As the rain poured outside on a dreary Wednesday night, Chad VanGaalen and his three bandmates played a cozy set to a packed crowd at TT the Bear's. Sadly, I only caught the last half, as we were watching his label-mate Daniel Martin Moore perform down the street. What I saw, however, was a pleasant teaser and a motivation to see him again.*
Though a fan of his latest release Diaper Island (Sub Pop Records), I didn't appreciate how guitar-heavy the new material is until I, uh, saw three guitarists on stage. Absent were the odd quirky touches of his older catalog and very present were classic, layered guitar riffs. Impressively, the audience appeared familiar with the new material, one young man quite enthusiastically belting out, "Shave My Pussy." And that was the perfect ending to his encore, especially coupled with its thematic complement "Never Cut My Hair." Not on the new record (VanGaalen is quite the prolific musician, with heaploads of b-sides. Download some great ones here.), "Never Cut My Hair" highlighted VanGaalen's sweet stage presence. With a ukulele against his large frame, VanGaalen crooned this simple folk song with his bandmate harmonizing behind him. When finished, he gave a large grin and a huge hug to his friend. Are all Canadians this sweet? Check out a live performance of "Never Cut My Hair" and European tour dates below.
* We also missed Nat Baldwin, a melophobe favorite, so if anyone wants to tell me if he apologized for wearing a Steve Nash jersey, I'm all ears.
Summer European Tour Dates:
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Paradiso, Amsterdam Netherlands
Thursday, August 4, 2011
King Georg, Cologne Germany
Friday, August 5, 2011
FESTSAAL, Berlin Germany
Puschen Fest @Festsaal Kreuzberg
http://www.festsaal-kreuzberg.de/
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Sommerfest, Biesenthal Germany
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Klub 007 Strahov, Prague Czech Republic
http://www.klub007strahov.cz/
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Terraneo Festival, Sibenik Croatia
http://www.terraneofestival.com/
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Pustervik, Gothenborg Sweden
Way Out West @ Pusterviksbaren
Friday, August 12, 2011
Vega, Copenhagen Denmark
http://vega.dk/
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Cargo - London, London United Kingdom
www.birdonthewire.net/events.html
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Brudenell Social, Leeds United Kingdom
www.brudenellsocialclub.co.uk/
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Captain's Rest, Glasgow United Kingdom
www.captainsrest.co.uk/
Friday, August 19, 2011
Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh United Kingdom
www.sneakypetes.co.uk/
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Deaf Institute, Manchester United Kingdom
http://thedeafinstitute.co.uk
