As you may or may not know, I work with the Coldsnap Music Festival (I volunteer as the web guy and help out with press). This is an ongoing series that is one week of music in January, supplemented by a series of smaller, fundraising concerts throughout the year. This past weekend, we were lucky enough to get two guys on the cusp, Dan Mangan and Shane Koyczan. Both have been through Prince George before, Dan just before becoming a big buzz artist in the world of Canadian indie and Shane shortly before performing at the opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics. I was lucky enough to see Dan at the intial Coldsnap show and was hugely impressed by his lyrical power and strong voice; Shane I missed but heard great things. What I didn’t know is that this show would actually be them performing together round-robin style, with them performing together, then Dan alone, then Shane alone, then together, then just Shane, then just Dan, and so on. What I also didn’t know, having not seen him before, was that Shane would somehow overshadow Dan, who is certainly no slouch in the performance world. I’m sure the same holds true everywhere, but he definitely created a lot of new poetry fans.
I should also mention that the between-song banter was hilarious, with Shane constantly alluding to his love for Dan (that’s him yelling from offstage at the beginning of the first video), and a whole sequence where the two traded favourite “Arrested Development” quotes.
Here’s some highlights:

Dan Mangan – Sold

Dan Mangan – Sold from Andrew Kurjata on Vimeo.

Shane Koyczan – Move Pen Move (must watch!)

Shane Koyczan – Move Pen Move from Andrew Kurjata on Vimeo.

Dan Mangan and Shane Koyczan – I Will (Beatles Cover)

Dan Mangan & Shane Koyczan – I Will (Beatles Cover) from Andrew Kurjata on Vimeo.

Dan Mangan and Shane Koyczan – Robots

Dan Mangan and Shane Koyczan – Robots from Andrew Kurjata on Vimeo.

They also were on the CFUR show Off the Beaten Track (hosted by Coldsnap producer Jo Beattie), and we’re able to make it available for a podcast. Here it is: