Afie Jurvanen is the Finnish-Canadian singer better known as Bahamas. Photographed by Larry … [+] Hirshowitz at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, on June 1, 2023.
Larry Hirshowitz www.hirshowitzphoto.com
Okay, let’s hear it for the warmup act. At the crisp and sparkly YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, the other night, Grammy Award winning duo Rodrigo y Gabriela played their eclectic mix of heavy metal and flamenco guitar, with an appreciative crowd of thousands cheering along to every thunderous strum and finger pluck.
Despite the cosmic, cooler-than-thou sounds, Bahamas the band comes across as endearing and … [+] relatable in concert. Photographed by Larry Hirshowitz at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, on June 1, 2023.
Larry Hirshowitz www.hirshowitzphoto.com
But it was the 30-minute opener that brought me out for the evening. No disrespect to Rodrigo or Gabriela. Their Mexico City-meets-Metallica approach to guitar playing is a marvel to watch, particularly on a stage set with pulsating lights and digital visuals that matched the intensity of those concussive chords. How these two former street performers can get through each ripper-of-a-song without shredding all their guitar strings is something of a miracle.
Rodrigo y Gabriela on stage at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, on June 1, 2023. … [+] Photographed by Larry Hirshowitz.
Larry Hirshowitz www.hirshowitzphoto.com
Rodrigo y Gabriela’s hour-and-a-half set followed a quickie by Bahamas, a Canadian singer who I like to say was part of my personal wellness team during COVID. His 2014 song, “All the Time” was my Pandemic anthem—a kind of joke to myself and, by extension, to the world, that go me through those Groundhog Days of 2020 and 2021. The song goes:
“I got all the time in the world
Don’t you want some of that?
Don’t you want some of that?
I would, if I were you.”
It’s a wry take on relationships but it somehow fit the way we were all living these past few years. Bahamas himself—his real name is Afie Jurvanen—is an endearing, relatable guy despite the sometimes cosmic, cooler-than-thou quality of his songs. Another quarantine-era spirits-lifter for me was the song “Own Alone,” a pleasant reminder that alone-ness isn’t exactly the same thing as loneliness. The lyrics, set to a hooky beat, go:
“Raise a glass now for only me.
Cold and broken lonely me.
I’m on my own.
I’m on my own.
But I’m not alone.”
The video is such a goofy joy ride. You have to love this man for dad-dancing alone (but not really alone) in his humble domestic jam pod.
The YouTube Theater show in Los Angeles was the first on a North American summer 2023 tour that takes Bahamas up the west coast of the U.S. into Canada, with a few dates in places like Red Rocks and Nashville dotted in.
Backed by a pair of talented singers (and ardent practitioners of normcore), the band played some of their winking, funny-not-funny fan favorites. You have to give Jurvanen credit for the audaciousness. I mean, what other tune could get a crowd whooped up for the headline act like “No Depression,” with the opener:
“I feel it through my shoes
They used to call that the blues
Now they call it depression.”
Jurvanen got a lot done in 30 minutes. He shared a hilarious story about overpaying for parking with his family at Universal Studios that day, and another about how alienating it can feel to have your Turo rental car person try to find you in the massive lot outside L.A.’s Sofi stadium.
Bahamas is touring North America this summer. The band, pictured here on the first night of the … [+] tour, was photographed by Larry Hirshowitz at YouTube Theater in Inglewood, California, on June 1, 2023.
Larry Hirshowitz www.hirshowitzphoto.com
But the best part was being back to something-like-normal with Bahamas providing the soundtrack live. After all those days listening to this music in lockdown, it’s nice to re-frame the lyrics a little. “Lost in the Light” can be an existential cry in the dark. Or now, with summer approaching and brighter days ahead, it can be an antsy meditation on what we can do with a little too much freedom. That’s how I’m reading these lyrics for the moment, anyway:
“I’m lost in the light
I pray for the night
To take me, to take you too
After so many words
Still nothing’s heard
Don’t know what we should do.”
Catch Bahamas wherever you can this summer. For details, see the tour schedule here.
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Publish date : 2023-06-03 06:54:00
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