After several false starts and rescheduled dates throughout the pandemic, Canadian indie-rock sweetheart Dan Mangan was finally able to return to Victoria’s Royal Theatre for his All Together Now tour.
Toronto-based singer/songwriter Georgia Harmer, who just released her debut album, Stay In Touch (on the Arts & Crafts label), opened up the evening. Georgia’s set got off to a bit of a slow start, but quickly picked up pace with her songs Headrush and Talamanca.
While bathed in the amber glow of the stage lights, it was Harmer’s Austin that grabbed our attention. A dusty love note to the Texas city inspired by her father and her time there as backup singer for Alessia Cara.
Notably it was one of the few performances that we can recall without the distinct roar of chatter from a Victoria crowd. You could hear a pin drop in that room as the everyone was captivated by Georgia’s stunning voice. A tough feat if you ask us.
Whether you’re a seasoned veteran, or this is your first time seeing Dan Mangan, you always leave a bigger fan than you arrived for the concert.
With a merch table filled with “cancelled” tour posters and a cardboard cut-out of himself for selfies, Dan Mangan is an indie-rocker who doesn’t take himself too seriously. Remember this video from when he was giving up indie rock? Genius.
Dan kicked off the night joking about smiling through his sad songs and how this or that should be on his tombstone. It wouldn’t be the last time he would be laughing on stage that night, but there were also plenty serious moments.
Mangan reminisced about Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchinson, and the impact on the indie world felt in 2018 when he sadly took his life. Dan, who had the opportunity to briefly meet Scott, was deeply affected by his passing, and wrote In Your Corner, a spiritual reply to the Frightened Rabbit song, The Woodpile.
By the middle of the show, it felt like the audience was the fifth member of the band. Dan Mangan had taken to conducting the us like a choir for his hit song Robots from his second album Nice, Nice, Very Nice, an album he would revisit several times throughout the evening to make up for those cancelled ten year anniversary shows planned to celebrate it.
Left alone and to his own devices, Dan Mangan invited Georgia Harmer back on stage to sing a duet of his song, The Indie Queens Are Waiting. The two crowded close to each other while he strummed his acoustic guitar and sang “are we cool now?” in unison.
In the midst of Jeopardy, a song full of questions, Dan sang “What time is it?” and, in clear anticipation an audience member yelled back “10:08!” This cracked the serious expressions off of the band members and left Dan laughing and losing his place, before joking, “that’s not the first time that’s happened.” Dan and the band quickly resumed the song, barely able keep in their laughter.
As the night came closer and closer to an end, the band loosened up more and more, particularly with a raucous version of Post-War Blues filled with guitar solos.
“Dan?” Shouted out an audience member.
“Yes?” He replied.
“Can you play Basket Case?”
Dan giggled, “The Green Day song? Maybe?”
This then launched Dan Mangan into a fun and improvised bit where he shared the songs he learned when he was in high school learning guitar. It included snippets of Weezer, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and… Limp Bizkit. The latter he jokingly told us not to listen to Limp Bizkit. He then acoustically performed his song, Basket . . . for the fan who had made an honest mistake with the song title.
As Dan Mangan and his band prepared for the last song of the evening, a glowing orb known as “The Hammer” appeared. As it slowly grew brighter and brighter Dan asked for all the lights in the theatre to be turned off so the only illumination in the Victorian hall was from ominous The Hammer.
Joined by his band, Georgia Harmer, and the choir now made up of every single person in the theatre, we joined together in a moving moment to sing So Much For Everyone.
As the song finished, the house lights came back on, and The Hammer blinked out – Mangan and his band took a deep bow and waved goodbye to Victoria one more time.
