Our Recap Of Mike Haggith & Brian Tremblay's "Face To Face" Concert!

I apologize for this being so late to hit the site, but as you may recall, local/Barrie alternative/hard rock solo musician Mike Haggith and folk/country singer/songwriter Brian Tremblay joined forces for a special acoustic concert at The Art Hub on Spring on May 26th named Face To Face, which emphasized storytelling about their original music in between live performances. As I alluded to a bit on the site in the ensuing month+, Mike live-streamed the concert (all 2 hours & 50 minutes of it!) to his YouTube channel, but between other posts and life in general, this got pushed back and back and back, and I figured that I better get to it A.S.A.P. before Mike's album release next week, especially as the new album likely came up during the concert! So, if you weren't able to make it to The Art Hub on Spring (actually at 504 Queen Street East), what all went down at Face To Face?

The camera was set up in a stationary spot, directly pointing at (but not completely in front of) where Mike and Brian performed. The stage area for this show is well lit, and if you were in attendance, this would be fairly reflective of your view if you were where the tripod was! The show is introduced by Brian's fellow Borderline radio host Adrian Vilaca (who interviewed Mike for Across The Tracks in 2021), and while everything was introductory and more for live attendees, his remarks are sometimes hard to hear. Brian does deliver the initial remarks from the two performers, but Mike is the first to perform. Structurally, each song is preceded by Mike or Brian outlining the songwriting process and/or inspiration of the song in question, much like the old VH1 Storytellers series/albums, and rather than have an opener and a closer, Mike and Brian trade a song each throughout the night, playing nine songs apiece (with stories to match).

When I link to song names here, I'll link to when the stories are told rather than the song's beginning, so you get full context (plus, it'd be too much wasted text if I linked twice for each song), but both do get linked on the YouTube description. I won't spoil the content of the stories, which I could never do justice to, but they are titled on YouTube. Also, the woman who sits on stage and interjects in Brian's stories is his wife Lynn, who guests on backing vocals, tambourine, or shaker for most songs. Mike's first song is his label namesake "MorningStar", with Brian's first song being his 2000 original "By My Time". Mike next plays "The Best You Never Had", and Brian followed things up with "The Junction Inn". A trifecta of opening songs from Mike's 2020 album "If Ever Comes The Day" is completed with "Into The Setting Sun", with Brian playing a newer song named "I Knew You'd Be Alright" next.

Mike dips into his newest (for another week) album "Bridges" with a rendition of "Come On Home" for his fourth song, followed by Brian playing his own "Last Stand Hill". The last songs before the intermission include Mike's song "I've Seen It Before" from next week's "All The Best In All You Do" (featuring a guest appearance by Mike's old Din bandmate Brandan Glew), then Brian's more downbeat original "Let It All Out". A 25 minutes-long intermission takes place next, which Brian and Mike introduce by outlining contests/the door prize and revealing that they'd both be playing at Rotaryfest next week (this was a new announcement at the time). The second half of the show begins with Mike playing the title track of "If Ever Comes The Day", which was his last Thompson-era original of the evening. Brian returns with his song "Grey Bar Hotel", inspired by a surprising past day job of his.

Fans of Mike's old power pop/hard rock band The Din will be excited by his closing songs, starting with the title track of their last album "Suburban Dream" from 2017, before Brian took the mic for his song "Road Hockey", whose story will naturally pique the interest of hockey fans. Mike's penultimate song is "Out Of My League" from 2015's "The Warinside" (which was covered on "Give In To The Din" one year later), followed by Brian's second-last song, the more recent & harmonica-infused "Steel Man". For their final numbers, Mike brought back "This Potato May Be Used As A Flotation Device" from 2014's "A Place Of Our Own" (titled under its revised "Give In To The Din" name "Potato (Should Have Known Better)"), while Brian played his new song "Wine, Whiskey, and Weed" with Mike guesting on guitar and the audience at large guesting on the sing-along choruses.

Mike gives closing remarks to plug their merchandise sales and announce the winners of that day's contests & door prize. While the storytelling aspect was inconsistent depending on the song's inspiration, this was a fun show that fans of Mike's and Brian's will enjoy, and the loose & casual atmosphere was to its benefit! It was teased before the show that Face To Face would be released as a live album through MorningStar Records, which has yet to occur, but if it does get such a release, we don't know if Mike and Brian's songs would be divided between their own streaming/sale links or not (plus, if they were included together on a Kunaki-enabled physical CD or LP set, it'd have to be a double album at the very least). In any event, you can hear the whole thing free and on demand on YouTube below, but stay tuned for details on a possible "Face To Face" live record, and look for this weekend concert previews on the site next! Thanks everyone!