07.28.06
Geoff Berner, “Whiskey Rabbi”, Grad Club Kingston, 13 January 2006
photo by Silje Ese Haugen from a show in Norway in 2005.
The first show I attended this year was Elliot Brood in Kingston. While they were excellent, the real treat was seeing the opening act, Geoff Berner. Never before have I seen such a nervous looking guy grab a crowd’s attention, and with an accordion no less, singing songs about the failure of the Maginot Line (”Stupid! Stupid!”) and losing poker to Corb Lund. With an extremely strong voice, engaging storytelling, and audience participation, Berner had everyone’s attention through his rather odd set. His music is based in klezmer but informed by punk. It is passionate, political, and filled with dark humour. I would highly recommend checking him out live should you get the chance (he returns to Kingston on September 5th as part of a nation wide tour).
I only recorded one song from his set, but Berner has a live album which I suggest you check out if you dig what you hear.
* Geoff Berner, Whiskey Rabbi.mp3 (4.24 MB), Live at The Grad Club, Kingston, January 13, 2006.
* Geoff Berner, Maginot Line.mp3 (4.2 MB), from the album “We Shall Not Flag Or Fail, We Shall Go On To The End”
* Geoff Berner, Light to Enough to Travel.mp3, (5.6 MB),from the album “Live in Oslo” – visit here for more mp3s.
Bonus:
* The Be Good Tanyas, Light Enough to Travel.mp3 (2.86 MB)
Buy Geoff Berner’s albums from Black Hen Music (and visit for even more mp3s) and The Be Good Tanyas from FolkWeb.
Chrisk said,
July 31, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Ha. In my happenin’ town, when Geoff came around with Rae Spoon, and he sang about playing poker with Corby, Corb just so happened to be sitting at the back of the bar.
scott said,
August 21, 2006 at 11:31 pm
Did you happen to tape Elliot Brood? I was really looking forward to seeing them in Vancouver, but I got strep throat and didn’t go.
rgsc said,
August 22, 2006 at 5:44 pm
Yessir I did. And I plan to have it posted here sometime. I can’t promise when but sooner or later I will get to it so check back everyonce in a while.
Too bad you missed it. I highly recommend you check Elliot Brood out next time they roll through Vancouver. They played an excellent set.
mike said,
September 5, 2006 at 7:15 pm
Thanks for this. Always nice to see Geoff getting some props. Seeing him on Thursday and can’t wait. (sorry this is late, just got hooked up online at home again so catching up) Keep up the good work