Said The Whale – Live (December 16th, 2012)

The Rio Theatre is a beautiful old theatre on the corner of Broadway and Commercial Drive, one that survives due to constant visitation of cult fanatics. It is a theatre that will always be connected to zombie film festivals, sing-along presentations of Rocky Horror Picture Show and screenings where it is not only encouraged, but considered normal, to come in costume. It’s true that they play big Hollywood films too – but their niche comes from screenings of 35mm cult classics on a Friday night.

So yes, it was an odd sight to see the stage decked out in Christmas paraphernalia as Vancouver’s own Said The Whale took the stage for the second of two Christmas shows at the theatre. Christmas lights adorning the drum set, light snow falling on the screen behind them and flanked on either side by an inflatable Santa and Frosty The Snowman, Said The Whale brought Christmas cheer to a new level.

Front man Ben Whorchester wandered onto the stage first, talking to the crowd before fumbling with a recorder for The Little Drummer Boy, he spun over to the piano and eased the crowd into it with The Bones Of Winter and the Christmas show was off to full effect. The rest of the band soon joined him, sporting festive sweaters for as long as they could stand the added heat and straight from the get go, you could tell the band was having the time of their lives.

Worchester and fellow guitarist/singer Tyler Bankroft worked off one another – trading songs back and forth and joking with the crowd. The set list featured both old and new songs, with some of their biggest hits (Camilo (The Magician)) and some lesser known gems (like their new track Okay Okay Okay or some of their Christmas songs like 24 Days of Xmas) scattered throughout.  On the sixth anniversary of the Stanley Park windstorm it felt appropriate to play Black Day In December  and having just gone shopping in a slush-filled downtown earlier that afternoon, I could personally relate to Puddleglum more than ever before.

Just like any good Christmas celebration, the night was both energetic and sombre. People joyfully clapped with This City’s A Mess and The Light Is You and calmed down for the ukulele lead closerGoodnight Moon. Worchester was almost brought to tears as he performed the intensely personal Emerald Lake AB as the theatre was almost eerily quiet.

To end the night, they called upon openers Rococode to join them in a sing-along version of Charlie Brown’s Christmas Time is Here. It was stupid, and gimmicky, but seemed like the right thing to do. And just like it was the whole night, you could tell that the smiles adorning the members of Said The Whale was true and sincere. They were having fun, sprouting out as much Christmas cheer as possible on this magical December night as rain poured down outside – making Puddleglum all that more a reality