City And Colour – Live @ Henry Fonda Theatre

Seeing City and Colour in Hollywood is an exercise in being excited about depression. That’s what it feels like standing in line outside for the last date of the U.S. tour, anyway.

Dallas Green first gained notoriety as a guitarist and vocalist for post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, but since 2004, his alias, City and Colour, has also gained him a following of acoustic and folk fans. The line curves around the Henry Fonda Theater, made up of various trendy spectators eager to pack into a room and listen to several songs with mixed emotions about cynicism and gratitude despite it (or, in some cases, for it). There’s something both baffling about the Saturday night atmosphere that starts to feel just right, ultimately, as Dallas Green will eventually make even his most woeful songs seems hopeful.

Before any of that, Dallas takes the stage along with an acoustic and plays “Coming Home” to a house full of people who’ve been buzzing with energy since they stepped through the door. The teenage fans have pressed themselves up against the barricade in the front while the older set move in behind them and continue back until the swell around the bar. It’s a bold choice, beginning the show with a song quite this focused, this solitary. Pre-show anticipation usually inclines people to cheer throughout most of a headliner’s first song, but after some initial applause, though, everyone in the space actually quiets down and listens. The Music Box at Henry Fonda Theater isn’t huge, but it’s big enough to let a performer without enough pull seem like they’re drowning. Green commands attention with a microphone, a guitar, and a spotlight and not even the first note comes out nervous.

It doesn’t stop with a personal confidence either, extending into Dallas’s interim chatting with onlookers. Some singer-songwriters have a harder time communicating with their audience. Early Regina Spektor was often an experiment in awkward earnestness, and while Ray LaMontagne will occasionally speak to the people who’ve come to see him, he’s generally a “music first, dialogue if absolutely necessary” artist. As Green tunes his instrument and brings the rest of his band out for the set, he proves to be personable without going over the top, dedicating his second song, “Waiting,” to the two guitars lost during his flight that morning.

“They must be scared,” he says, “wherever they are.”

There’s an easy rhythm to his anecdotes. He’s inviting without making it seem like winning personality is supposed to make up shortcomings musically, despite Green asking everyone to forgive him as he and the replacement guitar for the night “get to know each other.” When he plays, his voice rings clear. It’s easy to start seeing live shows and get into the habit of making concessions for imperfections. “Oh, it’s late.” “Oh, it’s the end of the tour.” “Oh, it must be the sound.” The reasons are always similar and at the ready. Dallas Green doesn’t need any excuses, making every key change or move from quiet to bright seem effortless, both him and his band so in control of the music that it takes an extra moment to realize the chorus of Sam Sparro’s “Black & Gold” intertwined with “Sometimes (I Wish)” hadn’t been part of the composition the whole time.

It feels like a reintroduction. City and Colour hasn’t toured the U.S. since the same time last year. His second album, Bring Me You Love, was released a year before that. With no new music coming in the immediate future, the show serves to at least slake year-long cravings for Los Angeles fans and make them eager for more. By the time “Body In A Box” starts to fill the room, everyone in the audience has gotten carried away, singing along with as much dedication as Green himself, hanging on to each note right through the end of “As Much As I Ever Could,” and then chanting for an encore.

Instead of playing again, Dallas returns to the stage to sincerely thank the audience for all the continued support and genuine enthusiasm. He takes a breath and, still, doesn’t make a move to sing another one of his own songs, instead belting a rendition of Son House’s “Grinning In Your Face” that feels sincere and affecting instead of like a cheap substitute for more of his own.

Then again, that’s what has made the City and Colour experience work well all night: equal parts competent music, wry humor, and genuine appreciation. Dallas Green knows how to work a crowd. He even makes it seem easy, but in the end, he’s still going to thank you for bearing with him all night.

Related posts:

1. Brand New – Live @ The Palladium
2. The Decemberists – Live @ The Hollywood Paladium

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