Venue- Vancouver, BC

Yes, it is Saturday night on Granville Street, downtown Vancouver, at the aptly titled Venue, and as lines are beginning to form across the street at The Commodore Ballroom for April Wine, standing at the doors of the Venue is a large group of excited fans. Ranging in age from youthful young adults, to young at heart grandparents, one common bond in this group is that they all have tickets to a sold out show, and anyone without a ticket clearly is unaware of what is to come. As people walk by asking what the buzz is all about, the line collectively responds “Band of Skulls” with a mid-nineties-Alicia-Silverstone-“duhhhhh” look on their faces. I laugh thinking that the name of the band serves to reckon some sort of black metal imagery.

It isn’t too far past 7:00pm that the doors open and everyone slowly packs in, beginning the night by taking their places on the u-shaped balcony somewhat reminiscent of the late Richards on Richards (RIP). The show is an early start, with Saint Motel due to take the stage at 7:15, and the show in its entirety to close out near 10:00. Coming off a successful night in Victoria, Saint Motel sauntered out onto the stage and prepared to serve notice that this night was for rocking, and anyone not interested should find the door. In all the shows I have reviewed, and had the pleasure to photograph, no opening band has captivated my attention like Saint Motel. Helped by the projected imagery of Vancouver, hockey, and other eccentricities on the canvas behind them, the band (much like the crowd) struggled to stand still as they delivered brilliant song after brilliant song. Two songs in, we were all treated to the dark song “Dear Dictactor,” as the crowd had begun to funnel in, I felt a slight pity for those who felt like missing the opener was the right decision tonight. The set closed out, and little did I know that a short time later I would be praying for them to return.

Montreal based Silver Starling was the next up, and the group avoided any form of entertainment, and seemed to spend most of the night captivated with themselves sharing smiles between band members that came across like “we’re just happy to be here.” Well after Saint Motel, and prior to Band of Skulls “happy to be here” isn’t necessarily the right approach, and it felt like it. The energy driven from the opener, set to be carried through to the headliners seemed to disappear amongst the chatter of the crowd as Silver Starling put forward a lackluster effort on their way through the night.

Band of Skulls stepped onto the stage, and wasted no time before cutting into “Light of the Morning” and it became strikingly clear that this crowd had come to see the brit-rock-blues-infused trio. Stage left was bassist and vocalist Emma Richardson, somewhat resembling a member of the Ramones. To her immediate right, but what seemed like miles across the stage was guitarist and vocalist, Russell Marsden, doing his best impersonation of cousin it. Chiming his vocals from behind a veil of long hair, Marsden came across having more talent in each of his hairs then perhaps the others brought to the table. Where the music came off incredibly simple, the crowd held up the night providing harmonies to the Jack-White meets Franz Ferdinand songs. Marsden, locked to his mic nailed his parts as the group surely didn’t miss a note, nor a beat, but lacked some variable performance factor. The group continued to move through its 2009 release with such recognizable hits like “Death by Diamonds and Pearls,” and “Patterns” before bringing the night to another level with a strikingly emotional rendition of “Honest.” Band of Skulls closed out the set with the song “Impossible” and I walked away along with the others wondering the possibility that Sundays show (tomorrow) may now also end in a sell out.

View concert photos from this show: Band of Skulls, Saint Motel, Silver Starling

+Ryan Creamore