Last night I went down to Canal Park to see The Pines play a headlining show at Amazing Grace Bakery. Over the last few years The Pines have really been making a name for themselves in the Minnesota scene (they even scored a slot playing the State Fair this year) and I was looking forward to finally seeing them live.
It was my first time in Amazing Grace, and like I expected the downstairs Canal Park bakery had a local personality you just don't find in big chain coffee shops and bakeries. The staff was friendly, the atmosphere inviting, and the hot chocolate decent but nothing special. The baked goods looked good but I didn't buy anything (there was a $10 cover). I was really pleased with the placement of the stage, tucked against the venues middle back wall. Everything in the bakery seemed to look towards it, and the stage can be seen fairly well from any seat. I settled into an armchair by the aquarium (albino frog inside) ready to be taken away.
Opening for The Pines was Bostonian Meg Hutchinson. Meg accompanied herself on acoustic guitar singing hand crafted songs with a clear sweet voice amazing suited for her songs and folk music in general. Meg also did a great job connecting to the audience, making the small venue all the more intimate. She told jokes, loving stories, and seemed at ease speaking to the crowd as if it was just a group of fiends. The crowd couldn't resist falling in love with this honest face performer, especially when she talked about using all her recent Sirius radio song royalties to pay for an expensive surgery for her beloved dog who has stomach cancer. My only complaint about Meg's set was the songs. Her voiced sounded amazing but as the show went on her songs seemed to get weaker, the lyrics lost their depth and her guitar parts were generic and seemingly interchangeable. Perhaps if she used that wonderful voice to bolden the more important lines, the songs wouldn't have mushed together in my memory. Any qualms existing during her performance though were largely squashed by her final song as she brought the entire audience in to sing with her. It filled the bakery and made for a beautiful moment.
Next up was The Pines, unfortunately because of the show starting 40 minutes later than planned I was unable to see the duo's entire set, having to catch a bus downtown. The Iowa boys known as The Pines paint a landscape with their songs. When the two of them pick up their guitars a new dark atmosphere seems to rise up. They sing soft ringing introspective songs about everyday life. Cutting through the heavey fog of their filling sound, their voices (David and Benson trade off vocal leads from song to song) either wander through the artifical landscape lightly seeking shelter, or gather a little gravel to the voicbox pointedly cutting through. The Pines werent' nearly as warm as Meg inbetween songs, but the audience held on to their every word enjoying the bands praise of Duluth, the venue, and the Gordon Lightfoot ambiance the band felt was surronding Lake Superior. I thoroughally enjoyed all of The Pine's songs especially their song about going to the fair, which spralled some funny commentary on the bands recent gig at the Minnesota State Fair. The Pines definately delievered and I look forward to seeing them again.
*Note: The Pines will be playing Shattuck St. Mary's in Faribault on Nov. 11.
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