David Usher

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• David Usher

  I fell in love with David Usher when I first saw him live, way back in 2007, at this tiny little Casino Halifax set of shows. There was maybe 200 people, but it was like there were 10 of us.

  I've seen David perform in much bigger venues since, I don't even remember how many times, and it's still like that, like he's just jamming with a bunch of friends, who all sing along. I loved his radioplay songs as a teenager, but it was being able to get up and dance, even to songs I didn't know at the time, elbows on the stage, with a bunch of strangers who would become friends, and just completely let go of everything to the way the music feels.

  David has always been amazingly personal, I don't ever remember going to a show where there wasn't an opportunity for a photo, or to give him and his band hugs, or to get something signed, or just to have a conversation afterwards, to say thank you. David Usher is the only artist I know whose voice sounds exactly, amazingly, the same on the record, as he does live. There's gonna be dancing(from him, and from the entire crowd), and he always makes it a point to come down in the middle of the crowd, and sing to us, and among us, and it's just one amazing spirit sharing his gift with the world. You can pretty much expect a good 2 hours of straight dance your butt off music, with a few heartbreaking tearjerkers in the middle. David is an AMAZING songwriter, and his love of music comes through in every lyric, and note.

  I've seen David and his band at a bunch of really strange venues(it's rock music, but soft, singer-songwriter pretty).where there's always gonna be standing general admission, if not exactly a mosh pit, and yet I remember seeing him at a folk and country festival in New Glasgow, NS with a bunch of beach chairs, and the casino shows were set up with dinner theatre style tables with vases of flowers and tablecloths, and tiny little theatres with the stage at the level of your knees, but that's all just background noise, because the music is SO GOOD. Seriously. SO GOOD.

  Every album is wonderful(he's been prolific over the years since he became a solo artist after Moist-8 studio albums), and usually a setlist is at least 20 songs, with something from every album. He's a Canadian boy through and through, and his hometown shows in Montreal always contain a few french songs, and even though I'm not Quebecois, it always feels really special to go to a Quebec show. I can't recommend going to a gig enough, the tickets are cheap, and it's guaranteed to be a fabulous night with friends.

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  by will-morgan