KULAS : TORONTO ELMOCOMBO CLUB 17.4.03

Setlist: (Welcome to my Soundcheck), A Clever Mess, The Only One, Pavement, Starland, Having and Losing It All, Shine, Anyone Out There (featuring Katie Griffin), Laid, Hallelujah

It was about 9:30 on the Thursday night before the Easter long weekend when we arrived a bit later than intended at Toronto's elMocombo Club for Kulas' second "stripped" (i.e. acoustic) set in April.  Panic momentarily set in as we could see and hear Kulas on the stage, but fortunately it just turned out to be a soundcheck.  As it would be evident later that night the soundcheck was only half ways a success - vocals turned out a bit cleaner but the acoustic guitar pretty well sounded like an electric for most of the night, in particular during the first couple of songs.  Tonight's setlist was near identical to last week's kick off "stripped" show at the Oasis Lounge, except for the missing momentary light relief of Eatin' Beets in Madoc and the lack of a Glasgow Rain encore. 

Tonight's set clipped along with a lot more momentum and confidence on stage.  Maybe this was just a matter of Kulas shaking off the cobwebs last week in doing his first full solo acoustic set in over ten months.  Last week's show seemed more casual and intimate, with Kulas encouraging the audience chatter between songs.   In contrast, tonight Kulas was freer with anecdotes (looking forward to hearing about the corn snakes in Scotland next time) yet he was moving the set along with a quicker pace.  Arrangements, with one exception, were pretty well the same as last week.  For instance, standard acoustic set opener "A Clever Mess", off first Kulas cd "Mosquito", retained the different feeling instrumental intro introduced last week.   Perhaps its just me, but having enjoyed listening to Kulas do fan favourite set closer Hallelujah quite a number of times, the song seemed to be missing something tonight - in particular the closing vocal segment just doesn't seem to have the same emotional impact as before.  I never tire of hearing Michael doing new songs Pavement and Starland solo acoustic, they are really great with the whole band, but they just sparkle like diamonds in this simple setting.  I wonder what these songs will sound like with Kulas' new band Dead City Radio on their cd "American Cheerleader" when its released later this year.

The afore mentioned confidence was perhaps most evident in tonight's go at James classic "Laid" - I thought the closing sequence was pretty well spot on. Its funny though hearing Michael singing the verse about "messing around with gender roles" - he never sounds convincing (ok, liberal use of "never" as this is likely only the second time Kulas has done "Laid" solo in front of an audience).   So the inevitable question - when do we get to hear Kulas do She's A Star, or Runaground or Pocketful of Lemons or Getting Away With It or ...?

Tonight's surprise was Kulas' invitation of singer/songwriter Katie Griffin to the stage to sing "Anyone Out There", a new Kulas song which Michael introduced to us at last week's Oasis gig.  The song is featured on Katie's soon to be released premiere cd, which was also produced by Michael.  This song has a typical Kulas feel, kind of a cross between "The Only One" and "Having and Losing It All", off second Kulas cd "Another Small Machine", both of which Michael also performed tonight.  When Katie does this song live its really powerful; her performance was far more persuasive than the studio version (note that I am referring to the MP3 version of Anyone Out There that's available on her website.  Perhaps the cd version is different or maybe its just the low sample rate of the mp3 file that obscures the performance. Go to http://www.katiegriffin.com/ and click on the song title to hear it).  Griffin's intonation and phrasing tonight reminded me a great deal of one of my favourite vocalists, the long silent (at least in North America) Kate Bush.  Speaking of silent, it was a shame that Kulas' backing vocal on this song was not more prominent tonight.  Anyway, after hearing Katie Griffin tonight, I am looking forward to seeing her with the full Kulas band at her cd release party in Toronto next month (if you are interested, there is a link at the Katie Griffin website to buy the cd. It will cost about 12 pounds sterling including postage).