It was a dark and stormy night, as I braved the elements to get you the scoop on The Shins live at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom. Friday, May 21 marked the kick off of another of The Shins non-stop tours, with only the one Canadian date before a string of American stops.

The crowd at the Commodore was the typical university-aged hipsters, with the women outnumbering the men. Note to self: chicks dig soulful, poetic guys with guitars. Actually that should be well known by now given the popularity of emo groups like Bright Eyes or Dashboard Confessional. The Shins share little more that that however, but more on that later.

I suffered through the opening act. They were named US Maple, they were terrible, and they shall be mentioned no more in this review.

Next on stage, The Fiery Furnaces let loose with an energetic 40 minute set, during which no silences were heard. The songs blended into one another quickly and seamlessly, and it was often hard to tell where one stopped and the next one began. The four piece group featured a young looking woman singer, gushing lyrics at a furious pace. The skilled bassist and guitarist, who each had an electronic organ in front of them as well, crafted amazing rhythms along with the drummer. The result was music that sounded for all the world like a carnival ride at times. But it worked, damn it. Despite organs being the instrument du jour among indie groups at the moment, I'll be looking out for this band in the future.

By the time The Shins took the stage, after blissfully short intermissions, the crowd on the floor had swelled to an impressive size. After a warm up song from the 2001 release Oh, Inverted World, The Shins launched into a set featuring almost all of their material from Oh, Inverted World, and their 2003 release Chutes Too Narrow.

The show started off a bit slow, with the first few songs being mostly older or unknown material, and a new song titled "Elephant". The energy grew quickly though: on the next song, "Pink Bullets," lead singer James Mercer slipped the lyrics, and the band restarted the song with a graceful apology. I'd say that was the moment the crowd was hooked for sure; everybody was singing along after that. The band let the crowd fill in on the next song, "Saint Simon", and stood back seemingly amazed that they're as well liked as they are.

There is something very satisfying about a band that doesn't take its popularity for granted, but rather lets the magic of their show speak for them. The bad thing about such a flawless show is that the time passes without notice - each song is so well done that it's easy to slip into a daze and wake up flushed at the end of the show. The set replicated the recorded material on the whole, but it was much more there, it was a much more intense feeling to be seeing it created live.

Upon first glance, the band seems terribly geeky, dressed sloppily in t-shirts. I wondered how, as interviewers love to ask, keyboardist Marty Crandall managed to have a supermodel-type girlfriend (Crandall's girlfriend came in third place on the TV show America's Top Model). After the show, they still looked geeky, but there was a charm about them. Crandall traded banter with the crowd, while Mercer was a bit more quiet, saving himself for the emotional lyrics. During the three song encore, a girl jumped up on stage, planted a kiss on Crandall, and hopped off. Apparently nice guys don't always finish last.

Elsewhere

By Ryan Ince
Photos : Shins Website
Published : June 4, 2004.