ben’s music is rooted in folk but has elements of country and rock. He looks at his new album as a new beginning so to speak, a re-invention. Jacob Banks came out next with his mixture of soul, R&B and hip hop. Originally from Nigeria and growing up in Alabama, Jacob has been influenced by a little of everything. His music is really not a genre you can put your finger on. One minute you hear hip hop, the next you may be listening something completely different.

For City And Colour, I was set to go, not knowing exactly what to expect. Dallas Green is known for his sad, melancholy music so I really had no idea what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised! True, many of the songs were about lost love, relationships breaking up and other less than happy events, but at the same time it is music that we can all identify with. I went to the show with an open mind, after all, ten Juno nominations with three wins speaks for itself, right? Dallas explains it saying that he is just more motivated to write when experiencing unhappy events.

I did find the subjects a little sad and lonely but at the same time very melodic. The writing and presentation of the music keeps you interested. “Northern Blues” in particular had an addictive groove that actually reminded me of Pink Floyd. One thing I did notice is that the crowd was not up dancing for most of the show like so many shows I go to. They sat in their seats and politely listened to the music.

In October, Dallas added a new rhythm section to the family, Anna Ruddick on bass and Leon Power on drums. They fit in nicely with long time guitar player, Dante Schwebel and keyboard player Matt Kelly to make an amazing band! Dallas’ own guitar playing along with some of the smoothest and most relaxing vocals I’ve ever heard made this show a pleasure to experience.

The overall production was another thing of note. The lighting included five round assemblies of lights over the stage. These units were mobile in that they moved up and down independently of one another and helped to create very different looks for different portions of the show.

Along with some hits like “Fragile Bird” and “Lover Come Back”, they showcased several of the songs from the new album A Pill for Loneliness like “Astronaut”, “Strangers”, “Mountain Of Madness and “Difficult Love”. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was the five song encore that began with a very good cover of The Tragically Hip’s “Bobcaygeon” to pay homage to the hometown band.

I came away from this show such a fan of City and Colour, I went home and downloaded the If I Should Go Before You album (I love “Northern Blues”) and I think I’ve listened to at least a portion of it every day since.

for more information, check out their websites!

Ben Rogers

Jacob Banls

City and Colour

 

 

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