StackHouse/The Kooks

Onwards with the update to what I will call the Giosy Fall/Winter Concert Marathon Series. Like the Fall Classic but I actually know what mine is...

On December 4th, my friend Pietro and I met up for dinner at StackHouse Burger Bar on Granville Street. He and RaeRae had eaten there while I was in Italy (they tweeted me!) and I was happy to try it out. The décor and vibe were definitely cool with identical knives lining the back wall, an enclosed oak bar area, and hipster (male) staff. While waiting for Pietro to arrive I ordered a drink called La Fleur Eshkoshkah which the waiter sweetened for me. Then I saw three guys walk in who I recognized from volunteering at a children's summer camp ten years ago. I approached their table and found out that they were there for a birthday party. Pietro came in and we all chatted at their table for awhile before returning to our corner table by the window.

I just have to add how strange it is that I rarely bump into people I know in Vancouver even though I have lived my whole life here, while in Florence I would bump into people every time I went out.

The menu was very tempting and after careful consideration of potential messiness and overeating, I decided on the StackHouse sliders with a mesclun salad on the side. They were so juicy, flavourful, and perfect, and I finished my meal without feeling overly stuffed.

We then headed to the Commodore around 8:30pm and snagged standing room in the third row, left-centre. The ballroom was decked out for the holidays with snowflake lights, Christmas decorations, and baubles. Right then it seemed like the best place to be in downtown.

The opening band started their set around 9:15pm. They were called Yawn (intentionally not hyperlinked) and definitely lived up to their name because we were quite bored. They kept mentioning how they were from Chicago and I was not a fan of their music. All Pietro and I could do was make "yawn" puns and observe the female-dominant crowd around us.

Yawn!

The best part of their show (other than the end...I'm so mean sometimes) was when their temporary/extra bandmate "P. Butter" started dancing for the last couple of songs. His moves were hypnotic and at one point he was banging his own head with a drumstick. Eventually the crowd was chanting "Butter! Butter! Butter!"

Butter. At this point my captions seem pointless.

We were both very relieved when The Kooks started performing. The girls around us were quite the opposite--they were going crazy for the frontman, whose name I didn't know. I only know this band for their songs and never looked into the band-members themselves, but I could see his onstage charisma. Me, I was drawn to the bassist despite his clothing choices.

Half of The Kooks

I loved every song they played and was happy that all of my favourites were included. I was excited to listen to my new CD purchase (their first of three albums called Konk) on the ride home.

He really knew how to work the stage!