Canadian musician Afie Jurvanen, aka Bahamas, is a regular in the social scene / musical circles of his country and has a loyal following in these United States. If considering his self-appointed moniker, the sunny islands of the Bahamas might not be the first connection you make when you think of a musician from Canada. However the music Jurvanen creates is far more evocative of ocean-side bonfires and hot, sunny days with its easy going tunes than anything else. It is also fitting that Bahamas has signed to Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records for the release of his third album, Bahamas is Afie, for which he is currently touring to support with fellow Canadian Tamara Hope (The Weather Station) opening for him (and him sitting in on drums for her).
At Bahamas show at Le Poisson Rouge in New York, Jurvanen served up an eclectic rocking set, at times teasing the crowd with some breezy numbers like “Waves” and, at others, creating danceable jams for the folks to rock out to. The set mixed songs from the new album with stuff from his earlier ones, specifically Pink Strat and Barchords, and he brought out the pink guitar for a solo song after a short break in his set. The crowd was thrilled, with people mostly transfixed for the nearly 90 minute set. I was quite pleased by how much rockin’ Jurvanen did given that I expected it would be a slow burning intimate Jack Johnson-like performance. I anticipate spending a good bit of time immersing myself with his music before he returns to New York in December for a show with Lucius.
Setlist (per handwritten setlist – it may have varied):
Never
Got U
Caught
Already
Wind
Can’t Take
Waves
Had it All
Nothing
Stronger
OK
Sweet Touch
Lost
Monty
Bitter
Please
All The Time
Tour Dates:
October 1 – Chicago, IL – Schubas
October 2 – Indianapolis, IN – Hi Fi
October 3 – St. Louis, MO – Duck Room at Blueberry Hill
October 4 – Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
October 7 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge
October 10 – Los Angeles, CA – The Roxy
October 11 – San Francisco, CA – Slim’s
October 14 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir
October 15 – Seattle, WA – Columbia City Theater
October 16 – Victoria, BC – Alix Goolden
October 17 – Vancouver, Canada – Vogue
October 18 – Kelowna, Canada – Habitat
October 20 – Calgary, Canada – Knox
October 22 – Saskatoon, Canada – Broadway Theatre
October 23 – Winnipeg, Canada – Garrick
October 25 – Minneapolis, MN – Triple Rock
November 5 – Toronto, Canada – Danforth
November 6 – Montreal, Canada – Metropolis
November 7 – Sherbrooke, Canada – Theatre Grande
November 8 – Quebec City, Canada – Imperial