REVIEW: Shaun Verreault solo acoustic @ Darcy's

Well, it was about 10:20 last night and I was just getting ready to take Caitlin home when a call comes through that my roommate Jason answers and he tells me that our friend Amy is on the phone. She says that Shaun Verreault (singer and guitarist for Wide Mouth Mason, as well as my absolute guitar hero!) is playing an impromptu solo acoustic set at Darcy's starting in five minutes. I look at Caitlin, knowing full well that I have to get up for work at 6:30 the next morning, and ask her, "is there any way that we are not going to this?" She replies, with characteristic understatement, "Of course not." So, while she warmed up the car, I got changed and we busted down to Darcy's Pub post-haste.

Amy had talked to Verreault about us coming and he remembered meeting us last month after Wide Mouth Mason's show at Sugar Nightclub. He starts his set, playing a couple re-arranged WMM songs, and then plays "Companion (Lay Me Down)", the song that we are putting on our wedding CD. While playing it, he looks over and smiles at us!! Pretty sweet! The set was filled with virtuousic playing (on the acoustic!) and a mixture of WMM, new songs, and covers. He jammed with the band who had played earlier that night, ripping off selections by Stevie Wonder, Zeppelin, Tom Petty, Beck, Hendrix and Bob Dylan. He even dropped the guitar for a song and became the band's tambourine player! The set closer was a medley of "Superstition" and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)". The rearranged WMM songs were sweet and his vocals, as usual, were otherworldly.

After the set, he talked with Amy, Caitlin, and myself as well as getting a picture with Caitlin and myself. Amy was so excited that she was able to get me the hook up and Shaun remembered Caitlin and I from the December show, telling us he had made sure to play "Companion" when he had heard we were coming. Once again, he was such a down-to-earth guy, totally easy to talk to with no pretence whatsoever. He is coming back to Victoria for a show in February with Wil (a Calgary based guitarist/singer-songwriter) on their co-headlining acoustic tour which he told Caitlin and myself to come down to. What a fun, relaxing, and enjoyable night with my guitar guru. Can't wait for February...