Concert Review: City and Colour at The Henry Fonda

BeatCrave had the great opportunity to witness a truly talented Canadian boy and his guitar play a live opening set for Tegan and Sara at The Fonda in Hollywood this Saturday.  Dallas Green is the creative genius behind City and Colour and so much more than a simple acoustic singer/songwriter.  City and Colour have been recording and playing live since 2004.  With years of experience and the amazing new release, “Bring Me Your Love,” (read the review) City and Colour were a much anticipated set for the audience even though most were there to see the gifted Tegan and Sara. While he was certainly anticipated, what was especially great about Dallas Green’s performance is that he delivered well beyond the expectation.

On “Bring Me Your Love,” Dallas Green works with other artist to create a more layered album.  During his live performance, however, it was only Dallas and his instrument.  It is not easy to entertain for an entire set with a whole band let alone, alone.  Dallas proved his talent by keeping the audience’s full attention one brilliantly melancholy song after another.

City and Colour opened his set with a truly breathtaking version of “Sleeping Sickness” off of “Bring Me Your Love.”  His voice was beautifully rich, perfect for a song so achingly sad and his guitar playing was lively and infectious.  Every song following, “Sleeping Sickness” was done quite well but this first song was certainly a major highlight of his set.

What is truly great about City and Colour is his ability to take life’s experiences and transform them into tragically gorgeous music.  Each of his songs weave a sad tale of lost love, existentialism or the heart wrenching difficulty of dealing with death.  Songs of such depth are not easy to translate into live entertainment but Dallas Green managed to do just that.  He has the uncanny ability to make the audience feel as though he is sharing a truly intimate moment of his life with through the beauty of his music  which makes for quite a memorable experience.

While the opening song was, by far, one of the greatest parts of his set, Dallas Green truly surprised the audience with an uncanny choice as his set-closing song: Madonna’s “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.”  His cover of this pop-ballad was definitely more somber and heartbreaking than Madonna’s original version and he certainly made the song his own.  The last song was also a good representation of his performance as whole: full of talent, intimate, and amazingly, sadly, appropriate.

Photo By: Darling