written by Scotty Evil
Some songs are timeless. Few artists are iconic. And there is Bruce Cockburn, who weaves a mastery of his instrument with ethereal rhythms and a range of songs both uplifting and rebellious.
I can’t say I recall when I first encountered his music; likely in the 80s with hits such as Tokyo. Subconciously I think I realized the maturity of his lyrics and as a result, they stuck with me.
Yet in all that time I had never seen him live. So I was thankfully that opportunity finally arrived when his most recent tour stopped at The Centre in downtown Vancouver.
A mature crowd slowly filled the building that night; once inside, several took the time for selfies in front of his modest kit of acoustic guitars and effects pedals. The tuning for his different songs was taped on the side of one of them for reference.
Shortly after 7pm, the lights dropped and Bruce came out; a little stooped and with the help of a cane, but that physicality melted away as he fine tuned his first acoustic to the calls of “We love you Bruce!” scattered through the fans. With brief appreciation, he focused on delivering a wide range of songs from his extensive catalog. The applause dipped and swelled with the level of familiarity from the audience from After the Rain through to Grim Travellers.
In regards to the tuning; “Some of you may know what DADGAD is…or not. Well, it’s useful tuning!” Then launching into the witty repartee of Cafe Society. He followed up with a new song “coming out in May” called “Orders”.
Set number two opened with one man and his guitar absolutely hypnotizing a full house with the ping-pong delay loops of “The End of All Rivers”. Not a pin dropped down to the last fading echos of the layered acoustic. Followed by another new song “When the Spirit Walks in the Room” and then the big hits came out.
“That was a great one…once in a while you get lucky” he quipped at the end of Lovers in a Dangerous Time. And from there it seemed the rest of the set was written specifically for Vancouver and British Columbia in general. Not surprising considering the time he spent in our province, but songs like Stolen Land and If a Tree Falls made that environmental and social protest sound like they were written from today’s headlines.
I imagine the highlight for most was the sing along/call and answer that happened during Wondering Where the Lions Are. With a little encouragement he got the audience to the vocal level that satisfied him.
Ending with a two-song encore left the crowd buzzing as they went out into the cool Vancouver night. One man and his guitars with a talented and satisfying performance whose words and music are perhaps even more relevant today. Proof that we have far to go and hopefully Bruce Cockburn will continue to make music along for the ride.
written by Scotty Evil
photos by Red Lenses Photography
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