Marlon Chaplin at The Dakota Tavern - Concert Photos

It's been a minute since I've covered a show. I pretty much took most of November and all of December and January off. Some of that time was by choice, some not so much. This February Monday night was a great night to head out, hear some amazing music performed by talented and passionate musicians, and generally shake the dust off and get started with 2020.

This was my first time shooting, or even seeing a show, at The Dakota Tavern. I know what you're thinking. It's a venerable institution on the Toronto music scene and I've never been there. Shocking but true.

It was a very special night to hear Marlon Chaplin perform. This was a different Marlon Chaplin show experience for me, since I'd always experienced Marlon with a full band. For this show, he took to the stage solo, accompanied by only an acoustic guitar and a keyboard. He treated us to a full performance of his new, not-yet-released album. And it was amazing.

The songs reveal themselves as graceful and dynamic when stripped down to their most basic form. You can easily imagine Marlon working the songs out, building them from chord progressions, melodies and lyrics into fully formed works of art. Marlon's put out a couple of teases of the new songs in Instagram stories. Those, combined with this stripped-down performance, leave me anticipating what the fully produced album, and the live shows, will bring.

Although I'm sure those rich and layered, fully arranged versions of these songs will be magical, I have a feeling that this intimate show will remain a special memory and the blueprint of these songs. First impressions are strong and my first impression is that these songs are powerful expressions of Marlon's musical vision; one that resonates strongly with me.

I'm sure I’ll always remember how these songs sounded on this particular February night even as I experience them on record and live. I think that it’s a good sign that after hearing these new songs for the first time, I can't wait to hear them again.

Marlon was warming things up for headliners The Naive and Y&I. Please click on through to check out my photos of their superb performances.

And I have seen Marlon's live shows a few times. Please click through to see my photos of his performances at The Piston, at Cherry Cola's in 2018, at Cherry Cola's in 2017 and at Lee's Palace in 2016.

Since Marlon's new album is not out quite yet, I'll have to encourage you to listen to some of my favourite tunes from his first two albums:

"The Circle"

"Elevation"

"Drain Me"

"In Stars"

Best of: Top 20 of 2018: My favourite albums of 2018

2018 was a pretty damn cool year in music. There were so many beautiful souls trying their best to fill the world with beauty, empowerment, kindness and positive strength. While looking at the ugliness, racism, intolerance and just plain outright stupidity that so many people were trying, and unfortunately succeeding, in promoting, I loved the positive messages that I was hearing from the stage and from my speakers. The list below is the 20 albums, plus 2, that hit me the hardest, in the best way, in 2018.

And I guess I should explain the "top 20, plus 2" thing. It's because there were two albums that really only came to my attention in the past year, even though they were released in 2017. They're just so amazing that I had to recognize them; to put them on this list, kinda, sorta.

Check out my other "best of" posts of 2018. My Top 50 Favourite Songs of 2018 list is right here. And I'll link my Favourite Concert Photos of 2018 when I have that finalized.

The hyperlinks below each artist and album name link to my coverage of the artists, including my photos from those particular performances.

Here's to hoping we can all make 2019 a kinder, more empowering and inclusive year.

20. Lykke Li So Sad So Sexy

19. Restorations LP5000

The Horseshoe Tavern

TURF

18. Frank Turner Be More Kind

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Massey Hall

The Danforth Music Hall

TURF

17. Cloud Nothings Last Burning Buildings

The Opera House

Field Trip

16. Culture Abuse Bay Dream

15. The Wombats Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life

The Danforth Music Hall

Bestival

14. Ought Room Inside the World

Royal Mountain Records Festival

The Horseshoe Tavern

Lee's Palace

Hillside Festival

13. Weakened Friends Common Blah

The Horseshoe Tavern

12. Tancred Nightstand

The Horseshoe Tavern

11. Sunflower Bean Twentytwo in Blue

Rebel

The Horseshoe Tavern

10. Marlon Chaplin The Circle

The Piston

Cherry Cola's

Cherry Cola's

Lee's Palace

*. Alex Lahey I Love You Like A Brother

9. King Princess Make My Bed

8. The Dirty Nil Master Volume

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Riverfest Elora

7. Little Junior Hi

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Royal Mountain Records Festival

Hillside Festival

Lee's Palace

6. Chvrches Love is Dead

Yonge-Dundas Square

The Danforth Music Hall
Wayhome Festival

The Danforth Music Hall

5. Pale Waves My Mind Makes Noises

The Opera House

Velvet Underground

The Baby G

*. Sam Coffey & the Iron Lungs Sam Coffey & the Iron Lungs

The Phoenix Concert Theatre

Riverfest Elora

4. Dream Wife Dream Wife

The Horseshoe Tavern

3. Ellevator Ellevator

The Danforth Music Hall

Riverfest Elora

Field Trip

Riverfest Elora

2. Dizzy Baby Teeth

Royal Mountain Records Festival

Record release party at Ildsjel Collective
Field Trip
Hillside Festival

1. Screaming Females All At Once

Hard Luck

The Garrison

The Silver Dollar Room
The Garrison

Marlon Chaplin at The Piston for the release of The Circle - Concert Photos

I caught Toronto singer-songwriter Marlon Chaplin and his killer band at The Piston as we celebrated the his latest release, The Circle. It was a great introduction to what has quickly become one of my favourite new releases of 2018.

Quite Nice opened things up with their harmonious and easy going tunes. Check out my pics of them here.

Marlon and the band took to the stage, starting off with a collection of powerful tunes, mostly from The Circle. They brought the dynamics down in the middle of the set, shedding band members from the stage as the songs got more intimate and introspective. Of course, they brought things back into full swing for act three of the set, highlighting more strong songs from The Circle. Over the course of the main set, we heard the entirety of the new release, plus great songs from Marlon's first release Wanderer by Trade and singles "Fossils" and "Annabelle + Someone". Finishing up with an encore of "In Stars" from Wanderer by Trade was a perfect closure for the set.

The Circle is a powerful album and this show was a great showcase for the new release and Marlon's past catalogue. The Circle is a diverse collection of tunes showing the breadth and depth of Marlon's songwriting, musical vision and performing talent. The harder edged songs are direct and impactful with layers of emotion, sophistication and melody; the softer songs rich, lush and tender; and The Circle covers plenty of ambitious, dynamic ground in between.

This was my fourth Marlon Chaplin show. Check out my photos from his show at NXNE 2018, NXNE 2017 and Lee's Palace in 2016 by clicking through the links.

Please check out some of Marlon's great tunes:

"Drain Me"

"Annabelle + Someone"

"Fossils"

"Take Me There"

"Danger, Danger"

"Elevation"

"Carmeline"

"In Stars"

NXNE 2018: A Compendium of Posts - Concert Photos

NXNE 2018 took place this past June and I was there to catch an awesome club show at Cherry Cola's featuring Marlon Chaplin and The Nursery, then I caught the Saturday show of NXNE's return to Yonge-Dundas Square.

As always, NXNE was a great mix of artists I knew would be amazing like Chvrches and Marlon Chaplin, plus new discoveries like Yungblud, Strands and The Nursery.

Until next year, here are links to the posts on each artist I caught during NXNE 2018. Hope you enjoy!

Cherry Cola's

Marlon Chaplin

The Nursery

Yonge-Dundas Square

Chvrches

Lights

Yungblud

Alx Veliz

Strands

Skye Wallace

Nate Husser

NXNE 2018: Marlon Chaplin at Cherry Cola's - Concert Photos

I'm a big fan of up-and-coming Toronto singer-songwriter Marlon Chaplin. Last month, he and his band played Cherry Cola's as part of NXNE 2018 with The Nursery. I've covered his past shows at this same venue for NXNE 2017 and at Lee's Palace in 2016. Click through and check out my photos from those excellent shows. Marlon consistently writes impassioned, genre-defying songs and delivers them with energy, enthusiasm and presence.

This time around, Marlon had some new singles out for consumption and has a new album called The Circle on the way. New songs like "Elevation", "Drain Me", "Imaginary Mary K", "A Single Drop", "Back to the Start" and title track "The Circle" have a great live power and energy with strong, unique yet classic melodies. I can't wait to hear the entire album. Marlon has an amazing way of writing and delivering a strong chorus that I don't think I'd ever get tired of.

Many more people deserve to hear Marlon's music. The power, the energy, the presence and the songs have the potential to go anywhere. Please mark down August 24 on your calendar as the release date for The Circle and August 30 as the date for the release party/show at The Piston in Toronto.

Give Marlon's music a listen and watch out for his next live show:

"Elevation"

"In Stars"

"Drain Me"

"Fossils"

NXNE 2017: A Compendium of Posts - Concert Photos

Please enjoy this post as the launching point to all my NXNE 2017 coverage. Click the friendly links below to check out my photos from each performer that I caught this year, and enjoy some photos I took from around the Portlands site throughout the fest. 

I can barely wait for NXNE 2018!

June 16

Marlon Chaplin

Beautiful Nothing

The Lifts

June 23

Post Malone

Sleigh Bells

Amir Obè

Twin Peaks

EMP

Cold Specks

The Regrettes

June 24

Kaytranada

Bleachers

Tinie Tempah

MUNA

Son Little

John River

K.I.D

Blajk

Caveboy

Heartstreets

Beach Season

Ebhoni