Manitoba

Two full-length albums later, Manitoba finally played a gig in the home of his artistic namesake. After leaving the packed club waiting for an hour, three men in yellow bear half masks walked onto stage and began to totally enthral the patiently waiting crowd. With two drums kits (surrounded by drum machines and various other musical trinkets) framing a centre positioned guitar player, Dan Snaith and his comrades banged out an array of selections from his two critically-acclaimed albums. Equally as beautiful and bizarre as the music, an array of video shorts accompanied the set, making the entire experience of Manitoba complete. It was hard to imagine how any of the songs that Snaith has put out over the years would turn out live. Unfortunately, the delicacies of Manitoba's music were muffled and lost as a result of the sheer volume of the performance. Although the two drum kits made the show exciting to watch, they took away from the sweet bleeps and tweaks that make Manitoba such an interesting and innovative artist. When the drums weren't being pounded at full capacity, the subtleties of the gorgeously smart melodies came through.