Rock Opera in a Coffee House

Local Fort Collins artist Vee deVice as well as several friends who joined them on stage wowed friends, family and newcomers alike with their release concert of the first act of their Rock Opera: "Love Will Tear us to Shreds". The first act "And Quiet Flows the Dawn" was performed in its entirety along with narration and visuals at Everyday Joe's coffee house in Fort Collins, CO.

The night was started out in a surprisingly unique way with local band The Tanukis, a band that can be described as hardcore indie acoustic Russian folk music. Not knowing what to expect it caught me a little off guard, but I ended up really liking them. The vocal harmonies were tight, as was the music, and the song they ended their set with - a Russian folk song, song in Russian - was really good.

After The Tanukis were finished with their set Vee deVice, fully clothed in their Russian opera get up began to take the stage. Backed up with various musician friends to be able to play the album in entirety and an old public domain war propaganda film, the Narrator took the mic and requested that all applause be held until the entire opera had been performed. And then they were off into the life of Isaac Babel. Only having seen the band a couple times live I really had no idea what to expect in the concert. I was completely impressed to say the least. The album itself is extremely well written and each track fits in perfectly with the story they are trying - succeeding - to tell. The instrumentation featured acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic bass, mandolin, banjo, violin, accordion, piano, trombone and even crystal glasses. The vocal harmonies in a couple different tracks with Babel and the soldiers were particularly good and would have to be one of my favorite points of the show. The visual film in the background also accentuated the show with several times seeming purposefully in sync with the music.

After the final song was performed the audiences reaction told me that everybody there had the same impression as I did as the quality of the show. Keep an eye out for news of the release of Act II of Vee deVice's three disc rock opera "Love Will Tear Us To Shreds". If it's anything close to Act I, we're all in for a treat.