Bruce Cockburn

August 25, 2000

The Ark

Ann Arbor, MI

This was the first show of my big "Canadian singer-songwriter weekend" which culminated on Saturday night with a Neil Young show. I saw Bruce Cockburn Friday night at the intimate Ark, always a great venue. I left work a little early, wemt home to feed the dog and then got a ride to downtown Ann Arbor to catch the show. I shopped around the record stores for awhile to kill time and then had a corned beef sandwich before heading into the theatre. The Ark is a tiny little place and is one of the most fun places to see any band because you are so close.

There was no opening band and soon Bruce and his two piece band consisting of a drummer and a bassist took the stage. He started out on acoustic guitar and went right into "Lord of the Starfields" which is one of his most famous older songs. I have seen Bruce four times before and his guitar playing is always the focus and this night was no exceptipon. His playing is sort of folky and sort of jazzy. Hard to expain really. From there the band went right in to "Wondering Where the Lions Are". Another well known older song. After this he mostly stuck to newer material from his last two albums.

Somewhere in the first set they played a tune called "Burden of the Angel Beast" which is a very nice song, but what really struck me was the ending guitar solo by Bruce. He was playing electric by this time and running it through some kind of crazy filter which made the sound bubbly and reverby. It was one of the most beautiful solos I have ever heard. Very fluid and intricate and the crowd was enthralled including myself. The sound kept lifting the music higher and higher until he finally brought the tune in for a perfect landing several minutes later.

Not only is Bruce a great guitar player he is also a great songwriter. His older tunes like "If I Had a Rocket Launcher", which he played a great version of, are fantastic, but I think his newer stuff is even better. One of the best newer songs was "Night Train" which the band really locked in on, emulating a the rhythm of a train. Bruce's lyrics are often mystical, political and cynical at the same time. They are often infused with humor as well, like in "You Give it Away" where he desribes waking up wearing OJ's gloves and not being able to get them off. The final song of the night was a crazy little version of "Tequilla" which was hilarious and also very well played.

I am not sure of the band members names but they were both expert players who seem to have a background in jazz. Bruce always surrounds himself with great players, but even when he is playing solo he is an incredble performer. He is one of the poet laureats of Canada and it is a shame more American's aren't familiar with him. All in all it was a great show in a great place and a great prelude to seeing one of Canada's other great songwriters, Neil Young, the next night