Good For Grapes – Commodore Ballroom – March 16, 2013 (opening for Spirit Of The West)
Local indie-folk septet, Good For Grapes got the festivities off to a roaring start on Saturday night as a full house at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom were ready to get their St Patrick’s Day weekend going. Often the opening act gets stuck with a minimal audience of early-goers but not on this night, as the Surrey based group appeared to have a good fan-base to play for in addition to the ‘Irish For A Day’ group who seemed to have started their revelry early.
Good For Grapes have developed a great stage presence over their short couple of years together, their feel-good Celtic, folk music had the audience hopping. The crowd clearly fed off of their energy and clear enjoyment of what they were doing. Everyone look like they were having a great time on stage but none more than Sean MacKeigan on accordian, having the benefit of not being tied to a microphone he energized the instrument as he danced around the stage. While they didn’t chat a lot with the audience they didn’t lack for interaction as it felt like the band was hosting a party and everyone was welcome. They proved to be the perfect pairing for headliners Spirit Of The West, holding their own against that bands 30 years.
