[mojo_mattv]

Saw Joel here in Winnipeg last night.

Wow.

Im always amazed at how this guy can go on stage by himself and have everyone in the venue laughing and cheering. What a guy. What a SHOW. Sound was bang on, harmonies with the ladies were fantastic and just about everything except for the venue was fantastic.

Played 29 songs over 2 sets plus encore by my count.

Damn, 29 songs?! I'm almost looking forward to his Massey Hall show more than the two Hip Massey Hall shows I'm going to...

Oh trust me...you WILL be blown away. You've seen Joel before, but....man, this is like, Joel in his prime. Two sets, 30sih songs, backed by two absolutely gorgeous ladies, tons of his new stuff, and....just think...when was the last time you saw the Hip perform and people DIDNT leave when they started playing new material? People stay, no matter WHAT Joel is playing.

He's a crackerjack box on stage. When he brings out his $6 keyboard, people go nuts. When he improvs during his songs you can tell he's actually making it all up on the spot. He's funny. Above all else, he connects to his audience on a personal level, which is something every band nowadays lacks, as if they are separated and segregated from their fans when they get in front of the mic. Joel relishes in it, he uses the crowd.

Hell, in Winnipeg, nobody was even standing up. The venue he played in here is the worst venue in town, bar none. But that didn't stop him. People started standing at the stage halfway through the first set, and he proclaims "yeah! hey, look at that, the front row looks different!" A couple songs later, the guy is signing some dude's record on stage, making jokes the whole time about how shitty his sharpie is. He uses the location and geography of your city to rouse the audience, he's been through this country so much he has this fantastic knowledge of every local region whether you're on the coast or on the prairies. By the end of the second set, everybody is standing, and he THANKS THE AUDIENCE FOR IT! Hey thanks for standing up!

The guy is magical on stage. And the best part is he doesnt even need a band. I've never seen a musician/performer that works so well with random heckling. He feeds off the banter, he loves it.

All for 25 bucks?! SIGN ME UP!

Oh man, now I'm excited! Two sets!? I was unaware. This is gonna be awesome. :jump

[grimes]

Thanks for that! I used to know how to rip streaming audio but I don't think I have the right software on this computer. What did you use?

This here. There are a lot of options for audio ripping and I've found a few good ones in the past, but if you have a newer laptop they might not work. I have to use my wife's older machine because newer soundcards aren't compatible with them for some reason.

Thanks I'll give that a try...

[grimes]

Oh trust me...you WILL be blown away. You've seen Joel before, but....man, this is like, Joel in his prime. Two sets, 30sih songs, backed by two absolutely gorgeous ladies, tons of his new stuff, and....just think...when was the last time you saw the Hip perform and people DIDNT leave when they started playing new material? People stay, no matter WHAT Joel is playing.

He's a crackerjack box on stage. When he brings out his $6 keyboard, people go nuts. When he improvs during his songs you can tell he's actually making it all up on the spot. He's funny. Above all else, he connects to his audience on a personal level, which is something every band nowadays lacks, as if they are separated and segregated from their fans when they get in front of the mic. Joel relishes in it, he uses the crowd.

Hell, in Winnipeg, nobody was even standing up. The venue he played in here is the worst venue in town, bar none. But that didn't stop him. People started standing at the stage halfway through the first set, and he proclaims "yeah! hey, look at that, the front row looks different!" A couple songs later, the guy is signing some dude's record on stage, making jokes the whole time about how shitty his sharpie is. He uses the location and geography of your city to rouse the audience, he's been through this country so much he has this fantastic knowledge of every local region whether you're on the coast or on the prairies. By the end of the second set, everybody is standing, and he THANKS THE AUDIENCE FOR IT! Hey thanks for standing up!

The guy is magical on stage. And the best part is he doesnt even need a band. I've never seen a musician/performer that works so well with random heckling. He feeds off the banter, he loves it.

All for 25 bucks?! SIGN ME UP!

Awesome post. The thing is the only time I've seen him before was opening for The Hip. It didn't exactly do him justice playing to a half-empty arena with drunken idiots yelling "HIP HIP HIP" throughout his set. But even in that situation, he made a fan out of me.

[mojo_mattv]

Oh trust me...you WILL be blown away. You've seen Joel before, but....man, this is like, Joel in his prime. Two sets, 30sih songs, backed by two absolutely gorgeous ladies, tons of his new stuff, and....just think...when was the last time you saw the Hip perform and people DIDNT leave when they started playing new material? People stay, no matter WHAT Joel is playing.

He's a crackerjack box on stage. When he brings out his $6 keyboard, people go nuts. When he improvs during his songs you can tell he's actually making it all up on the spot. He's funny. Above all else, he connects to his audience on a personal level, which is something every band nowadays lacks, as if they are separated and segregated from their fans when they get in front of the mic. Joel relishes in it, he uses the crowd.

Hell, in Winnipeg, nobody was even standing up. The venue he played in here is the worst venue in town, bar none. But that didn't stop him. People started standing at the stage halfway through the first set, and he proclaims "yeah! hey, look at that, the front row looks different!" A couple songs later, the guy is signing some dude's record on stage, making jokes the whole time about how shitty his sharpie is. He uses the location and geography of your city to rouse the audience, he's been through this country so much he has this fantastic knowledge of every local region whether you're on the coast or on the prairies. By the end of the second set, everybody is standing, and he THANKS THE AUDIENCE FOR IT! Hey thanks for standing up!

The guy is magical on stage. And the best part is he doesnt even need a band. I've never seen a musician/performer that works so well with random heckling. He feeds off the banter, he loves it.

All for 25 bucks?! SIGN ME UP!

Awesome post. The thing is the only time I've seen him before was opening for The Hip. It didn't exactly do him justice playing to a half-empty arena with drunken idiots yelling "HIP HIP HIP" throughout his set. But even in that situation, he made a fan out of me.

ACC, November 26? That Night In Toronto? I'd never heard of the guy before but I was singing along halfway through each song. That night changed my life, became a rabid hip and plaskett fan!

[grimes]

ACC, November 26? That Night In Toronto? I'd never heard of the guy before but I was singing along halfway through each song. That night changed my life, became a rabid hip and plaskett fan!

Yep, that's the one...

[grimes]

[youtube]ap_vWmhRHh0[/youtube]

[mojo_mattv]

That's actually a very very good video. Heard about it yesterday on CBC3 but couldn't find any reference to it on his site. Thanks Grimes!

[BulletRiddled]

I know I'm probably alone on this, but the whole thing feels like three albums of filler.

[EPenguin10]

Three was nominated for the Polaris Prize long list.

[BrenTheodore]

It is a pretty stellar album. Not his greatest, but pretty good. And after hearing a lot of the album live at the Rebecca Cohen in Halifax, it got be further into it. After another listen, I definitely enjoyed it more.

And... that video is pretty decent. Joel most likely had a lot of fun shooting it. Just really fun and creative.

[ashtrayrock]

joel is da man!!

i was sooo proud that that many people showed up and filled up massey hall

it was epic

[sean.bonner]

Joel Plaskett with the Emergency live on the Saint John Boardwalk tonight for the "Countdown to Canada Day".

I am what the french call "le pumped".

[BrenTheodore]

And a show in a few hours in Halifax for our Canada's Day.

Man, 'Nothing More to Say' is kicking my ass lately. Getting to see him so much lately is a blessing.

[BrenTheodore]

^
Epic show. Fireworks starting to go off during his last song of the encore [Wishful Thinking] so he just jammed while they were going off, finished quickly then watched the explosions from on stage. People started rushing the stage to say Hi and get a handshake in. Instead I just went and asked a guy for a copy of the setlist. After I received it, Joel walked over to me and signed it from me. We exchanged a few words, then left.

FAN-F UCKING-TASTIC!

God, that guy can put on a show.

[EPenguin10]

Three was nominated for the Polaris Prize long list.

It's also been selected to the shortlist.