Jason Collett at the Dakota Tavern; Saturday March 3, 2007

Jason Collett at the Dakota Tavern; Saturday March 3, 2007. 8/10

I really dug this show, everything about it, which entails--the venue, the atmosphere and of course the entertainment. I had never heard of the place before i found this show in the Eye Weekly Magazine. Anyways to give the basics about it is it's a western themed bar and suto-concert venue--Buck Owen sentimentals everywhere! The waitress was decked out in a cute print dress and cowboy boots. The lighting was brilliant--Christmas lights across the backdrop of the stage, perfect for a digital SLR, that unfortunately i didn't bring and i was contemplating all the amazing photos i could have taken! Guess you're going to have to imagine this.What i loved about this show was two things in particular show aside--they were ontime! and early! so i could go late night cd shopping. You rarely ever find that--early shows... nice thing.The opener--named Tony Scherr, who kept saying: "I'm from North America" which was an immediate indicated that he wasn't from this side of it. Turns out he's from New York, which he didn't say but Jason Collett did. He kept making comments about how Canada is superior, whether it is through crediting his Canadian apparel or knocking Bush. How cliche. Tony Scherr's sound was a little rough on the edges but worked it out with pretty guitar sounds. He played alone just vocals and guitars. He was funny, first accidently hitting the high hat of a near by drum kit--he continued to hit it matching the beat of his guitar sounds, creative and funny. His sound was a soft acoustic and with very dynamic vocals that were characterized in his own style--slightly raspy but clear enough to make a love song sound pretty. Most of his repetoire was about love, but a focus on life and happens like any other artist. He was blunt and told the audience what the song meant and what it was about. I dug that.Jason Collett came on, literally five minutes after Tony Scherr, punctual, nice. He brought a small notebook with many lines of scribble in it, which was to make up his set list. His set was acoustic as well, all guitar, no band. His songs were quite mellow, not loud but this is most likely because he has yet to work it in with a band. Like the other albums, the main focus of his songs were based on love...(what's new?). The feel of these songs are excellent--very similar to his previous releases however i thought this cluster of songs had a more up beat vibe to them, i'm sensing a further involvement of his back up band--Paso Mino. These songs are super fresh, worked in without a band. Collett could barely remember the lyrics of one tune--and nearing the end of a verse he said: "Oh Fuck, i should know the lyrics... There's a rule where critics can't include messed up lyrics in a review when this wasn't a published gig." He turned to a girl clutching a digital SLR--pointing at her assuming she was going to rip his performance up. She yelled: "I'm not a critic!". By this simple gesture i realized his honesty as a writer and a performer, amazing. He didn't play any old stuff, which wasn't great and definately stunned the audience, but this was solely a new material show. I only recognized one song called "Redemption Song" which he has worked in with his band. Surprisingly i really dug this show considering i knew one song. His set was brief and could have used five more extra tunes. It was great though, he has such a great feel and his presence is all there, he's honest and he loves what he's doing. I fully respect that. After he played his last song, he said they were on a tight time frame so they had to make their encore quick, he called upon Scherr for a cover by Cheap Trick (you can probably guess this one!)--A very reworked "I Want You", great tune reworked into an acoustic blend, what i loved was that listening to the tune when he played it, one might not even be able to recognize that it in fact was the song he said. Great show, great artists and i'm very excited for Jason Collett's new material apparently due out by the end of summer.

Check out: http://radio3.cbc.ca/ --------click letters G-L at the top. --------click Jason Collett, for his new material, live in studio.

March 5, 2007