How awesome is it to be hanging out in a little southern Californian bar in early spring checking out a big band that you love? The ultimate irony of the Hey Rosetta! set at the Soda Bar in San Diego last Tuesday night was that no one was more happier to be there than the members of the band themselves (accept this reviewer of course). Even lead singer Tim Baker remarked that Hey Rosetta! had spent the previous month touring around cold Canada, and getting to amazing-weather San Diego to take in 70 degree walks of the beach was pure bliss. After all, the Canadian band from St. John’s, Newfoundland found itself performing in a location whose distance from the members’ hometown is as far as any two substantial urban centers in all of North America (except for perhaps Miami and Anchorage, Alaska). In spite of taking place before a relatively sparse (albeit enthusiastic) Tuesday night bar crowd, the band members’ exuberance for their present locale expressed itself with an incredibly animated performance.
I was curious to see how all of the members of Hey Rosetta’s seven-piece ensemble would actually fit on the Soda Bar’s small stage (but alas, in spite of tremendous crowding made it work), and their wall-of-sound, big band vibe would play in the cramped venue. Suffice it to say, even though cellist Romesh Thavanathan had to sit on Phil Maloney’s tom tom and guitarist Adam Hogan was forced to stand off the stage, Hey Rosetta! delivered some swell renditions of eleven of the best tunes from their past three albums.
The set began with the first two songs on the new album, Second Sight (rated by yours truly as one of the top ten best Canadian albums of 2014), making for the perfect show opener since the single “Soft Offering (For the Oft Suffering)” works as an infectious pop groove leading off the excellent Second Sight. As great as the performances were of Hey Rosetta’s up-tempo tunes like “Gold Teeth,” “Red Heart,” and especially “Harriet” (whose honky-tonk, roadhouse sound is my favorite song on Second Sight), the set’s greatest moments arose during the more restrained tunes. The slow burner “What Arrows” and the latter half of “Neon Beyond” featuring melodious backup vocals from Kinley Dowling and Mara Pellerin fashioned a mood that brought the otherwise noisy Soda Bar to a hush.
Second Sight was only officially released in the States just a little more than a month ago (even though it came out last October in Canada), so if you haven’t given it a spin yet do yourself a favor. And if you find Hey Rosetta! stopping by your town on their tour, check them out. They night not be as excited to be in Des Moines, Dover, or Indianapolis as they were to be in San Diego, but hopefully they’ll book some venues in those towns where their lead guitarist can find a spot on the stage.