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It was a bittersweet show last Wednesday (March 10, 2010) at Toronto’s Opera House. Copeland fans gathered to watch them perform what may be the band’s last show in Toronto EVER. The band, hailing from Lakeland, Florida, has been active for about 9 years. Copeland announced of the band’s “move on from Copeland [to] follow other paths,” on October 29, 2009 on their MySpace blog. The show began shortly after 8PM with Deas Vail, Person L, and I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business opening.

Deas Vail got the show started. The band name is a combination of Latin and old French, roughly translating to “humble servant of God.” The vocals of Wes Blaylock jumped to and from his falsetto tones like nobody’s business. An enjoyable and fun band to watch.
Deas Vail – Birds
Deas Vail – The Things You Were

Person L, the only opener that stood out at the show amongst a sea of acoustic bands. The lead singer of Person L, Kenny Vasoli, happens to also be the vocalist for the pop punk band, The Starting Line. Person L, for Vasoli, is seen as outlet to explore other musical styles away from The Starting Line. Their song, “Goodness Gracious”, was such a great song mixing in sounds of old rock’n'roll.
Person L – Goodness Gracious
Person L – The Positives

I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business, were nothing too special. (SORRY!) The vocalist mentioned that he’s a recent new father and tours with his son. His objective is to show his son that although he struggled as a musician, he was doing something he loved. At this point in the show, I was just hoping that their set would end so that Copeland would have more stage time. The songs of I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business were very mellow and somber.

Finally, at around 10PM, Copeland, the band that everyone was there to see shows up and opens their set with “Take Care” from their debut full length album Beneath Medicine Tree (2003). The energy of the crowd sky-rocketed. They could not have picked a better song to start off their set with! They played a nice combination of songs from their four full length albums, but there was definitely a focus on promoting their latest album, You Are My Sunshine (2008). Songs that were included in their set list: “Pin Your Wings Down”, “Control Freak”, “California”, “No One Really Wins This Time”, “Coffee”, “Chin Up”, “The Grey Man”, “What Do I Know?”, “When Paula Sparks” and “The Day I Lost My Voice (The Suitcase Song)”. Throughout their set, I often found myself just closing my eyes and enjoying the music. Playing close to a two hour set, Copeland could have played all night and I would have stayed until the very last song was over. During “No One Really Wins This Time,” it seemed like every single audience member was singing along. Vocalist, Aaron Marsh, refrained from singing the chorus of the song. It was insane at the synchronicity of the audience singing the lyrics the band so brilliantly put together.

Copeland – Take Care
Copeland – Pin Your Wings
Copeland – Control Freak
Copeland – The Day I Lost My Voice (The Suitcase Song)

For their encore, they played “Brightest,” the opening track from Beneath Medicine Tree (2003) and “You Have My Attention” from In Motion (2005). It was a beautiful night for music in Toronto, but it was also a sad one. A couple of audience members shouted “DON’T BREAK UP! DON’T BREAK UP!” to the band in between songs, creating such unnecessary awkward tension in the venue — Especially since Copeland did not bother to respond to any of these audience members’ remarks. Nevertheless, I know I will not be the first or last person to say, “I’m so sad that this will be the last time I’ll ever see Copeland!”

Copeland – Brightest
Copeland – You Have My Attention

Tags: Copeland