click-click-click: Vancouver Turns 125

On July 8th, 9th, and 10th, Vancouver celebrated its 125th birthday with a series of live concerts in Stanley Park. I didn't make it out on the 8th (due to the fact that it was my 19th! Yay. But that's another story), but I went both the Saturday and Sunday, and saw Said The Whale and Dan Mangan. While taking public transit home from Stanley park at midnight is a long and painful ordeal (why must the bus that goes my house stop at 11?!) these concerts were worth it. It was awesome to see great music, for free, in a venue as beautiful as Stanley Park.

I've been a Said The Whale fan for a while now, and have seen them play several times before. They've always been enjoyable to watch, and Saturday was no exception. They played lots of new songs (very apologetically) and had great crowd interaction. I didn't bring my camera for their show, but it was a great one.

But then came Dan Mangan.

I thought I was kind of a Dan Mangan fan before, but I did a pretty half-assed job. I only knew a few of his songs, and listened to him on a semi-regular basis at best. After last night though, I am a full-on Dan Mangan fanatic (in a non-creepy way). It was honestly some of the best live music I've ever seen. Even though I didn't know about half the songs, and he played a lot of new songs, every single one was awesome. Although he started about forty minutes later, he played for almost two hours, ending well past his scheduled end time (with the mayor's blessings, of course). Not only is he an amazing live musician, but the whole atmosphere of the show was great too. Despite there being probably thousands of people watching, it had a very chill vibe to it, and everyone was having a good time (although he did slip in a few riot references... it was just too easy). He knew how to talk to the crowd, and at one point several giant, glowing balls were being tossed around the crowd, which added to the light-hearted feeling, in a slightly odd kind of way.

My two favorite songs of the night (although I can honestly say, I enjoyed every minute he was on stage, and some of his new songs are really great):
1) About half way through his set, Aidan Knight walked onstage and played his song "Jasper" with Dan. OH MY GOD SO GOOD. I love this song anyways, and is one of the few songs that I actually attach sentimental value to, and it is EVEN BETTER live. I was almost giddy listening to it.
2) The very last song of the night was "Robots," which people had been calling for all night. Not only is it a great song, but it's even better live, and everyone (I'm talking EVERYONE) knew the lyrics, and were singing along. Also, a random fan wearing a tin foil robot head got pulled up on stage, which was nice. And finally, a bunch of the other bands who had played over the weekend joined him on stage, including Said The Whale, Aidan Knight, and Hey Ocean! By the last bit, everyone was singing their hearts out, and waving their hand hearts, which is usually kind of lame, but somehow just worked. I found a video of it on YouTube. I highly suggest watching it through.

So basically, to summarize: I love live music. I love it even more if it's free. My respect for Dan Mangan has sky rocketed (Although his lyrics are sometimes kind of silly). I still love Said The Whale. And while usually I hate when people post concert pictures (they are always blurry/shitty quality), I'M GOING TO POST SOME ANYWAYS. I'll keep it at a reasonable number, and try to get decent quality ones. Check it out after the jump, and don't forget to click on them to see them larger.