KURT VILE and THURSTON MOORE live in Vancouver


It was a Matador Two-For as label mates Philly rocker Kurt Vile and Sonic Youth giant Thurston Moore shared a stage at Vancouver’s Rickshaw Theatre on July 21st. Kurt Vile soundchecked live on stage then launched into stuffs from the most excellent Smoke Ring for My Halo and Childish Prodigy as his drummer played his kit with a mallet stick and one hand, and his guitarist swapped to sax. Afterwards, IKurt Vile chatted with Vile as he checked his phone, talked about the fact that Thurston brought a violinist and harpist (“That’s my friend up there, Mary Lattimore,” said Vile. “She played on my album, too.”), then we took a pic together in the pitch black, but really? It’s too shit to share (oh alright then).

Then came the ageless Moore, launching into “Mina Loy” (which he called “Onyx Eyes”) and playing through a ton from dreamy/sleepy/lush  new album Demolished Thoughts, including “Benediction”, “Blood Never Lies” and “Space” and a couple from Trees Outside the Academy. And after each he’d gingerly flip over the page with the lyrics that he’d laid out on a music stand.

He also chatted – like, really chatted – with the crowd. Crackin’ jokes like Thurston Moore, as the Sebadoh song goes.  “Did you just call me Thurston Fuck?,” he asked a fan who’d probably said, “Fuuuuck, Thurston!”. “That was my Thurston Moore, photo by Kris Krüg, staticphotography.compunk nickname in the 70s. But then I met Kim and she made me change it back to Moore”. Then he rambled on about lager (“Mike Watt – you know Mike Watt? – he says you should always drink lager, and that ales and IPAs are
some sort of weird construct. What’s this? I have no idea what the fuck I’m drinking actually. Oh, it’s a lager. Good. Good, I’m drinking a lager”).

Then he introduced the song “January” by saying “This is a song about July….Is it going to snow here tonight? You do know that the rest of North America, is, like, in the middle of heatwave, right?”

But aside from all that – and the “Umm, I’ll be right back” break when Moore disappeared off stage to “call his mom” (ie, pee) – was beautiful music. It was nice to kick back at the venue and let the amazing guitar wash over…which is exactly what Kurt Vile was also doing two rows in front of me for Moore’s set. ‘Cos, like, it’s Thurston Moore. Wouldn’t you wanna watch him all the time? He’s just…cool. \m/

Thurston Moore, photo by Kris Krüg, staticphotography.com

Thurston Moore, photo by Kris Krüg, staticphotography.com

Kurt Vile, photo by Kris Krüg, staticphotography.com

All photos by Kris Krüg – staticphotography.com


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *