KULAS : TORONTO RANCHO RELAXO 16.2.02

Set list: Pavement, The Only One, Sleep, Burning Down Hollywood, Glasgow Rain, Starland, Hallelujah, A Clever Mess.

It's another night of contrasts & small surprises at Michael Kulas' second acoustic set in Toronto within ten days.  It's an unusually mild, rainy February day in Toronto - we're used to snow & ice this time of year - and Michael is doing an opening set (!) for somebody else in a Tex-Mex type club (?) about half the size of the Kathedral, where he had played last week. 

Inside the Rancho Relaxo there is some C&W music blaring through the p.a. (what I have to put up with to hear some Kulas) as we go to the bar to get a beer; all is not lost as they actually have a nice selection of unusual beers on tap.  Waiting for our order, I notice a vaguely familiar bloke with a beige embroidered country-ish shirt downing a pint while chatting affably about Toronto stages and studios; turns out to be Kulas dressed appropriately for tonight's environment. 

Michael arrives on stage promising us a very emotional set; and he delivers on his commitment over the next 45 minutes.   The set list is almost identical to the one he did at the Kathedral ten days ago, in slightly different order plus one more song, but his delivery is more confident and poised.  Perhaps the smaller room and the more attentive audience contributes to this as Kulas takes us on another taunt journey through his well written tales of love and life; his voice is on through his set and tone perfect as is his guitar playing.  

Michael again opens the night with his new song (down on the) "Pavement" and builds the momentum with "The Only One" off his latest cd "Another Small Machine" (note that it would be nice to hear the vocal done in the middle section of the acoustic version in over the album version's guitar break).  Kulas then introduced an older song, "Sleep", also on his latest cd "Another Small Machine", with an explanation of the song's inspiration.  A number of years ago, a western Canadian farmer, Robert Latimer, could no longer bear the extreme pain his severely disabled young daughter was enduring, and so he put her to "sleep" with carbon monoxide in the cab of the farm truck (in the resulting well publicized, long debated, complex and controversial criminal case, Latimer was convicted of murder).  Thanks to Michael, the song's sombre lyrics now make perfect sense. 

Before launching into a powerful take of "Burning Down Hollywood", off his first cd Mosquito, Kulas asked his fellow Torontonians how they felt about the Canadian Olympic ice hockey team getting done in the other night in Salt Lake City by the Swedes (led by "that bastard" Mats Sundin - captain of the hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.  If only Mats played that well every night for Toronto!).  Michael then followed with a pair of new "west coast of Scotland" songs "Glasgow Rain" (apparently a favourite of Michael's "supersonic" band that he will debut next week at his cd release party at Toronto's Rivoli club).  As my wife noted, the lyrics of this song perhaps provide an insight into what may have been going through Kulas' mind after James bandmate Tim Booth's announcement last October to leave the uberband) and "Starland".  It will be interesting to hear where these two songs go when done with a band next week.  Michael then provided another emotional delivery of Jeff Buckley's cover of legendary Canadian writer Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" - I really enjoyed Michael's vocal going up the extra octave on the closing section of this one.  It would be great to hear Michael use more of his extensive vocal range like this in other songs.  After taking a few moments to retune his guitar, Michael closed his (our) night with Mosquito's "A Clever Mess".

Another strong night by Kulas.  Next week's cd release party for "Another Small Machine" will be Michael's first Toronto show in five years with a full band; should be good.