Grizzly Bear- Zoo Twilights

As part of their Australian tour in support of Painted Ruins Grizzly Bear made a stop in Melbourne tonight to play Zoo Twilights at the Melbourne Zoo. This was my second time seeing the band in the last few months as I was fortunate enough to catch them in San Francisco in December when I was home.

The opening act was Swedish musician Jens Lekman, who played a really entertaining set of his poppy songs that had everyone bopping along. He told great stories to explain the origins of the songs, including "An Argument With Myself" which was written about Melbourne when he used to live here.

The whole front section of the crowd was standing by the time Grizzly Bear took to the stage. They opened with one of my favorite tracks off of Painted Ruins, "Aquarian." Other highlights from the album included "Cut-Out," "Four Cypresses" and "Mourning Sound." The band sounded great and seemed to be enjoying themselves throughout the evening. Ed commented that this was their biggest crowd yet in Melbourne. I was happy to hear many of my favorite tracks from their back catalogue such as "Yet Again," "Sleeping Ute," "Two Weeks," "On A Neck, On A Spit" and "While We Wait For The Others," which closed out the main set. During the encore Chris Taylor made the funny comment they thought playing at a zoo would be the low point in their career but that the setting was actually was quite nice. To finish the night they played a fantastic version of "Sun In Your Eyes." It was another amazing live show from the band and just so impressive to watch them play and enjoying themselves on stage.

Here's the video for "Neighbors"

Grizzly Bear- Painted Ruins USA Tour

One of the exciting things about being home was being able to catch Grizzly Bear play the second of their two shows at The Warfield in San Francisco in support of their latest album Painted Ruins. As the band have yet to tour the album in Australia this was my first opportunity to get to hear many of these songs live. Gabby joined me for the evening, and we arrived as the stage was getting set up with some lovely cloud like backdrops hanging from the rafters.

The band came out onto the stage to big applause and launched into "Four Cypresses." They ended up playing a lot of my favorite tracks off their albums throughout the night, including "Mourning Sound" "Cut-Out" and "Neighbors" from Painted Ruins (unfortunately we didn't get "Aquarian" as it was only played at the first show), "Sleeping Ute" and "Yet Again" off of Shields, "Two Weeks" and "While You Wait For The Others" off of Veckatimest, and "On A Neck, On A Spit" from Yellow House.

It was an amazing live set and I am always impressed by how the band manage to recreate the complex layers of their album tracks live, both through harmonies and instruments. The lighting for the show also added a lot to the mood of the songs. Ed Droste and most of us in the crowd were in a celebratory mood with Doug Jones win over Roy Moore for the US Senate seat in Alabama (a little glimmer of hope in a dark year). For the encore they played the very early track "Shift" and then brought the house down with "Sun In Your Eyes" to finish. I'm looking forward to catching them again when they play Zoo Twilights in Melbourne in March 2018.

Here's the slightly NSFW video for "Mourning Sound"

Daniel Rossen- Northcote Social Club

When Daniel Rossen last played in Melbourne with Grizzly Bear in 2012 his solo EP Silent Hour / Golden Mile had just been released. I never thought I would get to hear these songs played live, so I was super excited when he announced he would be doing a solo tour of Australia last year. Belinda joined me at the Northcote Social Club for tonight's second sold out show. The opening act was Jasia (aka Josiah Willows), who was accompanied by a guy on double bass. He mixed his classical training on violin with loops and electric guitar, producing an ethereal sound with his voice and music.

Daniel Rossen came out and took a seat on the raised platform on the stage and started his set with "Up On High." He joked that this was his vacation tour as he's escaping the winter and snow in New York. Alternating between 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars run through pedals and a piano, he played songs spanning his entire career. Highlights included "Silent Song" and "Golden Mile" from his solo EP, and a number of Department of Eagles tracks off In Ear Park: "In Ear Park," "Herringbone" and "Balmy Night," which he played on the banjo. He did a cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Kathleen" as well as a few brand new and unreleased songs of his own, including the amazing track "Not Coming Back."

Daniel is a phenomenal guitar player so it was such a privilege to watch him play up close in an intimate setting. I also have to commend the crowd who were quiet and very respectful throughout the evening. It was so nice to not have to deal with talkers and noise and be able to focus on the music. This is especially true since he only played a couple of older Grizzly Bear tracks in the set: "Easier" and "Deep Blue Sea." Daniel finished the night with the Department of Eagles' song "Phantom Other." It was such an amazing show, and so great to hear songs that I thought I would never get to see played live in concert.

Here's a 2014 live set by Daniel on Seattle's KEXP:

Grizzly Bear- Shields Tour

Last night I ventured to Billboard The Venue after work to see Grizzly Bear's sold out side show in support of their fantastic new album Shields.  The opening act was Sydney musician Kirin J Callinan.  He started solo on stage with just his guitar and some samples and then brought out a few female friends (including Pikelet) to play bass, drums, guitar and keyboards.  It was quite an interesting set to watch as he took us on this sonic adventure with lots of different soundscapes.

I had a great position up the front for Grizzly Bear and was so excited to finally have the opportunity to watch them perform these richly layered songs in a live setting.  Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen traded off on lead vocal duties throughout the night.  They played most of Shields as well as songs from Veckatimest and Yellow House.  There were many highlights throughout the nearly two hour long set, but my favorite songs were "Yet Again," "Sleeping Ute," "Two Weeks," "Gun-Shy" and "While You Wait For The Others," which had everyone singing along and their keyboard player fulfilling a band request to crowd surf.  For the last song of the night we were treated to an acoustic version of "All We Ask."  It was such an amazing show and a real privilege to see them play in a small club.  Definitely go check them out live if you get the chance.

Here's the video for "Yet Again"