Halifax Pop Explosion 2009 Journal: Thursday

Day two of volunteering. This time I was selling tickets/ushering. Its always fun to work with a team of music lovers.

October 22nd, 2009. St. Matthew's Church, Halifax, NS

Headliner: Herman Dune

Supporting: Julie Doiron

An all ages show in a historic church is considerably different from a bar show. It looks different, people all sit in rows and listen to music. It smells different as the smell of booze and wine isn't overpowering. And most importantly, it sounds different. Every note played, every word sung, and every beat drummed is heard by all there to enjoy the music. This puts all eyes on the performer to put on a great show.

Tonight it was Julie Doiron from Moncton, New Brunswick and Herman Dune from Paris, France. Julie opened up nervously, not quite used to the new strings on her guitar. But as she sang through a beautiful set she became more comfortable. She was joined on stage by a drummer as she strummed her electric guitar through a set that featured some soulful slow songs and some other more upbeat and energetic songs.

David Herman Dune then took the stage playing a couple of songs, just him and his electic guitar, before being joined onstage by Nerman Herman Dune playing drums and occasional backing vocals. There set contained a mixture of vocal heavy songs and longer instrumental songs. An event like this can seem too serious with not much chatter between or during songs by the audience. But David was able to break down some of this wall telling a story about a conversation he had earlier in the night about a Simpsons episode about Seinfeld before going into a new song which was about the moment when a superhero has to tell his girlfriend that he is actually a superhero. There were many humorous lyrics spread throughout the set of this excellent singer-songwriter duo.