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IN CONCERT
Feist
Where: Deer Lake Park, Burnaby
When: Today at 5:30 p.m.
Tickets: $49.50 at Ticketmaster
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You may have heard of Feist: Canadian chanteuse. International recording sensation. Heck, you may have even bought an iPod Nano because of her -- eventually wilting under the barrage of her commercial for Apple. So, chances are, you've got enough info to decide for yourself whether you're gonna drop a cool 50 bones to see her latest Vancouver performance. But for others, here's The Reminder some of you may be craving for why you should see Feist in concert.
1. Do you know how some of our neighbours south of the 49th parallel are, um, kinda slow?" Like, take this sample line from a conversation I had once with a store clerk in the good, ol' U S of A heartland: "So, uh, you're from Ke-ne-da? Y'all live in igloos up there, right?" I mean, really. But, on the other hand, if we refuse to aid our American brethren, fail to help them broaden their geographical (and other) horizons, aren't we guilty of some kind of neglect? Couldn't we be doing something? Well, Feist is. Witness her recent appearance on venerable U.S. children's show Sesame Street. Feist reworked her monster hit "1234" into a song that boasts of her love of counting. "Come counting, counting with me, to one less than five, and one more than three." Making American kids smarter? Kudos, Feist, that's something we can all get behind.
2. When our music reporter Stuart Derdeyn was up at Pemberfest, he was privy to a number of crazy rumours: Jay-Z might cancel, Bono and Eddie Vedder were in the vicinity and might make cameo appearances with one of the bigger acts. Well, what you read next ain't exactly rumours (because I'm just gonna make them up!). But they're not out of the realm of possibility, either. Feist is close to a number of hot Canadian indie-music artists right now, relationships she forged both before and after she blew up huge. So there could very well be a chance for a number of surprise guests at a show like tonight's. Maybe Jason Collett or other Broken Social Scenesters could show up. Maybe Stars. Metric could be lurking in the region for some reason. You just never know.
3. A friend of mine was just in from Australia, a woman whose musical tastes I always seem to jive with. We were talking about female singer-songwriters like Cat Power and Amy Winehouse when she mentioned that she was "so over Feist." True, when you get name-dropped on international programs like The Daily Show alongside bits about Barack Obama and John McCain, chances are you've entered the mainstream consciousness. But I have to disagree that Feist has jumped the shark. Great songs are great songs. You may have heard "1234" a jillion times but Feist is a smart lady -- she's likely reworked it into something just as magical. And previously, Feist was able to stage a compelling show with just the material from her first two albums. If you haven't seen her in the interim, hearing her lay down hits in person off her blockbuster The Reminder, such as "My Moon My Man" and "I Feel It All," should make you "so not over" her again.
4. There's no other way to put this: Feist is a bona fide talent, she makes rad videos, but live, oh my, she really shines live. My favourite show of hers was at Jericho Beach a couple of years back as part of the folk fest. She was the headliner, playing as the sun set over the water, and surprised more than one newbie with the fact that she rocked an electric guitar for most of her set. A bonus was the presence of the Illuminares, or the Lantern People as Feist called them, who weaved in and out of the crowd with their glowing creations hanging at the ends of poles in front of them as they bobbed in time to the tunes. But Feist can also do some damage in cozier confines, as evidenced by an appearance once on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Kimmel took his entire studio audience on to a public bus and, at one point, Feist performed, doing a song in the aisle while her band sat together on one of those longer benches along the side. It was quirky yet captivating, and ultimately satisfying. With a venue like Deer Lake Park as her playground, there's no reason why tonight's show should be anything less than that.
hongsansoy@png.canwest.com
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