It’s a rare pleasure indeed, when you can enjoy two amazingly talented artists back-to-back across consecutive nights here in Vancouver. It’s been yet another fantastic Summer of concerts for me.
The last couple of nights were just two more great additions with both Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz making their way across the border to entertain local fans.
Colbie Caillat at The Commodore
Kicking things off on Tuesday night at The Commodore on Granville Street night was the beautiful Colbie Caillat. Playing well-known hits from her debut album “Coco” as well as a healthy list of tracks from her latest album “Breakthrough”.
The absolute highlight of the night came at the start of her encore when none other than Mr Jason Mraz (surprise, surprise) joined Colbie on stage to perform their hit duet number “Lucky”.
There’s no doubt that these two, at least in song, have a certain chemistry about them and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this isn’t one of many future collaborations between the two.
I must make a mention of Colbie’s great couple of supporting acts – the energetic and talented Andy Davis, and the equally entertaining Howie Day. While both artists impressed Carmen and I equally, we did take a liking to Andy Davis’ style, such that we picked up his latest 10-track disc “Let The Woman” and even had it signed along the way (see Carmen’s ‘groupie’ shot with Andy below).
Jason Mraz at GM Place
To say we were looking forward to Jason Mraz’s concert is an understatement. Carmen especially was excited to see one of her absolute favourite artists (since I introduced him to her) live after she missed his performance last year at “The Centre”.
Upon arriving at GM Place nice and early, it came as an unexpected surprise to us when we learned that we had actually purchased general admission floor tickets for the night. That meant joining the scrum of screaming fans up close to the stage on the floor with no seats present to get in the way. It turned out to be a great move in the end.
Jason’s vibrant, reggae-fueled set was amazing from the opening musical introduction to the final note of his encore performance. With his impressive 7-man band providing a great sound that complimented Jason’s masterful acoustic rhythms, GM place was abuzz with a happy vibe that chopped and changed between song styles and Jason’s movement between the main stage and a makeshift “B-stage” (some would say “a-la Coldplay style”) at the back of the stadium.
The B-stage surprise was actually great for Carmen and I as it allowed us to get within a couple of rows of bodies of the main stage for the encore set – a neat way to top off an already incredible night. To give you a bit of a taste of the performance, check out this footage of Jason performing his hit ‘Butterfly’.
Additionally, for a great selection of images from the Jason Mraz performance, check out this Flickr gallery by “dydcheung”.
Goodness only knows how they smuggled a Canon EOS 5D into the stadium. I’ve always wanted to have a real good crack at concert photography before, but have never worked out how to get my SLR into a venue without the meat-heads at the front door going nuts. If anyone has any fool-proof tips, please let me know about them in the comments section below this post.
And finally, if you’re reading this and you’re down in Southern California somewhere, Jason Mraz has announced on his website that he’ll be performing a free concert at Cricket Wireless Amphitheater on October 11 as a way of saying thanks to his friends and fans down that way for their support over the past 10 years.
DO NOT even hesitate on considering whether to attend the concert, or not. It’s FREE. It’s a no-brainer. Check your local guides in San Diego for details.
Emily Walters
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