Reviews:: Frederick Squire live @ The Bus Stop Theatre
We’ve all but given up on reviewing shows; I mean, who wants to see grainy photos, suffer through muffled MP3s and read someone else ramble on about a show you didn’t attend? Well, hopefully in this case, you.
Musical denizen Frederick Squire opened for Jon Mckiel’s EP release Saturday night at the Bus Stop Theatre here in Halifax and played a set that went through his soon to be released record (Frederick Squire: Sings Shenedoah and Other Hits) from start-to-finish (well, excluding songs that require pump organ).
If you’ve read herohill for any length of time, you know we love Fred. We’ve seen him play as Shotgun & Jaybird, Calm Down It’s Monday (which was Blue Heeler at the time) and of course as Daniel, Fred & Julie but his breathtaking solo work makes the biggest impression. Fred’s a man with issues; but those issues surface in songs that are as beautiful, poignant and enlightening as they are tormented. March 12 is easily the best record I’ve heard in years and Shenandoah… (at least the early version of the record I’ve heard) stands up nicely beside it.
The storytelling on Shenedoah is remarkable; both personal admissions (“Dollar Bill”) and fictional, like the tear-jerking look through the eyes of a man in love with a woman that gave birth to a son of a Donnelly Brother that doesn’t want her baby or to live without her true love. On the surface, you hear these genuinely sad songs and wonder how long Fred can go on writing such hurt filled numbers before they consume him, but when the songs start to sink in, you realize that Frederick wants to change and to be saved. He’s trying to do the right things; trying to beat his demons and the evil that surrounds him at times and maybe, it’s these songs that help him keep living.
I’ll obviously have a review closer to the time, but I wanted to share these videos. It’s only four songs, including a brand new one, but it’s a healthy dose of Frederick’s legendary nonsensical banter and the gracious crowd was pin-drop quiet so the sound is actually not bad. Enjoy!
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MP3:: Frederick Squire - The Future of Tradition
This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2011 at 9:13 am and is filed under Canada, Fred Squire, Halifax, Music, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Mike D February 28th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
@ Matt
First time hearing that tune, sounds like it may have been a ‘Calm Down it’s Monday’ track that was never officially released as I don’t think it appears on the March 12 LP.