Thievery Corporation comes to Ottawa
Last Friday (March 1st), I was lucky enough to catch the Ottawa stop of the Thievery Corporation 2024 tour.
This isn’t the usual topic I feature here, but for those of you who follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed a bit of a recurring musical inspiration in many of my posts. Yes, that is them!
I have been a fan since early 2000 when they launched their second album The Mirror Conspiracy. At the time there was nothing else like it. Think: downtempo, chill, trip-hop electronic with bossa nova and South-American and even middle-eastern influences.
For me this album came at a time where I was seeking new flavors and I just connected with this music. Without knowing it, this album and those to follow became the sound track to many aspects of my life.
I haven’t been a big live music enthusiast so I had never seen them live. In fact, I got the impression that they didn’t tour all that often. Further to that, the last album with new material by the Thievery Corporation goes back to 2017 with the Temple of I & I.
In recent years, both Eric Hilton and Rob Garza who make up the Thievery Corporation have embraced musical projects of their own. In that light, learning that they were touring under the TC umbrella was somewhat of a surprise.
Considering that all songs with vocals are sung by guest vocalist, I further wondered how would one deal with the logistic of organizing a world tour numerous years after the original recording? The original guest vocalists most likely having moved on and maybe even have careers of their own.
Then with the majority of their material being very chill, I painted this picture in my mind that their concerts would most likely be similar to a 60’s smoking lounge affair. The venue, the Bronson Center, is a rather small theatre like spot accommodating just over 500 people. This further convinced me of a lounge-like concert format.
When I purchased the tickets, I had to go through Ticket Master and was soon informed that I was in fact purchasing the tickets through a reseller. As far as I could tell and based on the price, I understood I was buying “balcony” tickets which suited me and my wife. When we got to the event, we became aware that my “premium” priced tickets were in fact General Admission in front of the stage with no seating.
We were rather displeased with this situation, but Mrs. Style4men being a trooper just went right up the stage to take in the event. And what an event it turned out to be! This was as front row as can be. Literally 2-3 metre away from the band.
I have to mention that there was an opening band and they were excellent; City of the Sun.
They played 7 songs if I recall correctly. Think, classic South-American guitar duo with a bassist and a drummer and sprinkle some rock. They did great. At the end of the show, I lucked out and got the last copy of their CD.
Then Thievery Corporation came on and instead of focusing exclusively on their chill discography, the Thieves opted to pick and choose songs that would make for good “concert” going. With a total of 4 guest vocalists, Eric on guitar, Rob on keyboards, a bassist, a drummer and a percussionist we got served a delightful sequence of songs.
The show started in a classic presentation where band members played in their set spots on stage with the singer taking front stage. We got some of the smooth ballads, rap and a few instrumental. At the mid-point, the stage layout got shuffled for an extremely intimate format where the band played acoustic instruments in a half circle around the singer.
With gems from every album being covered, all fans got something while newbies got a solid introduction. The blend between the sultry female vocalist and the signature style of rap was perfect. The whole show took around an hour and half and turned out to be an unexpectedly engaging and gripping concert considering my lounge expectations. Mrs. Style4men who was mostly just coming along for the ride came out a harden fan. She recognized a number of songs and being more of a rock fan, she totally connected with the passion of the live delivery.
In short, a terrific show and a very exciting prelude to Eric Hilton’s upcoming album Sound Vagabond. I say upcoming, because I ordered the vinyl release which is coming a bit after the recent digital release.
DISCOGRAPHY:
- 1997: Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi
- 2000: The Mirror Conspiracy
- 2002: The Richest Man in Babylon
- 2005: The Cosmic Game
- 2006: Versions
- 2008: Radio Retaliation
- 2011: Culture of Fear
- 2014: Saudade
- 2017: The Temple of I & I
- 2018: Treasure from the Temple