It’s amazing what you can do with good, simple melodies and a soulful voice. Citizen Cope, aka Clarence Greenwood, breezed into Vancouver last night to rock a full house at the Commodore. And from his 3 opening acoustic numbers through the remainder of the set, that’s exactly what he did.
I was surprised to see the crowd that showed up. With $25 tickets going for 3 or 4 times their face value before the show, this had somehow become the hottest ticket in town. Arriving at the Commodore I thought I had accidentally stumbled to a yuppie bar in Yaletown filled with young girls wearing their mom’s heels for a big night on the town. The type of crowd didn’t really seem to mesh with the sound I had been listening to but who knows, maybe one of his songs was featured on Grey’s Anatomy or the O.C.
I was ready to ignore the crowd until the music began… Clarence walked on to the stage and began to play one of his songs by himself… and people wouldn’t SHUT UP! I’ll freely admit that I’ve talked at concerts, usually really bad ones where the musicians haven’t grabbed my attention and people are talking in hopes of drowning out the ‘music’. But he was really good, and people were obviously into the music… they just wouldn’t shut up. Sure, I’m not the most patient person in the world, but seriously people… if you’re going to pay money to go see an artist of his caliber come through town, shut up, sip your Heinekens and white wine (another pet peeve of mine… Chardonnay at a rock concert… but anyway) and listen to the show!!
The music was top notch, with a soulful backup band that had fun but never forgot it was there to highlight the talents of Mr. Greenwood. Though clearly sick from a cold, he didn’t let that slow him down any and delivered a great effort. It really is amazing what you can do with a guitar, a few chords and a soulful voice.
However, next time Clarence, do us a favour and play at least two songs in the encore… a one song encore is a bit of a joke, though I don’t blame you for wanting to leave this crowd early. And please, please play us Back Together.
