{"id":12595,"date":"2023-10-20T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12595"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:49:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:49:49","slug":"concert-review-destroyer-live-at-the-park-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2023\/10\/20\/concert-review-destroyer-live-at-the-park-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Concert Review :: Destroyer :: live at the Park Theatre\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Myles Tiessen <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere\u2019s a song that might have debuted in Winnipeg back in 1999 or something,\u201d mumbled Dan Bejar of Destroyer before gently playing a solo rendition of \u201cDestroyer\u2019s the Temple.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

With his flaming red acoustic guitar, Bejar softly sang, \u201cYou are familiar with these terms, I trust\/Don\u2019t you mind\/ Our children go unseen to us\/ The popular singers, they\u2019re mean to us\/You\u2019ll find there\u2019s joy in being barred from the temple.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the set followed suit as he primarily played old material to a relatively filled Park Theatre on a balmy Monday night in late September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Vancouver-based musician may be more popularly known for his soft-rock\/goth-disco muses like the definitive Kaputt<\/em> or last year\u2019s LABYRINTHITIS<\/em>. Still, he has, for a long time, been a dedicated scholar of solo tours. Seeing Destroyer material brought to life through the isolated acoustic guitar was an experience that felt considerably intimate-yet because of Bejar\u2019s reserved aloofness-amorphous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Detached on stage, Bejar stood surrounded by poetry and prose that floated and spun above him. He pulled them down, mixing and matching words until they strung together some syntax that sounded both spontaneous and deeply considered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although I couldn\u2019t tell you what the songs and lyrics mean, and truthfully, I\u2019m not sure Bejar could either, they are profoundly affecting. It comes down to a wholly visceral and impulsive response to lyrics and melody. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he somersaulted through dizzying lyrics, you couldn\u2019t help but feel he was going to run out of words in the English language. Enigmas like: \u201cAnd I\u2019m reminded of the time that I was blinded by the sun\/ It was a welcome change from the sight of you hanging like a willow\/ Off the arm of yet another visionary Prophetess East Van punk,\u201d sang on \u201cPainter In Your Pocket\u201d from 2006\u2019s Destroyer\u2019s Rubies<\/em> were definitely puzzling but enthralling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His referenced laced, stream-of-conscious lyrics were clearly the set\u2019s focus, but how he played guitar in response to those lines was equally fascinating. Semi out-of-tune, Bejar rhythmically strummed and shifted tempo to reflect the importance of one line over others but also added some variance to the set. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the sloppy guitar tone became a bit much, Bejar used one of his few moments of stage banter to say, \u201cMy guitar is making a growly sound, which means it\u2019s going to stop working any second. But it\u2019s pretty cool. Makes it kinda edgy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bejar\u2019s veteran experience as a performer was evident, as, after every song, he gave a sizeable arching bow to the crowd and, at some moments, casually hummed or sang the melody of the backing instrumental like you would if you were in a car alone, singing along to your favourite song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The older material\u2013undoubtedly because of their inception on the guitar\u2013reflected better when played solo than a lot of his new material. \u201cTintoretto, It\u2019s For You\u201d didn\u2019t hit with the same emotional urgency as the recorded version and the empty space that would usually be filled with cracking drums and pulsating synths after he repeats the line \u201cAnd ringing\u2026\u201d felt deflated. It seems Bejar felt similar, considering he followed that hit up with \u201cThe Music Lovers\u201d from 2004\u2019s Your Blues<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The convergence of these distinct songwriting styles came together during his encore performance of \u201cChinatown.\u201d The rhythmic guitar held its own without the driving drum, and Bejar\u2019s airy melodies captured the clandestine vulnerability of the track. \u201cI can\u2019t walk away, you can\u2019t walk away,\u201d echoed off the walls into the ears of the half-dancing crowd. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Myles Tiessen  \u201cHere\u2019s a song that might have debuted in Winnipeg back in 1999 or something,\u201d mumbled Dan Bejar of Destroyer before gently playing a solo rendition of \u201cDestroyer\u2019s the Temple.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12596,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-live-bait"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12597,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12595\/revisions\/12597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}