10 Dec 2012

Everyone always complains when things go wrong, but no one ever acknowledges when things work out well. When serendipity is finally on your side and by some happy accident your night gets a little better than planned. That’s what happened to me last night. I had tickets to see Cold Specks play in Hamilton, and tried to time my arrival to purposely miss the openers; it was a Sunday night and I thought I had better things to do. I was displeased when I showed up almost 2 hours after door to find that there was still another act to go on before the headliner I was there to see.

May I just acknowledge that as being a terrible state of mind? Openers have it rough. I mean, they know that you’re not here to see them. They know you’re getting antsy and want them to hurry up and finish so you can see who you came here for. And yet, they get up there, knowing full well that they’ll at best be in second place tonight, and play their little hearts out for you. The openers are like that kind of like that person who flirts with you knowing full well that you have a boyfriend. But they do it anyways. They’re all out there looking for that right person to hear them, to love them.

So there I was, in a cramped Hamilton bar and I’m kind of grumpy and my feet are not happy at the thought of standing through some band I’ve never heard. But by some great coincidence, the opener ends up being Dan Griffin, whose album I’d been listening to for the last week on repeat. He’s formerly of the band The Arkells, but in my opinion he’s doing much better on a stage solo. Dan is a great folk artist, a kind of brilliant lyricist that rarely comes along.  His simple finger picking gives way to display truly great, melancholy lyrics. A kind of young Nick Drake, he was charming and soothing all at once. It goes without saying that suddenly my feet didn’t care and I didn’t have to pretend to like him.

The weather is getting a little darker, it’s looking a little grey out there. I think it’s the perfect time of year for a light, uncluttered album like this one and I’m so happy I got to see it in its entirety last night. I guess it was high time to remind myself that all my favorite bands were at one time someone elses opener, right? Everyone has got to start somewhere. A good place for you to start would be to head on over to iTunes, where my favorite song on his album ‘Stars and Satellites’ is the free single of the week. So curl on up, go get your free song and the next time you’re at a show, please remember to give that opener a chance. 

“It won’t be long before I’m gone, it’s true, but i’m hoping that the stars and the satellites will bring me home to you…..”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvj14vmifCg