High expectations are the bane of my existence. I can't control the hope and anticipation inside of me and then, inevitably, I just implode from the false advertising I have subjected myself to. It happens again and again and again and the last time it happened (but surely not the last time it will happen) is when I went to see Max Graham at The Waldorf on Valentine's Day.
I think I may have learned that Max Graham was playing more than a month prior to the actual date. That's a lot of time to think I'm going to have the best time EVER. When the night finally arrived it sure didn't turn out as planned. It was raining hard and rain always dampens my spirits. Squeezing into a mini skirt and teasing my hair doesn't have nearly the same appeal as when it's hot and dry especially when it's preceded with sailing through the flooded streets of Vancouver in a car that has no heat or defroster. However, I hadn't been to a party in ages and, rain or no rain, I was stoked because the last time Max Graham played he made me a very happy girl.
We got to The Waldorf at about 23:30 and Johnny Fever was playing. His first song hit my heart with the strongest and sweetest bass I have heard since I don't know when. That track had a pretty dope melody as well. I only got to hear him for half an hour but in those few minutes he visited many styles a bit breakbeat, a bit tech, a bit house and he had the room in a perfect state to receive Max Graham.
Right at midnight Max Graham took over. Surprisingly, instead of following Johnny Fever's lead he nosedived into some mellow trance.
Let me just say here that the last time I saw Max Graham he played a dynamite set that never once dwindled from being fantastically radical. It was so explosive that not once was there a moment to even contemplate leaving the dancefloor. This is what I had spent the last month expecting.
This time 'round he had a totally different strategy. He played the same mix of music but that extreme level of energy was lacking except for the times he pumped the public with a build-up. There were a lot of build-ups. The pulse would increase bit by bit to a thunderous victory but instead of staying up there it would just ricochet back to a sedate lull.
By the time my boyfriend and I left to see what Konrad Black was doing in the upstairs bar (around 01:00) we had heard Max Graham peak and plunge at least seven times. Upstairs, Konrad Black was playing electro at a terribly low volume. It was pretty sad actually because the music was great but it was all played at a whisper and there was no one dancing. The lounge he was playing in was really, really nice you wouldn't think that such a slick lounge would be found in a budget east Vancouver hotel.
Returning to the main room little had changed. Max was still weaving a very tranquil set with a remix of an old U2 song. The next song was by Everything But the Girl and then that was that surprisingly, the night had ended. Max Graham's set had been shortened by 1.5 hours! I don't know what shocked me more, the fact that we were getting booted out so early or that Max Graham never redeemed himself and his set was the epitome of anticlimatic. After all this time I'm leaning towards the latter. Next time I see him I hope for something along the lines of when he played at The Drink.
http://www.blueprintsevents.ca
For photos please visit:
http://www.2dollas.com/Photos/MaxGraham
