Culture

Review: Grizzly Bear Gig at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver

by Blaine Metzgar | October 15, 2009 at 10:16 am

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Buzz band and de facto remixees of 2009, Grizzly Bear, performed at the Vogue Theatre on Granville Street in Vancouver last night, October 14, 2009. The all-ages show was headlined by Brooklyn-based, freak-folk band Grizzly Bear with Berkeley indie kids The Morning Benders warming up the audience as the opening act.

Walking down Granville to the Vogue we were swarmed by ironically facial-haired hipsters donning skinny jeans and enough Urban Outfitters duds to clothe a small African nation pouring out of the 1,150 seat venue. The pseudo-East Side crowd grabbed their Pabst Blue Ribbons and headed to their seats as The Morning Benders kicked off their set. Their set was good, think a less transcendent Grizzly Bear-esque band of baby-faced indie crooners that could've easily been featured on one of those O.C. Mixtape CDs popular a while back.

Guitar riffs and kitschy verses aplenty, The Benders, particularly lead singer Chris Chu, garnered swoons and screams from intentionally-apathetically stylized, yet shockingly cute, girls itching to get up from their crushed velvet seats and dance. The fetching foursome closed their set with Boarded Doors and Waiting For A War showing their appreciation for Grizzly Bear and the audience who were already halfway out the door for an intermission smoke break before the headliners.

Grizzly Bear put on a powerful set full of harrowing harmonies and an impressive lighting set up I might add. As clouds of fog from the stage mixed with some potent smoke from the crowd, the Vogue Theatre transformed into an intimate venue echoing with looped, dubbed, and raw vocals paired with a myriad of instruments ranging from clarinet to tambourine to guitars and even an accompanying flute. Songs like On a Neck, On a Spit, Two Weeks, and Knife drew excitement and applause from the crowd who respectfully passed on even attempting to match the vocal stylings of Ed Droste, Chris Taylor, Daniel Rossen, and Christopher Bear. In between songs someone from the crowd shouted, "we want you inside of us" to which Droste replied, "well now we have a reason to come back to Vancouver." As the experimental indie-rockers finished their set a standing ovation from the crowd sealed the deal for an eerie encore performance of The Crystals cover, He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss).

After the show the crowd outside the theatre was abuzz with buzz for the show, sharing stories of past concerts and festivals. All in all, The Morning Benders and Grizzly Bear's gig at the Vogue left me bent and grizzled respectively.