Peter Dream's Electric Performance At Bo's

Thinking back on shows that I didn't write one of my silly little post-concert blogs about. I realized that I shockingly didn't do one about the night of the Peter Dreams show back in January. On this night I literally met Peter from July Talk. It was crazy to see him just casually floating around the small venue after only ever seeing him on a "15-foot-high-stage". (Jello Biafra sang that in my head) July Talk has legendarily played Bo's before but I sadly was not in attendance. But anyways, I gave Peter the ol' "Newfie nod" as he exited the bathroom and he came right on over. (works every time) He was the nicest and chillest guy to talk to as we easily had a few minute conversation sharing appreciation for the venue, love for his fellow artist Eamon McGrath and my experience at one of his shows, in which he told us that he'd be playing one of Eamon's songs that night. It's such a jarring comparison of his personality in conversation to his stage presence. Peter Dreams holds the title for the most daunting stage presence that you'll come across in today's world. As he singles you out in the crowd with a haunting blank stare through the smoke filled stage and has dance moves and sporadic gestures that make it impossible to look away. His raw stage presence is backed by his pleasing deep guttural sound that rivals Nick Cave and The Badseeds or maybe a vocalist grizzly bear. We were given everything at this show as he laid it all on the stage like he has every time before. We got to hear an astonishing raw-sounding accompaniment and opening act from Moonriivr and we heard the first bit of Peter Dreams to come like "Keep Me Free" that would be his first release under that title at a later date. The performance included Peter doing an amazing unrehearsed stripped-down solo acoustic encore of "The Garden" from July Talk in which the crowd murmured back every word to him. He then stuck around to sign merch and take photos to put a cherry on top of an unforgettable night. Definitely one of the greatest performances I've seen to date.

It was a bit bewildering that more people hadn't showed up to this concert, likely unaware that this was Peter of July Talk glory. But this aspect of intimacy made the night even greater and Peter expressed his thankfulness to those that supported this new venture of his without being able to pre-emptively listen to these tracks. I guess we all just trusted the guy and who wouldn't? It paid off in full.

In case you're a July Talk fan and you're debating if you should go see Peter Dreams, DO IT!

I bought these tickets for my girlfriend for Christmas along with some July Talk merch. But let's be completely honest, the tickets were a present to myself too.