On the Sunday eve before many returned to work after the Christmas/New Year period, a Kurt Vile gig seemed an appropriate buffer for an inevitable onset of shit. It’s easy to forget how beautiful the Forum Theatre is, but an empty room early in the night gave us a chance to admire the Florentine garden inspired design. The first support was Scott & Charlene’s Wedding. They opened to a very sparse crowd, but were followed by Twerps who had a significantly larger audience.
People of all ages were in attendance and at one point a titanium walking stick could be seen being passed over a seat. The young couple next to me were on a date night, and Kurt Vile allowed them to learn new things about each other, like which instruments evoke different feelings for them (the banjo made the man remember a “fun and carefree” trip to New Orleans).
Vile and his band the Violators stepped on stage to a full and pumped up room. The multi-instrumentalist switched between acoustic and electric guitars as well as the aforementioned banjo. Newer tracks like Pretty Pimpin and I’m An Outlaw stirred a loud response from the crowd. Today’s date also didn’t go unnoticed by Vile’s fans, who screamed out “Happy Birthday Kurt,” and one serenaded him with her own version of Happy Birthday. Vile was incredibly polite and thanked her, while revealing he and his band saw the musical Cats during the day (which he admitted was “the worst”).
After Wild Imagination he thanked the audience and left, but returned upon encore demands from the screaming crowd. He performed Dead Alive solo on an acoustic guitar before his band joined him for Heart Attack. They left Vile alone again for a solo acoustic performance of Peeping Tomboy. Despite playing for well over an hour, the time had raced by.
BY TAMARA VOGL
Photo By Ian Laidlaw
LOVED: Kurt’s charm.
HATED: The PDA situation on the right of me.
DRANK: Water.
