I'll tell you what. Seeing two members of one's favourite band in a 40-ish-capacity venue. Complete with shortbread. (What? I'll get to that.)
Yes, that's a four and just one zero that I typed there, on purpose. Actually, I believe the posted capacity of Graffiti's, in Kensington Market, is 45, but is that meant to include the musicians and the proprietor? Either way... 45 people is a seriously small room. And it does feel like a 'room' in the most hanging-out-in-someone's-family-room (albeit a well-worn and very rock-and-roll one) sense.
And so, the Blue Moon series - an annual string of shows that Ron Hawkins and Stephen Stanley have been putting on at Graffiti's since 2006 - truly does take on the aura of a friendly party, as much as a concert. The timing helps, being right on the cusp of the December holiday whirlwind. This year's edition - Blue Moon 5 - spanned three nights, December 9-11; I attended Friday night, Dec 10. Pre-parenthood, I would have made sure to have taken in all three shows, but one is infinitely better than none. (Not hyperbole! My math is solid on this point.)
"Egad," you're probably saying by now, "get on with the review!"
I will, I will - but first, just a tiny bit more backstory. Thanks to the diligence of my fellow fans (you know who you are!) and the wonders of the interwebs, I was able to catch up Friday morning on the setlist from Thursday night's show. And, well... I got to about maybe the third or fourth line down and saw that Stephen had done a cover of Frightened Rabbit's 'Modern Leper', and my reaction was something like this:
You see, the thing is, I've been really excited about Frightened Rabbit since I came across them in mid-2008, but the freaky thing is, pretty much any time I've listened to them (certain songs in particular, Modern Leper being one), I have always had this idle daydream of how well-suited the songs would be to Stephen Stanley's voice and style, and especially in the context of the Blue Moon shows, that have this kind of relaxed, anything-goes, kind of feel.
But I have lots of daydreams about lots of things (million dollars and superpowers, anyone?) that I do not necessarily think will actually happen in any version of real reality. And ergo, there I was at my computer screen with an absurdly shocked face as my brain temporarily fried itself over this unlikely turn of events. The next reaction, of course, was to realize that bugger it, this had happened when I was not there to see it, but still, it left me a bit jittery and all the more excited for Friday night.
I was going to the show alone, but with the expectation of seeing a number of friends there - and, since I am pathologically over-punctual and like to sit at the front (and also intended to save seats for said friends), I arrived early. So early, in fact, that I walked into Graffiti's to find the room set up in a completely different configuration and two dudes playing classic rock covers to a handful of people. (I admit, I did have just a moment of thinking, "have I gotten the wrong day??"). I sat where there was room, put some money in their jar when they were done, and then pounced on the table I actually wanted the moment the patrons from that show had gotten up to go. Shortly afterwards, the familiar faces started arriving, and with them, the treats: After Eights! Ferrero Rochers! Multiple trays of homemade shortbread! Truly, this is not your average evening of music in a bar.
Things kicked off a little after 9pm (more or less on time: punctuality may not be very rock'n'roll, but the owner of Graffiti's has apparently been on the receiving end of more than his share of late-night noise complaints) with a solo set from Stephen, then one from Ron, then a third set with the two of them together, followed by an encore. Thirty-six songs, altogether, by my count, and after the wonderful revisit of 'Shakespeare My Butt' the previous weekend at Lee's, it was a welcome treat at Graffiti's to hear a large proportion of newer material, including a number of songs that were brand-new to me (although not necessarily to some of my acquaintances who have attended more shows than I have in the past few months).
To pick out some highlights... Well, first of all, after I've gone to the trouble to explain that whole Frightened Rabbit anecdote in detail, complete with my ludicrous attempt at a self-portrait, you may have already guessed this, but yes, Stephen did play 'Modern Leper' again, at which all the electrical circuits in my brain simultaneously shorted out and I just grinned like an idiot for five minutes. (And yes, because I really am just that awkward, I was compelled to tell him this whole story after the show, including a demonstration of the shocked face at the computer screen. Cool.)
Other standout songs, some familiar, some not: By Her Side, Fremont Street Cowboy, Diamonds in the Water, Skyscrapers, Kill the Lights, Things I Wish I'd Never Seen, Peace and Quiet, Out of the Black. Given that several of those are songs not yet available in recorded form, you can well imagine my anticipation for Ron's new album (expected early in the new year). No word yet on when a new CD might materialize from Stephen, but from the reactions Friday night, there'll be an eager audience for it when the time comes.
And it seems unfair to even try to pick out highlights, because there really wasn't a 'low-light' in the bunch. Okay, admittedly, there were a few (five? six?) false starts to Dogs of February, but they were handled in good humour, and who doesn't love a bit of a blooper reel?
The true joy of the Blue Moon shows is in the alchemy that happens when Ron Hawkins and Stephen Stanley are on stage together. (There is no actual stage at Graffiti's, just for the record.) It's a strange hybrid of transcendent musical experience and in-between moments of complete hilarity. On the latter score, there were too many anecdotes to possibly recount them all, but Ron's account of his time in Hong Kong navigating between crowds of rugby thugs and knife-wielding prostitutes was... you know, you really had to be there. (It looks so grim in print! It was funny, I swear!) And on the former... I may be a fan of the twenty-dollar words, but 'transcendent' is one that I don't toss around lightly. So much talent in those two brains and voices and guitars, and a tiny bar and an audience that gets it; it really does not get any better than that.
(Until next year.)
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