Sharon Van Etten with the War on Drugs Live at the Biltmore Cabaret

All photos by Ashley Tanasiychuk

March 24, 2012
The Biltmore Cabaret
Vancouver, British Columbia

Of course, as soon as I say, "I've learned to always go to shows as soon as doors open," the doors for the next show I go to open half-an-hour late. At least the show itself wasn't delayed at all.

The likely reason for the delay was because the War on Drugs, the night's opening band - the band I went to see - had finished a free half-hour set at Zulu Records a mere two hours before the doors were supposed to have opened at the Biltmore. I guess soundcheck took the band longer than they'd expected, despite their sound guy's confident (cocky, even) declaration, "It's our job," when he overheard my friend question how they'd ever make it to the Biltmore on time.

And thank God the show started on time, because after the WoD's brief thirty-minute set at Zulu, sweetened especially by the store's great sound system, I couldn't wait for the full show. For the longest time, it seemed as if the WoD were just going to play Slave Ambient in its entirety (though not in order), but then, they busted out a song from their Future Weather EP. Sometime following that came my favourite WoD songs including "Buenos Aires Beach," "Taking the Farm" and "Arms like Boulders," all from their first album Wagonwheel Blues. Unfortunately for me, though, the live versions of those three songs were more languid and melodic than jumpy and anthemic. They were still good in their own ways, but I just wanted to hear them in their original forms, the forms I knew how to sing along to; I was glad the band at the very least retained its militaristic drumming for those songs.

After a short recess (A.K.A. nap-time because I hadn't had a chance to sleep since two mornings earlier), Sharon Van Etten took the stage and delivered what was, up until that point, the third most surprisingly good show I'd ever seen. Before seeing her, I'd really only liked her song "Serpents," though I loved it. "Serpents" was so good live - so powerful - that it didn't matter that her vocals on that song were almost completely drowned out by the rest of the music. And speaking of her voice, it was way higher than I'd expected, considering that her voice is pretty low on record.

Also unexpected was the Sonic Youth-style, feedback-drenched breakdown during one of Sharon's songs. The WoD's single noisy freakout wasn't surprising (especially since they were the band that managed to pack blistering guitar solos into almost every one of their songs even if the song didn't originally have a solo), but only having heard Sharon's albums and a solo acoustic set (also free at Zulu last year), I never saw it coming.

To draw a final parallel between the WoD and Sharon Van Etten, both were surprisingly social, especially Sharon. The WoD always struck me as a rustic, "git 'er done" kind of band, but frontperson Adam Granduciel joked with the crowd a lot. And I'd always expected Sharon to be pretty introverted, given her dark subject matters and introspective music/lyrics, but again, she was a lot of smiles that night, despite her brief song introductions such as, "This song is about quitting smoking," and "This song is about moving to New York." That was the Sharon I'd expected.

Finally, even the crowd surprised me. I expected a lot of drugged out dirtbags, plaid and denim at the War on Drugs and mostly young girls at Sharon Van Etten. However, the bands brought out one of the most weirdly mixed crowds I'd seen in a while: severely aged, smelly and wasted rockers who "danced" with absolutely zero shame; skinny boys in suspenders, slacks and bow-ties with pompous hair (think Janelle Monae as a boy who just turned old enough to go to the bar); towering nerds; and mustache-obsessed intellectuals.

One thing I learned at Seapony/Memoryhouse that did pay off was to grab set lists A.S.A.P. Situated a couple of feet in front of me on the barrierless, nearly floor-level stage, Sharon's set list was probably the most accessible list I'd ever seen, and I sure as HELL wasn't the only person who knew it; I could hear several people around me chatter about the 4x11, plain-type prize, planning their attack like a pack of hungry lions planning its dinner. But alas, I was the swifter, beating them all to the pounce.

The exact set list I grabbed

For more photos of the War on Drugs and Sharon Van Etten live at the Biltmore Cabaret, click here and here, respectively.