32 - Nerth Shore News — Friday, December 10, 1999

Starr’s show spelibing

Bob Mackin
News Reporter

FANS of live music
had a lot to cheer
about in 1999,

Here are some of my
fondest gigs of the year.
1. Kinnie Starr at Cates
Park, Aug. 8

Kinnie Starr’s new album
remained shelved and in
legal limbo following the
merger of Universal and
PolyGram, but she kept
busy on stage. She came to
North Vancouver to head-
line the 10th anniversary
Under the Volcano Festival.
In the afternoon she led a
freestyle jam in the Kids
Zone with her tight-as-rope

a
vt

KINNIE Starr set the tone
for Under the Voicano at
.Cates Park.

band. Later she kept the
groove going into the Deep
Cove night on the main-
stage, with an appearance by

agtime collaborator/dub
dj: Jacob Cino. -
‘Spellbinding.
2. Steve Earle at Jericho

ark July 26

“: For a-few years, Steve
Earle and Ozzie Osbourne
led. similar lifestyles. They
were both friendly with bik-
ers, booze and drugs. Who .
knows if their paths crossed |
the night they both played
-Vancouver’s west side. |
Osbourne was with Black .

Sabbath; for the fast time in .

anada; compiete' with fog;
works and a gothic stage
at Thunderbird Stadium: :
Earle was in a soio acoustic
performance at Jericho
‘cach.to end the first day of
he annual folic festival. | -
“Armed with a guitar and |
harmonica, Earle took the
appreciative crowd on a.
journcy through his up and
‘down lite via his songbook.
istening to Nashville’s .

reformed outlaw by the sea- -

ide made. for a perfect sum-
er nights... .
3. Sonic Youth/Master .
_Musiciens of Jujouka; Th:
Fanky Meters; Junior: *
own, Seattle Centre, |
Sept. 5.5: © ot,
“Noise merchants frem |
New York mect a mystical
musical troupe from the.
desert. New Orleans
funksters duel with a slide
guitar genius. Just an aver-
age day at Bumbershoot, the
music festival which draws
bove average acts and a
large, curious audience to
~ Seattle Centre every Labour
. Day weekend. Sonic Youth
brought Morocco’s Master
“Musicians of Jujouka for a
trance-inducing afternoon
under the Emerald City’s
clouds. The rain stayed
away, which ensured large
crowds for the Funky
. Meters under the Space
Needle and the long, cool

Junior Brown at the nearby
Mural Amphitheatre.
4. Bif Naked at
Thunderbird Stadium,
July 8 ’ .
The third and, perhaps,
last Lilith Fair tour opened
in Vancouver. And it rocked,
thanks to Vancouver’s Bif
Naked. The tattooed, some-
times potty-mouthed, Betty
Page disciple gave the cele-
bration of women in music a
rocky edge that was absent
from the previous versions.
5. Phish at GM Place, Sep.
9

The pre-millennium bug
didn’t happen on 9/9/99,
but Phish did. The
Burlington, Vt. band, which
has cultivated a zeaious fol-
lowing of travelling fans,
kicked off its annual fall tour
at the Garage with almost
three hours of music. The
debuts of several unrecorded
nuggets had those Phish-
heads with tape machines in
utter ecstasy.
6. Alice Cooper at
Orpheum, Sept. 11

Why was Alice Cooper’s
show so good? Maybe the
round of golf he enjoyed
earlier in the day at Seymour

Golf and Country Club gave
him extra inspiration. Or
maybe it was the venue: the
most theatrical of arena
rockers performed in a the-
atre. What a concept?
7. Echo and the
Bunnymen at Richard’s on
Richards, Oct. 18

Tan McCulloch and Will

Bunnymen produce great
results with relatively mea-
gre means. McCulloch has
enough cigarettes

to keep the industry alive
back home in Liverpool, yet
despite all the nicotine and
the passage of years, he con-
tinues to sport a soaring,
crystal clear singing voice.
Sergeant, meanwhile, coaxes
a fine, sonic smorgasbord of
sound from his limited trav-
cling guitar collection.
8. Mike Ness at Richard’s
on Richards, May 8.

The leader of punk rock’s
Socia! Distortion put on a
10-gailon hat and offered 3
tribute to his idols, Hank
Williams Jr. and Johnny
Cash in NewMusicWest’s
roots rock interlude.
9. Boredoms at Richard’s
on Richards, June 29

The boundaries of jazz
were pushed about as far as
they can stretch when the
Boredoms played their first
local gig in five years during
the Vancouver International
Jazz Festival. If there was an
award for the most adven-
turous act at the festival, the
Boredoms would have been
the only nominee. Osaka,
Japan’s wildest musical
export (complete with three
drummers) filled Dick’s with
a zany trance, psychedelic
and hardcore fusion.
10. Disco Biscuits at
Sonar, Sept. 28

Anyone venturing to the
former Town Pump expect-
ing disco was disappointed.
Those with adventurous

al tastes, howe’

*t ler down.
Philadelphia's answer to
Phish began the show play-
ing a full-hour hour, non-
stop, accompanied by a light
show fit for an arena.

Memorable non-niusical
pertormances: Bad
Religion’s 12-4 loss to 99.3
the Fox ac Britannia
Community Centre on May
13, Bowen Islander Jay
Bentl s glad to pick up

s bass ro begin Bad

igion’s cross-Canada tour
after allowing a dozen goals
in the puck rock hockey
game. The Canadian pre-
miere of L7: The Beauty
Process, directed by Krist
Novoselic, at Gastown’s
Blinding Light Cinema. The
former Nirvana bassist made
a documentary of L.A.’s
premiere all-female punk
band and brought it to
Vancouver for the Canadian
premiere. Beck stayed in
Pasadena to tape more songs
for what would become
Midnite Vultures.
Meanwhile, his brother
came to Vancouver's Art
Beatus Feb. 4 and bound his
head in masking tape to
open his brother and late

” grandfather’s art exhibit,

Beck and Al Hansen:
Playing With Matches. The
Commodore Ballroom
reopened Nov. 12, but the
comeback of the year .
belongs to Nardwuar the
Human Serviette. The West
Vancouver impresario, —
broadcaster, musician and
independent label operator
survived a July 10 brain
hemorrhage, but is back and
better than ever.

a

MEWS photos Sprout were ayetoaser.com/zprout

IAN McCulloch brought Echo and the Bunnymen to -
Aicherd’s on Richards for a smekin’ show.

Sprout’s top gigs of 99 -

Top 15 live shows wos
1. Good Riddance/Ensign/Guy Smiley — Seyiynn Hall.
2. Supersuckers — Whistier ss
3. Sloan/Zebrahead — Whistler
4. Edgetest -
5. Oztest . Onh,

. Ben Harper — eum
7. §4-40 — Commotore ve:
8. Crowned King/Reel Big Fish — Croation Cultural Centr
9. Jeff Beck me te
10. The Chemical Bros. — PNE.

~ 11. Karen Foster —Brickyard

12. Kinnie Starr — Under the Volcano .
13. the smalls © .

and you'll receive a box of Purdy's

ol Hedgehogs or a BC Legends video.
Be. Buy $50 and receive both. :

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