Great show
by Naths on 2024-02-29Avenir Centre - MonctonWas very impress on all the perfomences. Nathaniel was electrafying ... the sound was good
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Tragedy has a way of bringing out the best in songwriters. That's certainly the case for Dallas Green on The Love Still Held Me Near, his seventh studio album under the moniker City and Colour.
The 12-track set, arguably the most sonically aggressive and stylistically expansive outing in the City and Colour canon, comes from what Green has acknowledged as the most difficult time in his life. Within the span of a year, he lost two crucial figures - his cousin Nicholas Osczcypko, with whom he played in his first band, and longtime friend, City and Colour producer and engineer Karl Bareham, whose drowning death in Australia while on tour was the direct impetus for The Love Still Held Me Near's first single, "Meant to Be". At the time Green was also separated from his wife of (then) 11 years and felt their marriage was "seemingly over."
Green feels those inspirations were vehicles to push The Love Still Held Me Near in its own direction of exploration and discovery.
"It's not specifically about those events," he says of the album, which was co-produced with longtime band member and multi-instrumentalist Matt Kelly. "It's just an overarching theme of loss and the idea of trying to get through it." Though he adds with a small chuckle that "it was like I was having this beautiful, perfect mid-life crisis," the deeper purpose of the album is "asking good questions about life and then framing it in a way that anyone can find themselves in it. I know the experience I'm writing about on this album is not singular at all; it's everything we have to deal with as human beings, trying to live and get through it."
The Love Still Held Me Near certainly takes that trip from the emotional depths through the other side and finding a way to, as the closing track says, "Begin Again". Throughout the album, Green questions the very core of his beliefs, spiritual and otherwise, and in the title track he wonders whether true healing is even possible. He ultimately concludes that it is. Even when he acknowledges that "hope is hanging by a thread" Green sings, "I know the beauty lies in dawn's early light" and that "it ain't enough just to be alive/we gotta lean into the love a little before we die."
This is conveyed amidst a soundscape that dresses up the angst, tribulation and catharsis in sophisticated instrumental textures, ranging from waves of ambience to explosions of guitar-driven noise, with a wide array of touchstones in between.
"It was all about the love of things," Green explains. "I had gone through the most negative, terrible aspect of living, and it was the idea that the positive and the love could still keep me, us, and my friends together. I like to write. It's what I do when I just need to get something off my chest. It makes me feel better."
Hailing from St. Catharines, Ontario, Green started City and Colour in 2005 as a (then) quiet counter to the band he co-founded, hardcore luminaries Alexisonfire, releasing songs via the Internet. They proved so popular with fans that he released City and Colour's first album, Sometimes, later that year which won the JUNO Award for Alternative Album of the Year. He has since released five more albums under the moniker, accompanied by a shifting lineup of musicians, and collected 4 JUNO awards, including two Songwriter of the Year awards, plus 1 Triple Platinum, 2 Double Platinum, 6 Platinum, and 1 Gold certification in Canada, and 1 Gold certification in Australia. In 2022, Green was honored with the SOCAN National Achievement Award in recognition of his philanthropic contributions to music education in Canada.
Beyond the legacy of City and Colour, Green teamed up with global icon Alecia Moore (a.k.a. P!nk) to form the folk duo You+Me. The duo's acclaimed Platinum-certified first record, rose ave., debuted at #4 on the U.S. Top 200 Chart, #1 in Canada, #2 in Australia.
Despite that productivity and work ethic, Green went through a dark and also fallow period before The Love Still Held Me Near got on track.
Already laid low by the deaths and marital impasse (he and his wife reconciled in the wake of Bareham's passing), Green concluded a tour on February 29, 2020 and then was hit hard, like so many of his creative colleagues, by the global pandemic that brought the music industry to an abrupt and frightening halt. "I wasn't really thinking about making music at all," he recalls. "It was such a strange time for all of us, trying to wrap our heads around what was going on. I spent that spring and summer of 2020 just really trying to dig in and figure out what was going on in my life and who I was and why I had spent my whole life doing this thing that might be gone." Green was also turning 40 on September 29 of that year, which led to "a crisis of character and contemplation."
Some consolation came via visits from Kelly at Green's home in Northern Ontario. The two had "a lot of conversations, basically grieving with one another" over Bareham's death and other issues. "It began the process of trying to figure out what had just happened in 2019," Green says, "I really started to find the spark again, and then started writing."
The timing coincided with Green regrouping with Alexisonfire during the early stages of the pandemic shutdown to make their first full-length studio album in 13 years, Otherness. Green found himself going from writing nothing to working on material for two contrasting but fulfilling projects.
"I'd always joked that if I made music as much as I thought about making music I would have twice as much as I already have," Green says. "September 2020 to May 2021 was the most creatively explosive period I've ever had in my life. In seven months, I wrote and recorded two records, comprising of 22 songs. Quite a 'comeback'." During that time, he also recorded and released a two song EP, Low Songs, featuring the tracks "Murderer" and "Sunflower" from one of his longtime favorite bands, Low.
Though intensely personal, recording The Love Still Held Me Near was a collective and collaborative process. Recorded at Jukasa Studios in Caledonia, Ontario, Green and Kelly brought together a band of Canadian session stalwarts that included John Sponarski on guitar, Erik Nielsen on bass and Leon Power on drums. "The dudes who played on this record are a unit and have this hidden language like I have with Alexisonfire," Green notes. "And they've known me a long time. They all understood the pain and what these songs are about. They understood me. They understood the way I work, the way I use music to get myself through whatever was going on in my life at the time. And they knew Karl, too, so we were all sort of supporting each other through it."
Mixed by longtime collaborator, and three-time Grammy-winner Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Norah Jones, Tom Waits, Modest Mouse, Shania Twain and others), the album features Green's voice louder than ever before, supported by arrangements that are at once delicate and nuanced but also enormously powerful. "Meant to Be", for instance, blends acoustic and electric instruments in a sweeping build, while you can hear fingers on strings and necks of guitars during "Fucked it Up". On songs such as "Bow Down to Love", "A Little Mercy", "The Water is Coming", and the title track, you could swear that Neil Young and Crazy Horse somehow snuck into the City and Colour sessions.
With The Love Still Held Me Near, wrapped and ready to come out, Green is, not surprisingly, ready to get this incarnation of City and Colour out on the road to play the songs.
Green affirms, "Something I've figured out after two decades of doing this is I'm invigorated working with new people and coming up with our own versions of the old songs. We had such a great time in the studio making this record, so even though it will be tough to live through the pain (of the songs) again, I can't wait to finally be playing with everyone."
That's the testament of a man who's faced down challenging times the only way he knows how - with guitar in hand, lyrics on the page and musical comrades at his side. Green's conviction has been renewed, and rewarded, on The Love Still Held Me Near, and in doing so he's helped to bolster ours as well.
Was very impress on all the perfomences. Nathaniel was electrafying ... the sound was good
Great show from everyone, Ruby Waters 9/10, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats 10/10, and City and Colour 10/10, of course.
All bands were amazing. Time between each set was a little long, and opening act played for over an hour, which they were good, so it was okay, but made for a late Monday night. Venue was good, lots of vendors open so not many big lines except for bathrooms. A lot of very drunk people for a Monday night/City and Colour concert lol
As usual, Dallas Green absolutely killed it with an incredible vocal performance. He and the band played a good number of songs in the set, along with an encore performance of an additional 4-5 songs. Touring partner Nathan Miller and the Nightsweats were a great addition to the tour.
Great music, great atmosphere and great time! I would definitely see City and Colour and Nathaniel Ratliffe again.
Loved the show!! đ The only thing I could want is more Ruby Waters!!! Amazing performances all around đ€
Dallas and Nathaniel put up a heck of a night! Great show with great sound and some heavy riffs for C&C that we are not used to listen to on the albums. Good job!
Bon spectacle!! Il a joué ses classiques et quelques nouvelles chansons.
CâĂ©tait ma 12ieme fois que je le voyais en spectacle, je ne me tannerai JAMAIS câest mon artiste prĂ©fĂ©rĂ© de tout les temps đ
Great show, he is so good ! A real artiste to discover.
Best show ever! Dallas Green has a very nice voice! The sound was great! Love love loved it!!
Opening act Ruby Waters was good, keep an eye on her for better things yet to come. Nathaniel Ratcliffe and the Night Sweats were a ton of fun, delivering their unique brand of high energy, almost gospel revival music. Got the place hopping. And then for the main eventâŠ. City and Colour were excellent, with Dallas Green in full control of his wonderful voice, back by his tight band. The sound performance at Place Bell was amazing, with no distortion or echo, showcasing crisp and haunting vocals and true musicianship. If you get a chance, go see these groups on tour, you wonât regret it. Great night out!
Sadly when City and Colour started to play the sound quality went down. We asked around and other people said the same. The sound was good during Ruby and Nathaniel so I donât understand what happened.
Dallas and his guys put on a great show! The opener Ruby Waters was amazing, a very talented young canadian!!
Mostly what I expected from this show . Ruby Water what a great discovery... Great presence on the stage. We felt the vibe theyâre in. The expression, the fun they had on the scene everything was there. Even if Iâm not, Nathaniel Rateliff fanbase I had a great time during his prestation... but we were on the ground floor and then 3 people came up out of nowhere dancing up front on the ground floor disturbing all their surroundings and then theyâre 3 other friends came up ... I understand they wanted to have fun but they were more likely annoying everyone who had saved their spot up front ...it was just too much for everyone around them. I mean usually the pit is in the middle right !? Anyway City and colour were just insane like always . Their new song is not what I expected to be . But the fact they played some old song was mostly what makes me happy during the show. I felt like the overall show was worth the ticket price even if it was kinda expensive ... And thanks to the whole team of C&C for the comeback, it was just what I expected from a comeback Iâm coming home this city is haunted by the ghost of broken home or something like that ... :D Awesome for a huge fan of Alexisonfire from their album debut Alexisonfire.. ! ... And if I had to see C&C again, I really hope theyâll play more song from little hell, bring me your love and sometimes . WHAT A NIGHT ! Big love from a core fan !
What an amazing lineup!! Ruby was inspiring. Seeing her on stage was a gift. Nathanial Rateliff was the soul of the show. This band is a must see. CiC was epic of course. So much emotion and energy.
Excellent spectacle, son fabuleux. La voix de Douglas pourrait faire fondre un iceberg. Je recommande fortement.
the sound was not great - we sat in section 103 - and could barely understand any words sang by Nate and Dallas. the sound was so off.
I have seen Dallas by himself, and it was amazing. However , when you add his band....... đ€Żđ€©đ. I listened to C&C and NR and The Night Sweats day in and day out during colllege . Was the only way my mind was able too relax and I was able to pass with flying colours đ! Thank you!!!
This was my first time seeing City & Colour in concert. An excellent concert with a mix of new and old songs. Dallas was on time starting his set which for many groups isn't the case. He was welcoming and made the audience feel at home.