Playing piano or belting out some vocals, Mark Berube brings it.
The music festival darling returns to Bozzini’s upstairs lounge Saturday, Feb. 2.
But this time he won’t be on his own — he’ll be accompanied by the talented members of his band, the Patriotic Few, with Kristina Koropecki on cello, Patrick Dugas on drums, and Amélie Mandeville on bass. The band has made the trek from Montreal to make this tour.
Expect songs from Berube’s five albums including the latest, June in Siberia recorded by Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Basia Bulat, Silver Mt. Zion) live off the floor at Montreal’s Hotel 2 Tango, June In Siberia is the full length follow up to 2008’s What The Boat Gave The River.
June In Siberia sees a departure for Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few from their previous experimentation with large-scale arrangements of strings and horns, choosing instead to hone in on the impressive vocal and instrumental strengths of each member. Joining the band are four special guests.
Dan Mangan appears on Side of the Road, Emily Loizeau sings a verse in the redemptive eulogy Above the Ground; CR Avery lends a poem in Let Me Go; and Hattie Webb of the Webb Sisters bestows her voice to the blues-piano riff Fela Kuti-inspired ballad My Me Lady. The overall result is a striking and unique blend of indie chamber-folk.
Since the release of What the Boat Gave the River, Mark Berube and the band have rarely left the road. Their September 2008 Cabaret Juste Pour Rire concert in Montreal, was recorded by the CBC for Canada Live and was programmed and aired an unprecedented eight times on Canadian national and regional radio programs, drawing Mark a comparison to a “young Leonard Cohen” from CBC’s Duke Eaton for his lyrical brevity and craftsmanship.
After a sweep of festivals across Canada in 2009, Berube and The Patriotic Few closed the year with an invitation to join Prix Victoire recipient Emily Loizeau at the renowned Olympia theatre in Paris in December. In 2010 at Paléo, one of Western Europe’s biggest summer festivals, they were called the “Act to Discover” while a short month before, Mark opened for Irish rockers The Cranberries at the sold-out 8000 capacity Arena in Geneva, Switzerland. As the opening act for European songstress Sophie Hunger at a sold out show at La Cigalle in Paris, he sold out of albums both nights and was touted by the French press as “a very strong and promising artist …equally charming behind the piano or a cappella” (ADN Sound).
Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few, at Bozzini’s upstairs lounge, Saturday, Feb. 2. Doors 8 p.m. Show 9:30 p.m., Tickets $20. 604-792-0744
