November 2 the Regina Folk Festival presented Dan Mangan at Knox Metropolitan Church in beautiful downtown Regina. I don’t know what that space seats exactly, but the lower level was packed and the upper tier was perhaps three-quarters full. I was sitting upstairs, and from there the sound, especially for the opening act Rural Alberta Advantage, but even somewhat for Mangan, was not the greatest. I don’t know if it was just a bad sound mix or the building isn’t acoustically suited to amped up folk rock shows.
The RFF is holding this show Thursday night at Orr Centre which is at 4400 4th Ave. It used to be part of a Christian college complex. I was there in 2009 or so when Dan Perrins was conducting his nuclear energy inquiry. If memory serves, it’s a conventional school auditorium although there may have been some modifications since it was turned into a dedicated performance space.
This marks Stars third appearance in Regina in eight months — the other two times coming as a headliner at the 2012 Regina Folk Festival in August and backing up Metric at Brandt Centre in November. Added bonus for this gig is that Said the Whale are the back-up band. To close here’s the latter’s summer-sun-sand-sunset-themed video “Lucky”: