{"id":134,"date":"2013-03-03T00:43:14","date_gmt":"2013-03-03T05:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.robpenfold.com\/?p=134"},"modified":"2013-10-12T23:35:13","modified_gmt":"2013-10-13T04:35:13","slug":"whitehorse-the-starlight-28-feb-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robpenfold.com\/?p=134","title":{"rendered":"Whitehorse @ The Starlight 28 Feb 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"WH_feb2013_5\"<\/a>
Whitehorse at The Starlight
Waterloo ON
28 Feb 2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a very long time I have wanted to see Luke Doucet in concert.\u00a0 For various reasons, mainly timing, I have never had the opportunity…until this week.<\/p>\n

For those of you not familiar with Luke Doucet I will give you the Reader’s Digest version of his career.\u00a0 A native of Halifax, Luke joined Sarah McLaughlin’s band at the age of 19 and has played with her intermittently ever since.\u00a0 In the late ’90’s and early 2000’s Luke fronted the Vancouver rock band Veal before striking out on his own recording 5 albums and an EP for Toronto’s Six Shooter Records.\u00a0 He has also produced many albums including Melissa McClelland’s 2004 release “Stranded In Suburbia”.\u00a0 Coincidentally they would marry in 2006.<\/p>\n

In 2011 both Luke and Melissa would put both their respectable solo careers on hold and join forces as Whitehorse.\u00a0 And thank you so much for doing that.\u00a0 I am a fan of each but this is one of those instances where product is greater than the sum of all the parts.\u00a0 They each make great records (see my December review of Luke’s “Blood’s Too Rich”) but what they have created together is magic!\u00a0 But I will save the album review for another day.<\/p>\n

After years of bad timing I finally got to see Luke Doucet live when he and Melissa performed at the Starlight in Waterloo (great venue by the way).\u00a0 I am a guitar nut.\u00a0 I collect them, I play them, I build them and Luke is unquestionably my favorite guitar player in the world.\u00a0 He is often cited as one of the best guitarists in Canada.\u00a0 So this week my regular concert wingman, Bryan, and I took in one hell of a show.<\/p>\n

It is one thing to listen to Whitehorse on CD or vinyl or whatever your preference but it is entirely another to see the magic created on stage live.\u00a0 It is just Luke and Melissa on stage.\u00a0 No one else.\u00a0 They play everything.\u00a0 They have an elaborate stage set-up utilizing a lot of looping.\u00a0 Not pre-recorded looping mind you, everything recorded live in front of your eyes.\u00a0 It is something to watch them construct a song by recording a couple drum hits, a tambourine, some pots & pans, a kettle, keyboards, a bass, guitars and a bunch of other shit I’m missing.\u00a0 Before you know it, this amazing cacophony of sound is emanating from these two musicians on stage.\u00a0 Simply wow!\u00a0 Bryan who is a performing musician could not believe the energy it took for them to run back and forth to play everything and it still sound seemless to the audience.<\/p>\n

What did I like about the show?\u00a0 Pretty much everything.\u00a0 Aside from the obvious awe I had watching my idol play guitar not 10 feet in front of me, there were so many highlights.\u00a0 My favorite tune, “Devil’s Got A Gun” off their current album “The Fate of the World Depends On This Kiss” just blew me away.\u00a0 The crowd favorite was “Broken One” from their debut self-titled album.\u00a0 Luke’s guitar work blew the roof of the place with the live rendition of “Annie Lu”.\u00a0 “Killing Time Is Murder” and “Achilles Desire” the lead tracks of each album were the pinnacle of the sonic tapestry they created this evening.\u00a0 Both of those tracks, which to me feel sonically like part A and B, are some of the most complex of their creations and to hear them live was awe inspiring. The only song I was looking forward to hearing but didn’t was “Peterbilt Coalmine”.\u00a0 The encore closed with “Emerald Isle” and a crowd sing-a-long of the Springsteen cover “I’m On Fire” from the debut album.<\/p>\n

We had the pleasure of meeting Luke and Melissa after the show.\u00a0 Although I probably sounded like a stupid fan I made sure to tell Luke that he was my guitar idol and that I’d wanted to meet him for quite some time.\u00a0 He thanked me and seemed touched.\u00a0 Then we talked about guitars for a while, especially the one’s I’ve built.\u00a0 Below are some photos from the evening.<\/p>\n