Event Review: Dan Mangan at St. Matthew’s United

St. Matthew’s Church is the perfect venue for listening and singing along to the music of Dan Mangan, The Daredevil Christopher Wright, and The Crackling. The acoustics of St. Matthew’s are phenomenal. The sounds of instruments and voices carry throughout the building in a mesmerizing way.

Especially with the pouring rain, I did not expect a large audience for the opening acts. I arrived at 7:30pm expecting to be able to find a seat in the middle of the first row of pews. To my surprise, I walked in on a filled room of people, eagerly awaiting Dan Mangan’s performance. I quickly found a place to stash my raincoat and wandered up to the front of the church to scope out the perfect photography spots.

I was not sure what to expect of the opening acts, but any negative expectations I had were immediately shattered. The Daredevil Christopher Wright began their set soon after I arrived and honestly, I was blown away. Their music is categorized under indie pop and they are three guys from Wisconsin.

After a short break, The Crackling began their set. Kenton Loewen is best known up to this point as the drummer for Dan Mangan. Assuming you know what to expect from drummers? Think again! Kenton sang and played the guitar, along with other members of Dan Mangan’s band. Dan Mangan even stepped in as the drummer for a song or two! His music was exactly how it was described by HPX: it’s “about the sounds of change, natural and flowing or sudden and vigorous, but above all haunting and honest.” It’s more of a feeling you have – somewhere between that warm, fuzzy feeling and when you’re a jumble of emotions and not sure how to express them. Again I was blown away.

After another short break, Dan Mangan finally appeared on stage. He was flawless, successfully captivating the attention of the entire audience. Everyone joined in singing along to his songs, cheering enthusiastically at the end of each one. The finale was by far the best performance I have witnessed this week. Dan Mangan descended from the stage, climbing over the pews through the audience and perched on top of two rows of pews. Without a microphone he belted out the lyrics and strummed his guitar while trying to maintain his balance above the audience’s heads. The crowd lifted their voices together in unison and sang along to one of my favourite songs, Robots.

When the song ended, there was a buzz in the crowd and everyone could tell that something memorable had just happened. I know I will never forget it. The crowd emptied out into the street to pouring rain, but did not seem to notice. Still all smiles from the Dan Mangan show.

Article and Photos by Karyn Boehmer