[Video] WHOA! @MathewVMusic live, one-take, a capella video of #LetMeGo
Catch him on:
April 25th - First Canadian Place, Toronto, ON
April 26th - The Drake Hotel, Toronto, ON
May 24th - The Rio Theatre, Vancouver, BC
June 23rd - Red River Exhibition, Winnipeg, MB
Get tickets here: Mathew V Music facebook events
Or here: Mathew V on Bandsintown
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Wednesday, April 04, 2018
Andy Grammer, The Good Parts Tour
at The Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto, ON April 2nd/18
Upbeat, down to earth, Andy Grammer's first headlining show in Toronto was all that and more, full of fun, humour and heart. Although it was his second time playing here, it was a far cry from the sombre affair in 2014 for a Liv, Love & Lyrics charity event. No chair dancing this time!
This tour for his third album, The Good Parts, brings him back and beyond with extensive dates in the U.S. and one other Canadian date in Vancouver. Hopefully, the next album cycle and his growing popularity will allow him to do more Canadian dates.
A prolific songwriter, he wrote 115 songs for this current album and wittled it down to just 13 tracks. His debut self-titled album came out in 2011, the most notable track Keep Your Head Up. His second album, Magazines or Novels, came out in 2014 with Honey, I'm Good which went multi-platinum. Quite a difference from his humble beginnings busking in Santa Monica.
With his penchant for writing songs, it won't be long before there's another tour for another album. If you missed him this time around, be sure to watch for future dates at: http://andygrammer.com/home/
(Note: These videos and photos do not do him justice. My vantage point was not the greatest and sometimes you just have to put the camera or phone down and enjoy the moment!)
This tour for his third album, The Good Parts, brings him back and beyond with extensive dates in the U.S. and one other Canadian date in Vancouver. Hopefully, the next album cycle and his growing popularity will allow him to do more Canadian dates.
A prolific songwriter, he wrote 115 songs for this current album and wittled it down to just 13 tracks. His debut self-titled album came out in 2011, the most notable track Keep Your Head Up. His second album, Magazines or Novels, came out in 2014 with Honey, I'm Good which went multi-platinum. Quite a difference from his humble beginnings busking in Santa Monica.
With his penchant for writing songs, it won't be long before there's another tour for another album. If you missed him this time around, be sure to watch for future dates at: http://andygrammer.com/home/
(Note: These videos and photos do not do him justice. My vantage point was not the greatest and sometimes you just have to put the camera or phone down and enjoy the moment!)
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Photo courtesy of Too Many Zooz
It's difficult to describe a Too Many Zooz concert. You really have to have been there. Their first concert in Toronto was April 21st/17 at The Mod Club. After that experience, and it is an experience, I also had to go to their second concert in Toronto on March 30th/18 at The Phoenix Concert Theatre.
While The Mod Club has a capacity of 620 people, The Phoenix's capacity is 1,350, a much needed expansion as Too Many Zooz popularity has exploded in a very short time. What started out as underground New York subway buskers has now gone on to tour worldwide with further dates in the U.S., Europe, the UK and Canada.
Their self-described genre is "Brasshouse" consisting of LeoP aka Leo Pellegrino on sax, Matt Doe on trumpet and David "King Of Sludge" Parks on percussion. It's loud, it's brash and it's energetic...all in a good way. Coming from someone who's thing is vocals, and there aren't any, is high praise indeed. The videos below are merely a taste of the experience.
More info and tickets available at: http://toomanyzooz.com/
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Gavin DeGraw's SOLD OUT show at the Mod Club on Oct. 25th marked his 5th show in Toronto over the short span of 4 years. With a smattering of other Canadian dates in between the U.S. and European tour dates, this seems to mark an increasing trend of more exposure in Canada, hopefully a trend that will continue to expand. As word gets out about his amazing talent, so too will more opportunities. Of course, hard work and seemingly constant touring has made these things come to pass.
Each time he's come to Toronto, it's been in different venues and different formats. He's been an opener, co-headliner, headliner but this time it was different. Two hours of all Gavin with a set list spanning his entire career thus far that took off 14 years ago in 2003. No backing tracks and a stripped down band consisting of just Gavin on piano, Billy Norris on guitar (plus some stand up bass) and Michael John Baker on drums and percussion, it really allowed you to hear the vocals and the instruments. It felt less formal than big production shows and allowed the musicians to play around more instrumentally and vocally. As much as we love the other band members, Gavin being accompanied solely by Billy and Michael in a smaller, more intimate venue made it seem more earthy and organic, almost as if we were all just hanging out in someone's living room and jamming, albeit with a flashier light and smoke show. It also seemed to allow them to play around more with the set list, making it easier to change things up a little each night to keep things fresh, for them as well as the audience, especially for those that attend multiple shows.
Always writing and working on new music, Gavin plans on keeping this raw thing going to reflect on his next album which is forthcoming, perhaps harkening back to his earlier music with a splash of this and a twist of that to give it a current and less produced flavour. When you use classic elements, as Gavin has done on all his previous albums, and have an eclectic mix of genres that defy any one specific pigeonhole, the music has and will stand the test of time. With no more dates scheduled on this tour after early November, we eagerly anticipate his 6th new album to be in the works soon.
So...after many, many hours of uploading, and without further adieu, below please find the better-late-than-never collection of videos from that momentous night in Toronto:
"Chariot"
"Making Love With The Radio On" aka King Kong
"In Love With A Girl"
"Kite Like Girl/Best I Ever Had"
"Run Every Time/Where You Are"
"Stealing"
"Won't Back Down (Tom Petty cover)/Lover Be Strong"
"Follow Through"
"Something Worth Saving"
"Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney cover)"
"Annalee"
"Sweeter"
"More Than Anyone"
"Change Gonna Come (Sam Cooke)/Hallelujah I Love Her So (Ray Charles)" covers
"Soldier"
"She Sets The City On Fire"
"We Belong Together"
"I Don't Want To Be"
Sunday, January 01, 2017
The Phoenix Concert Theatre
25th Anniversary
with David Wilcox & Kim Mitchell
(The better-late-than-never edition)
So this was my last concert of 2016 and what a blast! Usually I only record a few videos, just of the songs I like, but there were too many to leave any out. I intentionally did not list the song titles a) in case I got them wrong and b) to allow you to explore and find some old and maybe some new favourites.
First, it amazed me that David Wilcox still sounds the same as he did when I first saw him probably 25-30 years ago. Second, I loved the fact that Kim Mitchell did such a great mixture of songs including those from his Max Webster days.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! Granted, I wish the sound quality was better but lowering the volume seems to lessen the distortion :)
First, it amazed me that David Wilcox still sounds the same as he did when I first saw him probably 25-30 years ago. Second, I loved the fact that Kim Mitchell did such a great mixture of songs including those from his Max Webster days.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! Granted, I wish the sound quality was better but lowering the volume seems to lessen the distortion :)
Video #5 - Kim Mitchell - First time ever the memory in my camera was full!
Video #6 - Kim Mitchell - Had to switch to my phone
Video #7 - Kim Mitchell
Video #8 - Kim Mitchell
Video #9 - Kim Mitchell
Video #10 - Kim Mitchell
Video #11 - Kim Mitchell
Video #12 - Kim Mitchell - And then my phone memory was full too!
Saturday, November 05, 2016
Whenever a musical artist refers to trying to stay within their "wheelhouse", they're usually referring to a genre or sound that works well with their voice and style. They don't want to alienate or throw off their fans by doing something way out of their norm. To me, it conjures up a different image.
I picture a big house with a giant waterwheel on the side. They use the water as a source of power for various purposes. When I think of it as an analogy regarding music, it refers to a different meaning. Follow my train of thought, if you will...
The wheel itself has many wedges that each represent a different genre or "flavour" of music. An artist can take these different wedges, like wedges of cheese for example, try mixing them together to see if they work well, not unlike pairing wine with cheese. Creating songs, or cheese for that matter, take time and care to craft, at least authentic ones do.
Creating records, an artist uses a variety of flavours so they don't all sound the same. Instead of just having one album, you would want to check out more of their body of work. People have different palettes and identify with different lyrics or flavours...they find something that speaks to them that may not speak the same way to someone else.
When you see descriptions of wine or cheese, they use imagery, emotions or flavours not unlike song lyrics. Coming back to the wheelhouse, the water drives the music and the lyrics pour out of it...hence the waterwheel analogy. I could go on...I guess I just really love music, finely-crafted songs, water...and apparently cheese.
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