Cadence Weapon 07/12/01
Half an hour past door at what I was convinced was going to be a big show, and I think I was the first one there. Which was great, I mean, that's how I'd wanted it. I'd been late because last minute I decided to change out of my brother's old, pilled sweater vest from when he was 7-10 years old. Did my job tying up the ol' cfuv banner and then went to London Drugs because I had time to kill and I like looking at all the miscellany they manage to pack into a drug store which has somehow morphed into an electronics retailer and photograph developer as well. I also needed some shampoo. (Incidentally, I discovered that only one brand of shampoo is coconut-scented and because someone once told me using the same kind consecutively is bad for your hair, I didn't buy it.) I left empty-handed--they didn't even have packs of watermelon jolly ranchers, my favourite juvenile candy.
Walking to the corner of Yates and Quadra, I peered at the club to see if there were some more people waiting outside. My improved vision (thaaaanks dorko glasses I actually wore for once) told me that no, no one was even smoking out there. I was thirsty, but the idea of sitting in an empty club, alone and sipping a glass of water, didn't appeal. I went to Lotteria to get bubble tea.
I think it was 10:25pm by the time I returned to Sugar. The rest of the cfuv clan was just showing up. As we climbed the stairs and passed coat check, someone from within the club yelled "where is everyone?" There were only 25 people there, maybe. We learnt that only 50 tickets had been sold, that there was no opener, that the whole show would be over by midnight.
How did that happen? Where did the promoter err? Where were all the people who had told me they liked Cadence Weapon, and were going, "of course"? I was embarrassed that this city, who managed to sell out Tool in under ten minutes, couldn't get more than fifty people out to this show. I'm not into any hip-hop scene--I do an indiepop/ twee radio show, forgodsake--but even I've heard what everyone seems to have heard about Cadence Weapon: that he's high energy and knows how to put on a show, that he and Owen Pallett are fans of each other. But Cadence Weapon inhabits this strange in-between ground. He's too hip/ weird for mainstream rap fans, and yet he doesn't go out of his way to market himself as arty or ironically novel to indie rock kids. He doesn't market himself as anything, actually: his merch table was nonexistent. So was it the rain that night that had stopped so many people from coming out? Admittedly, I'd wanted to stay home and bake gingerbread.
Cadence Weapon achieved what bands in Victoria and Montreal spend their whole sets trying to accomplish before his first song. Despite the tables, despite the fact that there were only fifty of us there, he got everyone crowding up against the stage. A strange mix of people in the audience, but I think everyone--the bar crawlers, the b-boys, the hipsters--enjoyed Cadence Weapon's performance. I hadn't really listened to any of his stuff before the show, so I just recognized beats and watched Albertan friends of mine smile at Edmonton references I didn't fully understand. He covered Chad VanGaalen, as well as Weezer's "Pink Triangle" which was received with laughter by some, obliviousness by others. After his rap set, he took over the turntables from his dj and the drunks went nuts. I might have stayed and danced had the crowd been larger, and not so unfamiliar.
How unfortunate that more people didn't come out to enjoy this show (A trend in Victoria? Where was everyone for Collapsing Opposites/ Ok Vancouver Ok?), but if Cadence Weapon was disappointed, he didn't show it through his performance at all.
Walking to the corner of Yates and Quadra, I peered at the club to see if there were some more people waiting outside. My improved vision (thaaaanks dorko glasses I actually wore for once) told me that no, no one was even smoking out there. I was thirsty, but the idea of sitting in an empty club, alone and sipping a glass of water, didn't appeal. I went to Lotteria to get bubble tea.
I think it was 10:25pm by the time I returned to Sugar. The rest of the cfuv clan was just showing up. As we climbed the stairs and passed coat check, someone from within the club yelled "where is everyone?" There were only 25 people there, maybe. We learnt that only 50 tickets had been sold, that there was no opener, that the whole show would be over by midnight.
How did that happen? Where did the promoter err? Where were all the people who had told me they liked Cadence Weapon, and were going, "of course"? I was embarrassed that this city, who managed to sell out Tool in under ten minutes, couldn't get more than fifty people out to this show. I'm not into any hip-hop scene--I do an indiepop/ twee radio show, forgodsake--but even I've heard what everyone seems to have heard about Cadence Weapon: that he's high energy and knows how to put on a show, that he and Owen Pallett are fans of each other. But Cadence Weapon inhabits this strange in-between ground. He's too hip/ weird for mainstream rap fans, and yet he doesn't go out of his way to market himself as arty or ironically novel to indie rock kids. He doesn't market himself as anything, actually: his merch table was nonexistent. So was it the rain that night that had stopped so many people from coming out? Admittedly, I'd wanted to stay home and bake gingerbread.
Cadence Weapon achieved what bands in Victoria and Montreal spend their whole sets trying to accomplish before his first song. Despite the tables, despite the fact that there were only fifty of us there, he got everyone crowding up against the stage. A strange mix of people in the audience, but I think everyone--the bar crawlers, the b-boys, the hipsters--enjoyed Cadence Weapon's performance. I hadn't really listened to any of his stuff before the show, so I just recognized beats and watched Albertan friends of mine smile at Edmonton references I didn't fully understand. He covered Chad VanGaalen, as well as Weezer's "Pink Triangle" which was received with laughter by some, obliviousness by others. After his rap set, he took over the turntables from his dj and the drunks went nuts. I might have stayed and danced had the crowd been larger, and not so unfamiliar.
How unfortunate that more people didn't come out to enjoy this show (A trend in Victoria? Where was everyone for Collapsing Opposites/ Ok Vancouver Ok?), but if Cadence Weapon was disappointed, he didn't show it through his performance at all.
posted by An/drea at
12:37 PM
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