Neko Charms Stanley Park Singing Ex

Stanley Park Malkin Bowl

Vancouver, BC

on Aug 31 2008

Brian Pascual (CHARTattack)

09/02/2008 3:48pm

If you're staging a two-day festival that welcomes music fans from all over into the heart of Vancouver's gorgeous Stanley Park, you want Nardwuar The Human Serviette greeting them. It just makes sense. Arguably one of our country's most polarizing icons, Nardwuar is also Vancouver's number one ambassador — unabashedly proud of his hometown's history and rich music scene.

To begin the Stanley Park Singing Exhibition at the Malkin Bowl, Nardwuar and his band The Evaporators offered their cheeky punk-pop for early arrivers already laid out on blankets all over the Bowl's modest lawn space. Dressed in white outfits with matching red and blue racing stripes, The Evaporators kick-started the crowd while also dishing out historical facts, most notably with the song "Gassy Jack," written about one of the first settlers on the land that would eventually become Vancouver.

As always, Nardwuar didn't disappoint with his antics. Standing out among his usual bag of crazy (which included stripping down to his gitch at one point) was his attempt to crowd-surf and play his keyboard on a mosh pit of about 10 people he hand-picked and personally organized while the rest of The Evaporators and the crowd watched in amused confusion.

While the majority of the festival's lineup had some sort of connection to The New Pornographers, Carl Newman had said San Francisco's Deerhoof were invited to the show simply because they're so good. The spastic, quirky quartet wasted little time in validating Newman's claim. Your eyes can't help being drawn to them. Singer Satomi Matsuzaki somehow manages to simultaneously look impossibly cute and evil; John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez both attack their guitars, and drummer Greg Saunier makes an enormous racket from only a bass drum, snare, high hat and crash cymbal, all the while looking like like the human version of The Muppets' Animal. Obvious Deerhoof fans and intrigued festival-goers were treated to favourites like "Twin Killers" and the insanely good "+81." The next time Deerhoof are in your hometown, buy a ticket.

Classically trained violinist and master whistler Andrew Bird came to the party solo, but that didn't stop him from creating a full sound. Using a loop sampler, Bird recorded and loop-played multiple tracks of himself plucking, strumming and playing his violin to give himself a backing band on each song. The set highlight was a new song Bird called "Unknown Animal" that saw him layer at least four different violin parts with his sampler. If you closed your eyes you'd swear he had an orchestra playing with him while he switched between violin and guitar over the course of the song.

Bird was also responsible for the first bonus moment of the day as Chicago singer Nora O'Connor (who has also sung on some New Pornos records) joined Bird for a cover of the Bob Dylan/Emmylou Harris song "Oh Sister." Bird's second bonus moment was a story about chickens he once tried raising that were eaten by raccoons and the subsequent guilt he felt over "letting them down."

Local and critic favourite, Destroyer, took the stage as the late summer sun was disappearing for good. Lead man Dan Bejar —dressed in the official Dan Bejar uniform of a plaid button-down shirt, slacks and Wallabees — was characteristically sheepish as he received a warm reception from his hometown crowd. Much to everyone's delight, he reminisced about fond childhood memories of Stanley Park. Bejar's precious nature, mysterious aloofness and distinct, unique vocal style have both their fans and detractors. But on this night in this city the former prevailed.

Bejar kept his stage banter to a minimum (keyboard player Ted Bois made awkward attempts at filling in the gaps) but the relaxed smile (and continued shots of whiskey) proved he was enjoying himself. Newman has often said Bejar's songwriting pushes him to try to write better songs, and hearing a live version of the epic "Rubies" with its teasing, slow build up and stick-in-your-head-for-days guitar riff made it easy to see his point.

Dressed in a zip-up hoodie and jeans, Neko Case was greeted with much applause from a crowd visibly diverse ages shivering from the cold. As always, her voice gave her an enormous presence. She stuck mostly to 2006's near-perfect Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, and sang standouts "Margaret Vs. Pauline," and "That Teenage Feeling" while being backed up by the underrated-yet-irreplaceable, Kelly Hogan. Hogan provided countless comedic breaks with her ongoing banter with Case about cold nipples, the Osmond family and straight-up sexual innuendo.

Part of Case's live appeal is that she's so ridiculously down-to-earth. She comes off as a normal woman who's crass, sweet, funny and witty all at once, and watching her feels like you're watching some combination girl-next-door/sister/girlfriend, but with a breathtaking voice. She set up "Dirty Knife" by teasing the audience that they'd be spooked out by the song's scary tale and minor chords and introduced set highlight (and Harry Nilsson cover) "Don't Forget Me" by calling it one of the saddest songs ever.

Case created an undeniable connection with her fans that led to numerous outbursts of "We love you, Neko!" throughout her set.

With almost no delays between sets (save for some of Bird's technical troubles), few lineups for the port-a-potties, decent — if limited — food options, and no rain, day one of the Stanley Park Singing Exhibition was a success.