Arena Rock: Hawksley Workman
Hawksley Workman
Alix Goolden Hall, March 6
Hawksley Workman played the second of two Vancouver Island shows on March 6, the first show being up in Courtenay the night before. Workman was in top form at Alix Goolden Hall, a venue he’s no stranger to.
Workman is at the beginning of an extensive Canadian tour for two albums released in 2010. Meat, an album mostly full of angst-ridden tunes mixed with a few fun pop songs, was released earlier this year. And Milk is being released online song by song over a five-month period.
The two albums were recorded at the same time and Workman has admitted they find him between emotional despair and head-over-heels in love.
Workman was showcasing his new tunes during the show, including the ones that have only been released digitally, but played some good classics and fan-favorites as well.
The audience consisted mostly of devoted fans—this being my 11th Hawksley Workman show, I was one of them.
Workman showed off his amazing vocal range on songs like “Lethal and Young” and ”Baby Mosquito.” He swung between hard rocking metal riffs, to acoustic duos, to soulful songs like “Robot Love” with its strange synth vocals.
As always, some impressive musicians backed up Workman on tour. Mr. Lonely (Tom Lumley) was there, playing keyboards and piano on several duos like the sad and beautiful “Oh You Delicate Heart.” Violinist Jesse Zubot, of Vancouver’s Zubot and Dawson, was backing up Workman on guitar and violin.
Zubot played some incredible solos armed with his violin and effects pedals, like the one during “Depress My Hangover Sunday” that left the crowd cheering.
Workman returned for two encores, the second after the house lights had come up but half the crowd remained to continue cheering. Workman broke into a rendition of crowd-favorite “Smoke Baby” from his 2003 album, Lover/Fighter.
With the audience singing along, it wrapped up another typical Hawksley Workman concert, amazing talent paired with a thoroughly entertaining show.
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Wow, awesome article thanks! Makes me want to check him out for SURE!