Before The Show: Dan Mangan + Laurent Bourque – Green Room – April 20th, 2010
The Vancouver-based singer-songwriter is getting all kinds of critical acclaim for his sophomore album Nice, Nice, Very Nice, and the album title is probably a good way to sum up the past few months for the XM Verge Music Award winning artist. In that time, Mangan has inked a record deal (joining the likes of Feist and Broken Social Scene) with Arts & Crafts, performed at the SXSW festival and topped it off with a nomination for the 2010 Galaxie Award at Canadian Week. Let’s just say the praise is nothing short of justified, and the reviews from his ongoing Canadian tour speak for themselves. In short, this is a show not to be missed.
Opening for Mangan at Tuesday night’s affair is local-boy Laurent Bourque, who hasn’t done too bad with the critics himself. His debut album, What We Talk About, has earned many positive reviews from critics and bloggers alike. It’s hard to pigeonhole Bourque. His music has the elements of Rock, pop, folk, and I guess you could say he’s a bit of a singer-songwriter, but that’s not entirely accurate either. I had a chance to chat with the Ottawa native a few weeks ago about playing his material live as well and about opening for other artists. He discussed exploring his own songs, and the notion of changing them, in order to better suit the headlining band’s style. In that, there’s definitely an element of surprise with Bourque’s live appearances, which makes this Green Room event that much more interesting.
Tickets for the show are $12 and can be purchased online via Indie Montreal.
