VANCOUVER ROCK & ROLL
TROUBADOUR

With Live at the Anza Club, Rich Hope put a capstone on some 25 years as a singular presence in Vancouver’s music scene. That’s a quarter decade of triumphs, plaudits, and musical adventures that took Hope across the country and around the world, including a trip through the UK supporting Jesus and Mary Chain’s Jim Reid, while local hits like “When My Light Comes Shining” and “I See Trouble” put an indelible groove in the city’s forever playlist. Opening slots for the likes of Bob Seger and the Black Crowes filled the gaps between festival appearances and his own headlining dates, invariably sold out and sometimes legendary, as in a wild night in the winter of 2010 when his Evil Doers established the unbroken record for bar sales at Vancouver’s fabled Railway Club.

As a songwriter, Hope has been tapped by the likes of Big Sugar and as a guest performer he’s on speed dial for friends and colleagues like Steve Dawson and Craig Northey. And then there’s the band, furnished with longtime collaborators including guitarist Scott Smith and bassist Erik Nielsen alongside a roll call of players entrusted with matching the man’s musical heat but also, crucially, his indefatigable charisma and onstage bravado. Audiences are no less committed. The numbers grow and so does the momentum. Six studio albums down the road, and with another in the works, the next 25 look vista-vision wide for East Van’s favourite song ’n dance-man.