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| Dan Mangan Setlist - Nov. 9 In Vancouver
Dan Mangan just finished a cross Canada tour, with rsupport from The Rural Alberta Advantage. rVancouver, Mangan's hometown, was the tour's final rstop, and it proved to be the biggest and most rspecial of the entire tour. He played an rabsolutely massive set, opening with a new song rand including all the fan-favourites, not to rmention many lesser known cuts. I saw him play rRifflandia in Victoria rin September, and while rnothing quite beats a warm summer festival set, rthis night was something else entirely. | | 1 | Dan Mangan
We Want To Be Pleasantly Surprised, Not Expectedly Let Down
For those who have not seen him before, Dan Mangan's band is an 7-piece
including
an electric guitar, a violin, a keyboard, a drum kit, a trumpet, a bass, and
himself
on acoustic guitar and vocals. The band opened with a loud, bombastic jam, and
then segued into the new single from the Radicals 7" It was not a song that the
crowd knew, but it made sense that he would open with a new song. | | 2 | About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All
He then began his main set (he opened with these next few songs when I saw him
two months ago). This is the opener from his most recent LP, 2011's Oh Fortune. | | 3 | Oh Fortune
the crowd loved this a bit more than I thought they would. It's not one of the
best
tracks on Oh Fortune, but it was released for free download as a teaser for the
LP,
so maybe that's why so many people knew it so well. | | 4 | Sold
A fan favourite from his 2009 classic Nice, Nice, Very Nice. Strangely upbeat
while
still pessimistic, great tune. | | 5 | Leaves, Trees, Forest
He explained what this song was about before playing it and it gave me a new
appreciation for it. He said that something that is small can seem big if it's
all you
focus on. When your life revolves around something, no matter how tiny, it
becomes massive from your viewpoint. We need to step back and see the bigger
picture more often. | | 6 | If I Am Dead
"A nice happy number about death" | | 7 | Post-War Blues
"oh let's start a war for the kids, a purpose for which to unite..." | | 8 | Basket
one of the greatest songs ever written. if you disagree, you haven't heard this
song. | | 9 | Starts With Them, Ends With Us
He did this last time I saw him as well, and I fucking love it: Basket is my
favourite
from Nice, Nice, Very Nice, and this one is my favourite from Oh Fortune. The
part
where the entire band drops out and it builds back up again from just Dan's
voice
and guitar to the epic, swelling climax with the soaring trumpet line. Such an
immense live song, goosebumps every time. | | 10 | Road Regrets
The opener from Nice, Nice, Very Nice. I was really glad he played this. | | 11 | How Darwinian
"people don't know what they want, they just know they really want it" | | 12 | Robots
The fan-favourite, primarily due to the catchy chorus of "robots needs love too,
they want to be loved by you...." which gets extended into a five-minute
singalong
in a live setting. It was at this point that we rushed the stage (the venue was
an
indoor theatre with assigned seating). It was great to see this live again, but
it
was nowhere near as magical as it was when Dan closed his Rifflandia set with
it,
and brought a girl with a cardboard robot head on stage for a dance. Luckily
Dan
had another bullet in the chamber. I didn't think he could top Rifflandia, but
the end
of his set on Friday was nothing short of transcendent; stay tuned. | | 13 | Rows of Houses
guitar solooooooooooooo | | 14 | Regarding Death and Dying
transitional piece which means I got to hear....... | | 15 | Jeopardy
The massive closer from his 2011 LP. He didn't play this at Rifflandia so I was
loving being right up at the stage for this performance. A great way to close
the
main set. | | 16 | Encore
One of the greatest encores I've ever seen. | | 17 | Dan Mangan
The Indie Queens Are Waiting
"bus down to the local record store, buy something to make you like me more..." | | 18 | Tina's Glorious Comeback
another of Mangan's great songs that went unplayed at Rifflandia. It was
amazing
to see this live. | | 19 | Fair Verona
He had the crowd choose between this and Journals of a Narcoleptic (I would have
rather heard Journals...), but before the vote he recounted seeing Radiohead
years
ago, and for their second encore the crowd had to pick between Paranoid Android
and Idioteque. They played Android and he was pissed that he never got to hear
Idioteque... it was a fun story haha | | 20 | So Much For Everyone
One of my great concert experiences, and a totally unexpected one. This fairly
unknown number from his fairly underrated first LP was Dan's final gift to his
hometown audience. He taught us all a vocal melody that we would eventually
need to sing, then put his guitar down and came into the audience. He stood on
a
chair in the middle of the floor while his band slowly built it up. He began
singing,
but took a break to say this (I'm paraphrasing): "guys I'm a big fan of the
internet,
I'm always watching live music videos on youtube, and I love it. But what I
love
even more is the idea of something happening just once, never able to be re-
experienced in any way. So please, I'm asking you to put the phones and cameras
down, and just focus on enjoying this moment and the music." Everyone who was
filming the sure to be majestic set closer obliged, and the crowd applauded
loudly.
Dan then resumed singing, and soon brought in the audience's vocals melody. The
theatre filled with the booming sound of thousands of voices. As the song
continued to build, up and up, the audience got louder, until eventually we were
all
awash in a sea of beautiful noise. It was transcendent, other-worldly,
therapeutic,
life-affirming, and everything else that a top-tier concert should be. We sang
for
close to ten minutes but it flew by in the blink of an eye. With one final
flourish
from his band, Dan returned to the stage for the last round of gang vocals.
Long
after the final applause had died down and the band had left the stage, the room
still felt alive with the sound of thousands of music fans, sharing a once-in-a-
lifetime, utterly indescribable moment. Dan Mangan has, over the past year,
cemented himself as one of my favourite artists. I will never forget that set;
it was
absolutely perfect. | |
Aids
11.12.12 | Owing something to the fact that I'd seen Dan Mangan before, I was almost more excited for the opening act, The Rural Alberta Advantage. They were so so so good live, even though they didn't play my favourite songs (Coldest Days and Muscle Relaxants). I bought Departing on vinyl after the show and had the three band members sign it. I talked to all of them, and each exchange was great:
-I told the drummer that he is, without a doubt, the most underrated drummer that I know of. Seriously this guy is an absolute beast, my jaw was on the ground for most of their set.
-I told the vocalist/songwriter how much Departing meant to me. It's a powerful album about the pains of a dying relationship and a cold, lonely breakup, and I told him that it helped me get through the end of my 4-year relationship with my high-school girlfriend. He was touched that I connected with the music on that level.
-I had nothing specific to say to the keyboardist, but she was really cute and for some reason I decided to ask her to go out for a drink. hahaha i don't know what i was thinking but good for me? obviously she said no, but she was charmed. she also said that she has a policy of not going out with fans after shows cause it's creepy. I did not disagree.
overall, 5/5 night. two marvelous sets and some signed records, damn I love shows. | Trebor.
11.12.12 | Is he Neutral Milk Hotel's brother? | Aids
11.12.12 | hahaha i have no idea what that's referring to but i just saw on setlist.fm that he did a cover of In The Aeroplane Over the Sea once. | Trebor.
11.12.12 | umm mangam duh | braveasanoun
11.12.12 | omfg beautiful | AtavanHalen
11.12.12 | fuck i love dan so much | Aids
11.12.12 | mangan, mangum
me too atavan, me too. I now have NNVN and Oh Fortune (signed) on vinyl, and also the Radicals 7" I need to track down Postcards and Daydreaming (if it even exists on vinyl). | d4rock
11.12.12 | I saw Dan Mangan and Rural Alberta in Guelph a few weeks ago, had the exact same experience as this guy. It would've been funny to hear him talk about the radiohead encore in Van in 08, I was at that concert too and definitely wanted to hear Idioteque, but PA was amazing. haha.
I hadn't really listened to Dan before that concert in guelph but he definitely gained a fan by the time it was over. I got his autograph too, its cool that he hangs around to meet everyone after the shows, he was there for like an hour just talking to random fans and getting pics taken. | Aids
11.15.12 | that's great to hear man. Dan is amazing and is starting to get the recognition he deserves. And he's great to his fans, yeah. Canada should be proud of him. |
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