Sensational Dan Mangan at St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage

MORRISBURG – The audience simply wouldn’t let him off the stage.

Singer/song-writer/composer Dan Mangan, a Juno award winner, who has just released his sixth album to critical acclaim, was in town for a St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage concert, on Saturday, January 21, 2023. The fans who packed Upper Canada Playhouse to see him, applauded and shouted for more of their favourite songs throughout the show. It was an exciting, exhilarating evening, a one of a kind experience.

Tragedy Ann, Liv Cazzola and Braden Phelan, who opened the concert, swiftly proved just as popular with the crowd. Their easy rapport with the audience, and the unique and striking quality of their songs, really connected with these obviously musically savvy theatre-goers. Liv and Braeden described their music as “forward looking folk” in an earlier interview with the Leader: on Saturday, they demonstrated a wide range of fascinating vocal styles and instrumental approaches in their set.

The ideas they explored through their songs were often unexpected, and genuinely heart-felt, with themes moving from love to loss. Braeden told the crowd “To be a song-writer, you sometimes get to play creative journalist.” They spoke of this in a song ( taken from their new album Heirlooms), the touching ‘Regulars’, a reflection about a lonely man sitting on the same bar stool, night after night, showing pictures of his “family” – clippings taken from magazines: and the woman who lives from welfare cheque to welfare cheque. “They’re hoping they’ll feel better.”

Liv and Braden both have strong, exceptional voices, beautifully demonstrated by Liv’s solo, sung in Italian, ‘Float Away’, “my heart is held in little hands” and in their poignant, a cappella tribute to a lost friend, ‘I Hope This Finds You Well,’ “May you find your peace in a campfire glow/ May your skies be blue.” They also possess the ability to create delightful accompaniments for their voices: who else could summon up wonderful “magical” music with guitar, accordion, pump organ and even a saw?

Blessed with an infectious sense of humour, terrific voices and lyrics that invite thought and reflection, Tragedy Ann, Liv Cazzola and Braden Phelan, quickly became crowd favourites.

Vancouver based Dan Mangan drew legions of his fans to the Playhouse for this SLAS concert. Yet even those experiencing his voice and his lyrics for the first time were quickly swept into his world. “I want to break down barriers, knock down pedestals, and show that this is really me on the stage,” Dan said in an interview with the Leader. “A concert is a kind of conversation between me and the audience. A concert for me is like getting to the promised land.”

On January 21, Dan Mangan took the whole crowd with him to that “promised land.”

A skilled instrumentalist, he was alone on the stage save for his guitar for his entire set. Yet his strong, clear voice, with its sweeping range, filled the hall, as he shared his music and his thoughts with the crowd. (“I often play with a band, and when I start to tell a story, I can feel them getting bored: but in these solo shows I can just ramble!” he laughed.) Yet those stories which he shared from the stage often form the fabric of his deeply personal songs. And he does not pull away from the difficult themes. In ‘Soap Box’ (“I’m not preaching. But I am saying that a song could be an invitation to a dialogue.”), he strikes out at hypocrisy. “Damn the lies/Damn all the pretenders/Damn all the reasons why/…They focus on the meanest trick the devil ever pulled.” Yet another song, for his wife, was all about falling into and staying in love, blessed with the memorable title ‘Pine for Cedars’ (“I’m a sucker for a pun.”)

Members of the audience often sang along with Dan on favourite numbers. His music and his ease on stage had a deep appeal for them. ‘Out by the Fire Escape’ written during the Pandemic, was about trying to escape the things going on all around by being with “kindred souls.” ‘Your Corner’ was heart-felt song for a friend who had ultimately lost his battle, “fighting the dark.” “Leave a light on if you can/…I’ll be in your corner…”

Near the end of his marathon Saturday night concert, with audience members cheering and still calling out requests for favourite songs, artist Dan Mangan actually walked off stage, and right into crowd, inviting everyone to join him singing ‘Robots.’ They did.