On November 24th, Vancouver’s modern troubadour Destroyer visited Victoria for a solo set at Capital Ballroom with an opening set from Frog Eyes. Red Wine and songs for the soul was the trend of the night as the crowd gave Destroyer’s Dan Bejar a welcoming return. Prior to this show, Dan’s last solo performance in Victoria dates to 2014 at the Roxy Theatre and the last time Destroyer played our city with a full band was in 2012 at Club 9ONE9 (now Wicket Hall). His return was a long time coming and well worth the wait. With the history out of the way, let’s look back at this showcase of pure talent.
Starting the night off at Capital Ballroom was Frog Eyes. The set started with lead singer Carey Mercer performing a song by himself and dedicating it to his mother, who was in the crowd. From there, the band joined for the rest of the set and performed a powerful set. With their return in 2022 after a brief end to the band, it was good to see a strong local act perform on stage once again. It felt like a homecoming for those apart of Victoria’s Music Scene 15 years ago. A wonderful performance overall and cannot wait to see where Frog Eyes goes from here.
As Destroyer began to set up on stage, I knew immediately that this was not going to be your average solo set. With an acoustic guitar in hand and a bandmate joining in with electric guitar riffs, Dan Bejar made the stage his own. His set included songs from albums like Poison Season, Destroyer’s Rubies, Kaputt, and many more. Beyond his performance skills, I was truly impressed in the selection chosen for this set as Dan’s discography is quite extensive. Painter in your Pocket from Destroyer’s Rubies was one memorable song for me. For this song, there are moments where the guitar and vocals are having a conversation, they way its written. Not only was this replicated quite well during the live set, but I could truly feel the passion in the performance. Each song ended with a bow by Dan and thunderous applause from the crowd. With the set winding down, Destroyer performed Chinatown off the album Kaputt. A real crowd pleaser and Josh pleaser at that as I could not stop smiling as the lyrics and guitar riffs ran through my ears. A solid performance and incredible way to end their 2023 solo programming.
While I try to not make these show reviews too much about me, I must share the importance of this show. It had been 11 years since I bought Kaputt on CD and besides seeing Dan perform with The New Pornographers, I had never seen Destroyer live in any form. The weight from my chest lifted knowing I finally had my opportunity to see an artist who truly shaped my ideas in music. While it’s been 9 years since his last performance in Victoria, my hope is that we don’t see a Dan Bejar drought in our city for that long again.
