Joel Plaskett review

" Staring at a western sky

Rolling down the Rockies road

After a 14 hour drive

I only wanna be in Vogue

Thinkin' bout my love back home

Thinkin' bout my country

Think I'll sing a little song "

(Custom lyrics for Vancouver that I snatched after the show)

Any shows that come after this point have a hell of a high bar to reach. Joel Plaskett, Bill Plaskett, Ana Egge and Rose Cousins worked real hard to earn the two standing ovations that they received at the Vogue in Vancouver on May 9th. They played for around 2.5 hours, which included 2 sets, with an encore long enough to be a set of its own... more than the "THREE MORE!" that I yelled, thankfully!

Each musician was distinguished in their own right and each shared the spotlight. I think that was the major thing that made the concert spectacular. Joel was more than happy to share the stage and to provide back up support for both Ana Egge and Rose Cousins' performances of their own songs. There was no ego, just a lot of laughs (some uncontrollably during songs), a lot of sing-alongs and impromptu clapping from the audience, a lot of talent, and a lot of love and mutual admiration.

Some links:

Ana Egge

Rose Cousins

Bill Plaskett (Papa Plaskett sang a beautiful song named Places that he wrote when he first moved from England to Vancouver. Here's hoping Joel releases it on his label.)

Pictures from the show (as well as a couple of Immaculate Machine's CD release the night before)

For a more in-depth review (or maybe just one written sooner after the fact)

In a previous post, I'd mentioned that Joel would announce a "secret code" to enable the download of a free track. It turns out that this is a song off his Three More vinyl, which include 3 outtakes from his latest album Three. The song, which was performed live during his shows, is named Spinning For You and is available on his website. As for the password? It's really not that hard to guess. Hint: it's a number.