ROCKIN' BIRTHDAY
The Commodore turns 90
The Commodore Ballroom turns 90 today. It's a milestone for the Vancouver venue, and one that requires a kickoff worthy of a Canadian live-music institution.
That honour falls to Colin James, who is certainly no stranger to the room.
The veteran blues rocker first graced the stage in 1986. Since then, he has logged in a hat trick of successive back-to-back nights there — five in a row in 1988, four in 1991 and a trio of sold-out shows in 2012 — as well as many one-off gigs. The two 90th-birthday shows are both part of the Jim Beam Bourbon presents Live from Inside concert series that has kept the Commodore from going dark during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Somebody at the venue kept a really close count of the times that I have played there on my own and I would have thought it was somewhere around a dozen or so,” said James. “But it turns out it's actually 32, if you include the times that I've sat in with acts like Blue Rodeo or whoever.
“Plus, I wasn't really keeping track of those two-, three- and five-night stretches which really built up.”
James notes that one of the main reasons for building up a resume of appearances well into the double digits is that it has always been fun. Having played great rooms all over the world, the ace guitarist can sum up the appeal of the space quite succinctly.
“It's remained pretty true to the original design over the years, and I think you can feel that in the floorboards and the walls,” he said. “Of course, it did get some grooming when they redid the backstage area, which used to be pretty much just a jumble of burnt-out, messy rooms.
“I remember when Stevie Ray Vaughan played there and I was backstage watching Terry David Mulligan interview him and it wasn't fancy, but these great old rooms have to be preserved.”
New Commodore general manager Bronwyn Campbell echoes James about the atmosphere of the club. She says she feels pretty lucky to be involved with the sizable team that keeps the iconic venue going. Turning 90 is a huge milestone, but the pandemic is a bigger one. In recognition of this fact, $1 from every ticket sold benefits the Vancouver Food Bank.
“This year, probably more than any others, has been pretty challenging for the music industry as a whole and it can get pretty lonely in here when there are no people,” she said. “But then I remind myself that this is temporary and the timing will be right when we can once again open our doors safe and responsibly. We've only done the four livestreams so far and they have been really successful at keeping the music alive in the room, which is special.”
Owner Live Nation has embarked on a program of digitally broadcast shows from the Commodore, and the Danforth Music Hall and the Velvet Underground in Toronto. While such events are never going to recreate the sweaty mob at a sold-out concert, Campbell and James both note that it's a front-row seat for a global audience.
“Aside from the long list of legends who have played here (Commodore), the other thing that makes it special is the intimacy of our space,” she said. “Whether you are coming to see an up-and-coming artist who might typically play an arena or an established artist like Colin, there is an element of being really connected to the fans and it makes people want to come back and experience it again.”
Campbell has never seen James play the Commodore. He says she's in for a different set than she would get in a soft-seat establishment like the Orpheum.
“It always demands a bit of an uptempo thing from you than the more nuanced performance you would attempt in a different venue,” said James. “The Commodore brings out that stomp and keep-the-room-rocking thing. We wound up our last show in March at Yoshi's in San Francisco when the place turned into a ghost town, so it's pretty special to be able to cut loose on the 90th with no goals other than a good time.”
In what has been an unusually weird year, James has done what so many musicians forced to stay home are doing with their enforced spare time.
“I'm writing a new record which is in hand, working with the same producer who did Blue Highways and Miles to Go long distance over in London, England,” he said. “Normally, I would have thought that was a recipe for disaster, but working using TeamViewer, we've been able to seamlessly transfer files back and forth, and it's pretty hilarious to watch him mixing my vocals while I'm singing at home. We're pretty used to working together, so I'm really glad we could continue to work together.”
This will be album No. 20 for the musician, who signed his first deal in 1988. It's following the mix of about half-originals and half-blues covers, including a collaboration with Craig Northey of the Odds.
Long considered one of this country's finest blues-and-roots musicians, James didn't find himself on the blues charts until 2016's Blue Highways spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Roots Music Report's Blues Chart.
That album also spawned a hit cover of Willie Dixon's Riding in the Moonlight, which has become a fan favourite with millions of streams on Spotify. Like most longlived acts, James has successive generations of fans and knows he needs to balance his sets to satisfy them all.
“Like everyone, you just sometimes don't want to play Five Long Years, but then someone will demand it and you know you need to,” he said. “I don't think that there is anything wrong with cutting some of those favourites out for a while so you are doing something that still feels fresh and you can enjoy yourself. But those old chestnuts are ones you keep coming back to for a reason because they feel good.”
In closing, James mentions that he and Big Sugar leader Gordie Johnson have been doing some stuff together as part of Johnson's continuing idea of working with assorted artists for something down the road.
That would certainly be a duo tour that fans would love to see someday.
Until then, James offers this advice to fans: “Keep being creative with whatever you do.”
We've only done the four livestreams so far and they have been really successful at keeping the music alive in the room.