Wow, can't believe it's been a week already since the Blitzen Trapper show at the Starlite Room. It's been a busy week of shows.
Last Sunday my Cuz and I went to the Blitzen Trapper show, ya Sunday shows suck but if you book the following day off work you can still go and have a good time and that's exactly what we did. This was my fifth time seeing Blitzen Trapper in concert. I love this band out of Portland, Oregon, I don't know how you would describe their music, maybe folkish, experimental roots rock with a dash of classic rock mixed in. Regardless don't matter what they are other then a great band.
I wasn't expecting a big crowd for this show with it being on a Sunday, but I was some surprised when we got to the venue to catch the opener and there was barely anyone there yet. I thought it might fill up after the opener, but nope. This was downright embarrassing, by the end of the night my estimate would be maybe 60-75 people in attendance. For a venue that has a capacity of 1000, this didn't look good. Blitzen Trapper has always drew decent crowds in Edmonton on their previous three visits. Bu then again it was a Sunday show and there was very little advertising done for the show. Not a single gig poster around town or at the venue for this show, and you wonder why no one was there, blame yourselves promoter and venue.
Opening the show was Marty Marquis who is the keyboard player in Blitzen Trapper. It was just him on guitar playing a few songs. His set was only about 20 minutes which was just long enough. I found it to be on the mellow and on the boring side.
Marty Marquis.
By the time Blitzen hit the stage for their performance the place was still empty but it didn't stop the band from putting on a great show as usual. The band consists of Eric Earley on lead vocals and guitar, Erik Menteer on guitar, slide guitar and some keyboard, Brian Adrian Koch on drums and backup vocals, Michael Van Pelt on bass and Marty Marquis on keyboards and guitar.
The band started the show with the song "Saturday Nite" from their 2008 album Furr, a great choice for an opening song, even if it was a Sunday. The band did a few songs from this album including "Furr", "God & Suicide", and the awesome "Black River Killer". Blitzen mixed their set up with some oldies and new stuff from their newest release Wild And Reckless which is an album they recorded for the Portland Center Stage at The Armory. This was a concert and theater event the band did earlier this year. From these performances they did in Portland the band released a limited edition album of only 500 pressings only available at their concerts. Seven of the ten songs on the album are new. So we got to hear one new song called "When I'm Dying".
At times during the show Eric Earley the lead singer and songwriter reminded me of a young Bob Dylan. This whole band is tight with each member pulling their own weight, but I myself think that guitar player Erik Menteer is the hidden gem in the band.
The few that were at the show seemed to enjoy themselves singing and dancing along through out the whole show. It was a great setlist as you will see at the end of this review as I was able to grab a setlist from the stage after the show. A great time just a disappointment with the lack of people there. Oh well, those who didn't go missed a hell of a show. Good times!!!
Blitzen Trapper.
Setlist.
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