Date of show: January 31, 2013
Written by: Chiara DiAngelo
Devon Lougheed (vocals, guitar), Brandi Sidoryk (bass, vocals), and Luke Cyca (drums) of Vancouver trio beekeeper made a dramatic entrance to the stage introduced by a space-agey woman’s voice announcing, “beekeeper is coming. beekeeper is coming. beekeeper is here.” From the quirky experimental element to their light and airy pop sound, to the girl-guy vocals, to Lougheed’s cat shirt, I was pretty much hooked from the first lines of first song “Table and Bed” from their 2010 debut album Be Kept.
Their set was filled with memorable moments, one each better and more entertaining than the next. Pulling out a cover song they had performed at a friend’s wedding that they claimed was by the “greatest Canadian artist,” everyone was pretty psyched when it turned out to be Alanis Morrisette’s “You Learn.” The best part though was that it was Lougheed that performed the high parts rather than Sidoryk. He also bestowed some valuable wisdom to the first person who guessed the artist right. I’m not sure that the laughter stopped from this point onwards.
With a bit of a country-flavour to it, the band members all pulled out kazoos for “Oh Hi” – though Sidoryk didn’t necessarily have the best of luck with hers. Introducing it as a song from their new EP Shout At People, Lougheed invited everyone to shout out the name of the person they liked but had never told. You couldn’t really make out any names as they all blended together but perhaps some secrets were revealed! What was evident however was just how well this band knew how to banter and win over a crowd in a city far from home.
Written when Lougheed was just 11, the lyrics of “Pets Eat Their Masters” didn’t necessarily involve too much more than “pets eat their masters,” his childhood dream came true as the space right in front of centre stage soon filled in with people dancing. Not right away though – Toronto likes to make people wait. While “Take Me Back (To the Place)” was rambunctiously catchy to begin with, Lougheed grabbed our immediate attention even more so when he noted that it was in fact written about a burrito.
The set took a turn for the quiet and somber with a song written for Lougheed’s grandmother, during which an unexpected operatic near-shriek emerged from Sidoryk. That girl can wail! With their set coming to a close, Lougheed stepped out onto the rickety tables in front of the stage during the heavy “I Don’t Need Hope, I Need Whisky,” eventually jumping off it into the crowd. Prior to their last song, Lougheed invited everyone up on stage for a “family photo” to remember the moment. With almost the entire venue crowding in, he encouraged everyone to stay on the stage and join in for one last hurrah. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had this much fun at a show.
The night began with Toronto three-piece garage rock band Convoys. Loud and energetic with a whole lot of distorted guitar and dance moves thrown in, they had the girls in the audience all very excited. But with danceable songs like “Taking Control” and “Changes” played early on, it was difficult not to at least have your toes tapping.
Their set also included two brand new songs that edged over into the near psychedelic rock territory. Mentioning that their second show ever was actually played with beekeeper at Sneaky Dee’s just over a year ago, they’ve definitely tightened up their live performance since their EP GOGO/BANG was released last Fall. They do however have some work to do in the banter department – but even they knew it and were able to joke about it when not attempting to make conversation. Many tuning breaks meant frontman Jason Jang got in a lot of practice though and maybe they learned some pointers from Lougheed of beekeeper afterwards. Ending their set with the rocking “Groundwork” kept everyone in the dancing mood through until the end. It was a great start to the night!
buying shots for bands 
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