Venue- Vancouver, BC

Was it intended foreshadowing when Bend Sinister’s Dan Moxon took the stage in a white t-shirt emblazoned with what looked eerily similar to Michael J Fox’s father in Teen Wolf? Contrived or coincidence, no matter, one could have guessed that it was indeed the costuming department from those top grade films that styled both Moxon, and a few of the members in last night’s headliners Minus the Bear. The amount of hair on stage certainly matched the amount of rock as both groups put forth an amazing night of music.

It was five years ago in a university pub in Kelowna, BC called The Well that I first had the pleasure of watching Bend Sinister perform, and perform they did. Sure they have lost some of that young exuberant lustre in their performance, but the musical talent has not lost any lustre whatsoever. After many line-up changes (their Wikipedia “past members” section is beginning to look like a war memorial) and a successful run in last year’s CFOX Seeds contest Bend Sinister still has the one thing that made me scream their name from the rooftops for the past five years, and that is Dan Moxon. From behind his keyboard, centre stage, he continues to harness the power behind his unique voice, and brings his retro look and sound to stages across the country. It was another great performance, and unfortunate for those who missed most of it due to the group taking the stage nearly thirty minutes after the posted door time; I am thankful I wasn’t one of those people. I would highly recommend checking out Bend Sinister, wherever and whenever you can.

Minus the Bear had nothing missing from their performance when they took the stage, all things adding up and the sum of all parts was the resulted in resounding awesomeness. From behind their Paul Bunyanesque, Pacific Northwest stereotypical image, the Seattle WA group left the rain behind and brought only sunshine across the border. Sunshine in the form of audiogasms for those who had shelled the mere $25.00 to experience the eve filled with nothing but great song, after great song. If you ever listened to Botch years ago, you know the talent that lies within the string plucking fingers of Dave Knudson and all that talent lies within each and every song from Minus the Bear’s new album OMNI. The band delivered a perfect rendition of My Time, and continued knocking out the great tunes through to the three song encore that included the poetic lyrics of Into the Mirror. The band left the stage for the final time of the evening, but the euphoria will hang within the walls of Venue, and the minds of those of us lucky enough to witness the melody laden musical machine that is Minus the Bear.

View additional photos HERE.

+Ryan Creamore