I ordered the deep-fried Garlic Chicken and Gra Bong (deep-fried squash fritters) appetizers, the 3-flavours Pad Thai, the Khao Soi (egg noodles in curry), and the Thai iced tea. Unlike my recent experience with deep-fried food at Guu Saka Bar, the appetizers here were light and tasty. The hint of lemon-grass with the chicken and soft centre of the squash were particular highlights. I've had the pad thai and Khao Soi before, but my fellow diner wanted to try them out. The Khao Soi seems much thicker than before, almost a heavy curry. I do enjoy the dish, but the creaminess of the curry has always been too much of a good thing. The pad thai and iced tea made a nice addition to the meal.
First up at the Great Hall was Kat Burns. She is the lead singer of local indie band Forest City Lovers. She sang slow, introspective, moody and confessional music. Being the 1st act of the night, and relatively unknown, it was a tough set to sell in this larger venue. People were getting a bit restless a couple of songs. It would have been better if she had a few more up-tempo numbers. In contrast, almost every roots-rock/country-flavoured song by New Country Rehab was a toe-tapping number. Even the slower tunes built up layers of instrumentation. Half of their songs were originals and the other half were reworked covers of country/americana by Hank Williams Sr, John Fogerty, and so on. I was impressed by the guitarist, who seemed to be able to pull out all sorts of effects from his acoustic guitar, that's one interesting set of guitar pedals he's got. Both him and the lead singer, who was also fiddling, pulled off some fast-fingered and nimbled solos, to the delight of the crowd.
Basia Bulat was the final act of the night. Unlike the last time I saw her, when she was the opening act for Josh Ritter, she had her full band with her. There were some minor glitches: the mike for the upright bass didn't work for the first part of two different songs, and Basia herself forgot the lyrics to the 2nd verse to an older number. Her voice seemed a bit strained, but she was her usual bubbly and self-effacing self. The sound system was slightly weak for a set-up of this size, reducing a bit the energizing effect of Bobby Bulat's drumming on songs like Go On and Gold Rush. But the mix was excellent for the vocal harmonies and the softer viola and ukelele. Her 40-minute set, plus a 2 song encore, meant that she stuck to songs from her 2 CDs (except for covering Sam Cooke's "Touch The Hem of His Garment" in the encore) instead of trying out her new material or Polish songs. I wished she did a longer show but like everybody else, I left happy and contented.
No comments:
Post a Comment