Dan Deacon at Vancouver’s Richard on Richards
Kristen Cudmore reviews a recent Dan Deacon show at Vancouver club Richard on Richard’s
Dan Deacon is classically trained in electronic music composition and has applied this knowledge to create an overwhelmingly artistic project which deserves an obscene amount of praise. His extremely obscure pieces are used with artistic vortexes in videos and this also becomes part of his live show.
The Baltimore based project has gone on the road as Dan Deacon but for this Bromst tour, he has included an entire cast of musicians to collaborate and exhilarate. I have been one of the lucky ones to actually have witnessed the show at Vancouver’s Richards on Richards on Sunday April 26.
The venue is quite neat in the way that when you go to the show, you can watch from the crowd and be part of a friendly dance pit or you could simply observe over top of the band for a birds eye view to experience the interaction visually and more introspectively. Aside from the ridiculously unfriendly staff at Richards, the expensive drinks ($3.50 for a bottle of water) and coat check, you can still have an amazing time.
Dan Deacon has a following of severely amp’ed show-goers. Even from his beginnings in Baltimore, he’d draw attention from all types of music and art enthusiasts creating a sub-culture of late night dance partiers among many others who stumbled in. Now breaking wind in Canada, his return to Vancouver has been extremely long awaited and including an ensemble has made it all the better!
Performers Include:
- Benny Boeldt: keyboard, sampler, synthesizer
- Denny Bowen: drum kit
- Andrew Burt: guitar, violin
- Andrew Bernstein: saxophone, guitar
- William Cashion: keyboard
- Stephe Cooper: mallets, guitar
- Dan Deacon: voice, electronics, keyboard, sampler
- Gregg Fox: drum kit, mallets
- Justine Frye: cello, mallets
- Chester Gwazda: keyboard, sampler, synthesizer
- Kate Levitt: percussion
- Kevin O’Meara: percussion
- Sam Sowyrda: mallets
- Gerrit Welmers: keyboard, sampler, synthesizer
For some reason, I don’t recall this many people on stage but my attention had been scattered due to the amount of movement I was doing. Admittedly, I cannot recall the order of songs or any details like that from the show because I was just overwhelmed by the energy in the room and the feeling of uncontrollable motion but I can easily say that he put’s on one of the most incredible shows I have ever experienced.
Dan Deacon had a way of directing the audience from side to side, into circles and while watching from above it looked like a beautiful vortex of currents flowing to the chaos. People were so enthralled they looked as if they had been sprayed by a hose. When you get a room full of strangers together to go off into a freakish sweat, by the end of it, they have all shared an amazing experience and it brings people together in the most indescribable way. Maybe that is why his fan base is so strong. The music is meant to include you, it’s almost like you’re a part of the orchestration and Dan Deacon is the wizard behind the art.
His shows come highly recommended and they encounter is absolutely unforgettable. Check out his web presence for tour dates, videos and music samples: www.myspace.com/dandeacon
Photo by Caesar Sebastian, Creative Commons
http://www.myspace.com/dandeacon
