Last Night's Gig: Dan Mangan at Parterre in Basel

Simply astounding live set from Dan Mangan. This took place about 4 days after the Polaris Prize Gala where Dan had been nominated for album of the year. I was familiar witha  few of his songs from Radio3, but had never had the chance to see him live.The venue was great. The week before I had been to a Wolf Parade concert in the same building, but this concert took place in the Parterre which is a much smaller room off the back. There were about 20 tables set up with candles and it had a very initmate vibe (I think in total there were about 40 people there. Considering he plays to over 5000 in Canada, it was great to see him in Basel). When I first arrived I met the hostess/programmer for the Parterre whose name was Andrea and who was from Victoria, BC as well. I gathered later on that she had met Dan a few years back (apparently at a strip club, this statement generated about 3 minutes of jokes from various band members...) and so when he came through on his European tour, he agreed to play Basel.

The Mountains and the Trees was the opening act and although at times it can be a much larger collective, last night we had Jon Janes playing solo. It was a good set and refreshing in terms that Jon told a load of stories (many about growing up, living and eventually leaving small town Newfoundland) to accompany his songs. He joked that it should be billed stories and music with Jon Janes, but I found it really nice maybe because I miss the banter at most shows in Switzerland and I enjoyed hearing some Canadian tales. The only downside to his set was that some gear malfunctioned during Up & Down which was the finale of his set and is my favourite of his songs.

Dan Mangan was outstanding. His music is often described as definitive Canadian acoustic singer-songwriter (to which I agree his contibution continues the great Canadian tradition), but his songs are often more that that, easily flowing between slower more touching ballads and foot-stomping, upbeat tunes. The lyrics are great and in its entirety the album flows superbly. His stage presence was excellent and I appreciated that the other members of the band had a voice and involved themselves in the banter (including a hilarious, falsetto fill-in for the female duet on The Indie Queens Are Waiting). There was also a double bass involved, a fact I am always appreciative of. He played through the majority of songs on his album Nice, Nice, Very Nice including Sold, Road Regrets (that's a lot of coffee) and Basket (my sentimental favourite from the album). He of course finished with Robots and even managed to get the generally reserved Swiss crowd singing along with him as they spread out across the room (and flanked us...). A great show and is one of the best I have seen in Europe so far.

What do YOU want to know about Switzerland?

One of my reasons for starting this blog was to give anyone who reads it (anyone? anyone?) the chance to learn something about Switzerland and the day to day life here. My continuing series of Amusing Things About Switzerland (Part IV coming soon!) obviously touches upon this, but if any readers have questions about something specific you want to know or you read something interesting in the news about the Swiss and you want your guy on the ground (that would be me) to investigate, post it in the comments or e-mail me and I'll see what I can find out about it ( I have connections) and do my best Mike Wallace impression on the blog.

Plus, to be honest, it provides me some additional ideas for things to post about other than ultimate or music.

The request lines are open...

Last Night's Gig: Wolf Parade at the Kaserne in Basel

...and an Alan Thicke joke. Let's just say as Spencer Krug noted in the middle of the concert "language barrier anyone?". There were a lot of blank faces and confused silence when Alan Thicke was mentioned. It's too bad, the Swiss are missing out on a comedic goldmine.

I got into Wolf Parade a bit later than most (post-Mount Zoomer), but I missed a chance to see them back in April in St. Gallen and I wasn't going to miss them again. If you haven't spent much time with Wolf Parade, I would describe it as electro-pop-punk. Great riffs, but copious use of organs and synths that really add to the composition. As well, both Krug and Dan Boeckner have excellent and incredibly unique voices.

I had seen some video from early concerts and I must say they have improved their live show dramatically. They had a great mix of new stuff (Ghost Pressure, What Did My Lover Say?) and their older favourites (This Heart's on Fire, You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son). I was a bit disappointed they didn't play Golden Age which is my favourite tune from their new album. Speaking of which, their new album Expo 86 has both an excellent title (blog admission: I have an excellent childhood photo of me with Expo Ernie, the robot mascot, so I have a ingrained affinity) with a great flow. I am definitely expecting this one to be on the Polaris shortlist next year.

My next show plans are Dan Mangan and The Mountain and the Trees back in Basel on the 27th. And I've now booked my tickets for the Heartland Festival in Vevey. So excited...

Off-season training starts....now.

After taking a week off after our Swiss Championship (I must say, a perfect time to get sick), it's time to get back into training mode.

Hey David Gym, remember me? I'm back.

Two Time Swiss National Champs!

Way to go ZUF (Züri Ultimate Flyers)! This past weekend we won our second Swiss Championship in the mixed division.

Celebrating with the Mixed Schweizer-Meister Trophy (nice threads from VC as well!)

I felt that this year's trophy was more deserved than last year because we ended up playing the second best team in the finals (The Wombats from Willisau) and they gave us a run for our money. They played a perfect tactical game for their strengths and if they had connected a bit more on offense, this blog post could have been about us blowing the championship game. Big shout out to Clau for her amazing passion (not to mention excellent play) in the final!

ZUF! ZUF! ZUF!

April...hmmmm

I suppose 5 months between postings is a bit long. I'm trying to make an attempt to revive this a bit over the next while, incluidng posting some backlogged material that needs to be finished up. Everything is just becoming so regular here...

I just returned from 3 weeks on vacation in Canada. I spent most of my time in la belle province, playing disc and visiting with Emily. It was superb and I should have some photos to add...

Final round of the Swiss Championships is this weekend in Bern. ZUF is gunning for our second straight first place finish in the mixed division and we have EUC and World Beach Championships on the radar for next year.

Let's see how this pans out.