Sweaty Nights
Sweaty Nights at The Biltmore
Saturday night in Vancouver can be often be cold, and rainy. Just another of the many reasons I like the Biltmore. It’s never cold, it’s hot like a tropical getaway, complete with palm trees, macaws and fruity cocktails, this past Saturday was no exception it was hot, and the Biltmore had bands, three solid entries from the local rock scene.
Free City Collective was the first band to take the stage. I’d seen some photos listened to some tracks on myspace, and prepared myself for this band. They turned out to be my favorite of the night. Playing without their regular monster of a (6’6” with size 15 feet, or so we were told) drummer, who was sidelined due to a broken finger, FCC managed to play a highly energetic set, of good original rock tunes. Their sound to me seemed rooted firmly in the west coast rock of the 90’s, sometimes sounding a little like Pearl Jam, sometimes sounding a little like 54-40, and often funky, I didn’t mind, after all this was the musical period I really grew up in. The audience loved them, of course it seemed that much of them were already devout followers of the FCC from before, singing along, and dancing their hearts out, motivating the band to play ever harder and turning into little puddles of sweat by the end of the set in the hot hot heat of the Biltmore cabaret and night spa.
Timothy were the next to take the stage. Timothy are a 4 piece that play a very commercially approachable, mainstream brand of rock music, not dissimilar to Nickelback, or Daughtry. They played a highly polished set of mainly power ballads, the band proving themselves to be extremely capable, and very talented, with most of the elements coming together well, including a monster (not in size, but in talent) of a drummer powering the rhythm section of this quartet, and a guitarist whose hair I honestly couldn’t get enough of. The crowd enjoying the slower pace of the ballads, and the reprieve from the jungle heat, singing along to nearly every song, helping the lead singer who seemed to be having problems singing on key, though I must say after listening to the vocals on the recorded material, it seemed to be more of a technical issue at the Biltmore than an issue of talent, and it was certainly made up for in his passion for performance.
The last band of the evening to take the Cabana stage at the Biltmore was Red City Breakout, a bunch of kids from the suburbs of Vancouver. After doing some reading about it, they seem to be one of the young up and coming bands in the Vancouver music scene, however their line up seemed to be a little different than what was on their website. There is something to be said for cute girls with guitars, especially when they are as talented as the one playing with RCB. The band played a focused set of slick power pop songs, inciting the crowd to dance, and mosh in time with the great energy of this group of youngsters. Wanting to play to the crowd they came armed with their own set of stage lighting that added a visual punch to their music that to me seemed redundant and unnecessary . These guys and girl certainly don’t need the visual cues, and added effect, their music speaks for itself, and I expect that they will go far.
While I’ll be the first to admit that the kind of rock being played at the Biltmore on Saturday isn’t really my bag, It didn’t stop me from admiring the immense talents that were on performance. Each of the three bands getting up on stage and playing to a crowd that showed their love in the only way they could, a sweaty, throbby mess on the dance floor, and what’s not to love about that.
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