11 December, 2003- Richards on Richard's, Vancouver, Canada

review by Rob

Unfortunately I'm not the greatest writer in the business (or not in the business as the case may be) so please bear with me. As a big fan of the Trees, and having a little knowledge of Mark Lanegan's solo work, I was really looking forward to Thursday's show. I was not disappointed! You will be however, when you realize that I don' t know any Lanegan song titles (anyone have the setlist?) other than Mockingbirds, an excellent acoustic (guitar accompaniment only) rendition of which we heard last night for the first encore. All the other songs though were just excellent though, and the sound at Dick's was primo crystal clear. The crowd was sort of sparse, by no means sold out and when Enemy came on there were less than 60 people in the room and most everyone (myself included) relegated themselves to the perimeter of the floor area. Vancouver crowds can be tough at the best of times. I've always wanted to reassure bands that we're not the most emotive bunch, but the music is much appreciated nonetheless. We're just not the "crowd around and wave arms in the air and scream" type of crowd, especially when very few people have heard of the band, despite their obvious talents from the get go. Enemy however, was very good, again with the great sound, and excellent guitar work by Troy Van Leeuwen, who incidentally also blew us away with his solos during Mark's set. I really enjoyed them and I recommend catching them on the remaining dates of the tour.

Back to Lanegan - the crowd definitely appreciated the music here! Mark didn't have much to say to the crowd and acknowledged us a couple of times. I find it hard to categorize his style but if I was to make comparisons, a couple of names that popped into my head at various times throughout the show were Nick Cave and even Gary Numan strangely enough. I think it had something to do with Troy and Brett Nelson's swirling, atmospheric guitar sounds and Mark's looming, dark and moody presence. Well I wish these guys all the best for the remainder of the tour and hope they continue to deliver their unique brand of dark, atmospheric, rock. I'm convinced that should they play Vancouver again, they will get a far more enthusiastic response, not only from those of us that were at this show (Mark's first solo Vancouver show to the best of my knowledge) but for all those that we dragged along, enthusiastically telling them that the Dec '03 Richard's on Richard's show was the concert of the year in Vancouver.



review by Robbie

I went to the Vancouver show after waiting many a year to see Mark Lanegan live doing his own material. Mark's voice was so pure and rich that I was floored at how fucking awesome he sounded. He said just "thanks" after each song up until right before Mockingbirds when he said "I almost didn't make it up here. I spent two days in jail, I was arrested at customs. They found some residue on my computer (laughs)." Everyone laughed, it was pretty funny. The crowd was great considering there was only about 150 people there to see him but they were very loud and appreciative, so please come back again soon Mark! On Jesus Program, Creeping Coastline of Light, Pendulum, Borracho and Fix were my favourites. The new songs are a great indidcation of things to come on all the new stuff. Mark is the best male voice around in rock today (tied with Mike Patton) and saves some Queens song from being bland. Anyways, it was a fantastic night. The setlist is from memory and is as follows and some of it is out of order:
Pendulum
Borracho
One Way Street
Message
Don't Forget Me
Sleep With Me
No Easy Action/Miracle
On Jesus Program
Because of This/Hotel
Creeping Coastline of Lights
Death Don't Have No Mercy
Wedding Dress
I'll Take Care of You
Skeletal History
Methamphetamine Blues
____________________________
Mocking Birds
She Done Too Much/River Rise
Fix