Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Orpheum + Vancouver Sympony + Christmas + Barenaked Ladies?

Friday night my mum and I went to see the Barenaked Ladies with the Vancouver Symphony at the Orpheum. I know, I know... the Barenaked Ladies? But they were awesome! This is the third time I've seen them, and they are just as good as they were 12 years ago even though Steven Page & his voice are not with them anymore. They sounded great with the symphony and did several Christmas songs mixed in.
The Orpheum is a wonderful place to visit no matter the show. Being there one cannot help but think of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, we even parked at the library - which is also in the movie.
Before the show I got to go to Dressew, The Spaghetti Factory & The Bay. The basement at the Bay was packed with Christmas stuff, I got some crackers for Christmas Day. Much to my surprise there is a Topshop in the Bay taking up a whole floor! I only got to look for a minute because we ran out of time.

I have been accused many times of only liking the Barenaked Ladies because they are Canadian. (always by Americans!) When you listed to Canadian radio, there is a certain amount of Canadian Content that is required to be played, so you hear songs you wouldn't normally hear on American radio. Thinking about it I have seen many "Canadian Content" bands - and liked them!
Here is a top of my head list, but don't judge me too harshly, I was forced to see some of these!

Great Big Sea x2
k.d. lang x5
Thr Tragically Hip x2
Stompin Tom Conners
Hedley
Hot Hot Heat x2
 Anne Murray
Nickleback
Michael Buble
Avril Lavinge
Daniel Lanois x2
The Tea Party
Neil Young
Alanis Morisette
Marie Mai
The Kids In The Hall x2
Garou
54-40
Tim Hus
Paul Brandt

2 comments:

  1. The Orpheum looks amazing! I can't think of a better itinerary - Dressew, Spaghetti Factory, the Bay and Barenaked Ladies ... Were you forced to go see Michael Buble or was that by choice? Just askin'. No judgement involved. ;o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm I don't seem to be getting your updates, how strange. I will try re-following you.

    I think it is silly people would say you only like them because they are Canadian. It is good that there is a rule where some of the content on the radio has to be Canadian. We have that on TV in Australia, although I don't really like overblown dramas and cop shows, which are the main Australian things they have to TV but I guess they have to cater to the main taste.

    Most people don't know it, but the Australian film industry was nearly destroyed back in (oh, I can't remember the date now, 30s?) We made some of the earliest full length features in the world, such as The History of the Kelly Gang, but the cinemas sold out the the Amerian movie business, that set up a quota system where all the cinemas in Australia HAD to show American films. To show your Australian film you had to PAY the cinema not to show one of the American ones. Very expensive! It pretty much crippled our industry.

    So I really appreciate it when countries say you must play music or shows from that country, not all just American culture.

    I think all my favourite TV series- Murdoch Mysteries, Santuary, Lost Girl and probably Warehouse 13 are all Canadian!

    Oh and the Orpheum is amazing!

    ReplyDelete