Chet Faker

We were so fortunate to see Chet Faker play at the Commodore Bandroom, in Vancouver BC last night. Firstly, the venue was great, large and fitted out with seating surrounding the stage, which was great for those of us not keen on sitting on the stage floor. There was also a good, enthusiastic turnout, especially for a Monday night. The pre-show was good, StarRo played a few tracks and got everyone bopping around before the main act. The crowd was buzzing by the time Chet Faker came on stage. Initially, I was so impressed with how humble and appreciative he was. He spoke clearly and took the time to explain his thought processes, explaining that any mistakes he might make during the performance were due to his performance being live, and not pre-recorded, assuring the audience that his performance was genuine. He detailed a little of his is experience as an independent artist too, which was great to hear. He displayed some great humour, inviting the crowd to take a photo of him at the start of the show, and then giving everyone permission to knock the camera out of the hands of the person in front of them, after that point of the show, as he really wanted you to experience the performance instead of record it on your phone, which is a trap that many of us fall into these days at live events. Musically Chat Faker is an extremely talented producer and performer. He creates so much of his own sound, pre-recording and layering vocals on stage, right in front of our eyes, which is an art form neglected by so many other artists. The set list was great, we loved the combination of popular songs; like the ‘No Diggity’ cover, ‘Gold’, ‘Drop the Game’ and ‘1998’ with other favorites like ‘Cigarettes and Chocolate’, ‘I’m Into You’ and ‘Talk is Cheap’. Nicholas sang the whole time, which was awesome to hear. His vocals are very true to the album/recorded stuff, and he was not afraid to improvise/adlib sections, varying from the originals, which was a welcome addition. I adore listening to Chet Faker, I could listed to both ‘Built on Glass’ and ‘Thinking in Textures’ on repeat all day long (and often do), I was extremely happy to see that the live performance added to the love I have for this artist. I have no doubt that big things are still to come for this guy.

I've heard that Chet Faker's beard is hair from his head that has moved down his face in order to hear the music better. Faker, aka Nick Murphy, is an Australian singer, songwriter, producer, music maker and has been creating waves ever since the drop of his Thinking In Textures EP, and is only getting bigger and better. His debut album, Built On Glass, came into our lives in April this year, and hasn't been one to forget. Everything this man puts his hands on turns to Gold, from his earliest tracks that you can find on Soundcloud all the way to his latest spin on Sonia Dada's 'You Don't Treat Me No Good'. A small venue such as Koko was perfect for the crowd rocking, panty dropping, performance of the bearded hero. Chet gets deep into the music, hitting out classics such as 'Cigarettes & Chocolate', his take on Blackstreet's 'No Diggity', as well as new tracks, including favourites such as 1998, Blush and a mellowed out version of 'Talk Is Cheap'. Faker could have saved his voice on 'I'm Into You' as the crowd sang every word out load along with him. With a voice that can make a Lion purr, and piano skills to match, Faker captivates the audience, loving every minute of it as much as the listener.
Chet Faker isn't 'the best thing to happen since sliced bread', he IS sliced bread, producing original sounds infusing a mix of all the genres you could possibly want; from jazz, to pop, to folk, to electronica, mixing them all to together and serving up delicious tunes direct to your ear holes. Hats off and high-fives to the man.

I love this artist, but the sound in the Columbia Halle, Berlin on 23rd of November was not so good so I was really disappointed. I thought maybe it's just me or my bad positioning, but I heard other people were talking about that as well, so I guess it wasn't my positioning or my imagination. It was hard to hear vocals, instruments were too loud in comparison. It was really weird to hear this strange vocal sound as if I had earplugs or smt. That really disappointed me because Nick's vocals are so important in his songs and it is also very special. Some slower songs or the one he did on the piano was nice, because guitars and drums were not playing and thats weird as fuck, because when i go to the concert i want to hear drums, guitars, everything and VOCALS as well! :( Other than that the concert was really nice, Nick was doing a great job on the stage entertaining. But I couldn't get the full experience and listening to records is way better than what I got in the concert. I don't know if this review should be left at Columbia Halle venue or to the artist or maybe for both. I wish upcoming concerts will have better sound and people will be able to enjoy the experience 100%. Cheers

Theres just something about a man with an accent and an amazing beard, and Chet had both of those. This Aussie had me dying for his music since I heard his song 'No diggity". He wasnt very well known over here in America when he first started back in 2012 which was fine with me because when my friend told me he was preforming in one of our small local venues I didnt think twice about going. The venue was so small we were right in front of the stage and could even touch his feet if we wanted to, but of course we werent looking to get kicked out for scaring Chet! It was a one man show and he couldnt have done it better! His music is great itself and he doesnt really need much. He also connected greatly with the crowd, including my friend and I. Theres nothing I loathe more than an artist/band who doesnt connect with the audience, who just goes on stage and gets off without even asking 'How are you doin?" to the crowd. Hands down, Chet Faker delivered an amazing preformance(for a one man show I must say, he did not fail!) and his music just keeps getting better. I cannot wait to see him live again! And I'm positive it will be more than just $12 next time, unfortunately.

I have been a MASSIVE fan of Chet for some years now. However I was disappointed by his tardiness last night, and that he played for merely an hour including encore. I would have expected him to be more punctual and played for the full duration of his allocated time slot.
This sentiment was not just experienced by me and my party, but by all of the surrounding people near me and those that I/we encountered on our way out of the premises.
The sound quality was sub par, which is also surprising given that the O2 Brixton Academy is my favorite venue in London.
Chet appeared intoxicated when he appeared on stage, not only was he inaudible but also somewhat incoherent.
I understand that Chet would now like to change personas to his real name, however this transition is new and the 5000 sold out ticket holders would have been expecting more, and more from Chet.
I have seen Chet in London before (June 2015) and he was phenomenal.
All in all, very disappointing.

Saw them at the Danforth music hall. I enjoyed opening act Beacon, loved the last cd but live they could have added someone else with drums or something. I do not enjoy watching taped music live. One guy played all the music which to me watching someone playing a keyboard to do all the sound is boring.
Nick Murphy put on a good show. Great band and he played a few chet faker songs as well.
He sounded better live than the cd which is always good.The balcony section had sold a few seats only which was weird because he booked for
2 night show. Hopefully the next night was sold out.

Lately the last few shows I have seen have just released a new cd weeks before the show. I wish they would have the cd out for a few months so we can get to know the songs better. I enjoy the shows better that way. Maybe the show would have sold out if people had time to hear the new cds.

My 3rd time seeing Chet, and probably my least favorite of them all. Not sure if it was the crowd (which was beautiful but not particularly into the music as I've seen at other shows), the venue (Royale left kind of a lot of open empty space), or maybe it was just the day (cloudy Monday night). It was probably a mixture of all 3.

Performance-wise, I think we got more Nick and less Chet (I'm more of a Chet guy tbh). But regardless, he's an amazing musician and anytime one can hear live performances of any songs off of "Thinking in Textures" or "Built on Glass" one should make the time to do so.

Highlights:
- Gold
- Into You
- Cigarettes & Chocolate
- Release Your Problems
- The opener, Charlotte Cardin (pretty damn amazing)

Summary:

Not the best show of his I've seen. But Chet Faker shows are kinda like pizza and sex for me. Even bad ones are still good.

I was over the moon to get some tickets for Chet faker. Unfortunately I wasn't fast fingered enough to get standing so had to settle for unreserved seating at the coronet. seating seemed to be oversold and people were standing all over the place. We were greeted by our songkick rep who was polite friendly and enthusiastic. First half of the show was upbeat and the Chet we know and love. Second half the pace slowed, kicked off by a Jeff Buckley cover and not a good one. The sound on the balcony was poor and the sound balance /speaker postioning mean the vocals were often muffled or inaudible. Having listened to many sets from Chet faker on line boiler room, Rob da bank, Kloke, It pains me to say it but I was really disappointed by the live experience.

Well, let's see where we should start. On the ticket it said doors at 9pm. When we arrived they suddenly told us doors at 10pm and we had to sit in the car for an hour like idiots. Then, once we were finally inside the actual opener (Mount Kimbie) didn't even start until 11:30 and played until 12:45am!! At that point we thought OK, he's at least going to come out right now. But, nope. 1:10am and still no Chet. It's safe to say we left. Wasted money. Wasted time. I really wouldn't care that he went on in the middle of the night if the ticket had clearly stated that and we would have planned accordingly. But don't have people showing up at 9pm waiting around all night. And ESPECIALLY, get the time right for when doors are opening!!!

That guy performed his soul out. Shame the acoustics were so terrible that I could barely make out his voice that I love the sound of so much. Oh, and the rudest crowd I've ever been with talking over him certainly didn't help either. In his final song he pushed aside his mike. Members of the crowd started shushing each other and even one yelling shut up. Why would you bother spending the time and money to come if you're just going to chat with your friends the whole time?