Caribou kick off their North American tour at LA’s Greek Theatre & make the case why they’re among today’s best live-electronic acts

By Josh Herwitt //

Caribou with Jessy Lanza //
Greek Theatre – Los Angeles
November 15th, 2021 //

Whether he’s creating new material in the studio or hitting the decks to share the music that has inspired him with others, Dan Snaith has been honing his craft for more than two decades now.

The Canadian musician who performs under several stage names got his start recording as Manitoba, but in 2005, NYC punk rock singer Richard “Handsome Dick” Manitoba of The Dictators came calling and threatened Snaith with legal action, prompting him to make a change. Shortly thereafter, Snaith’s new recording alias Caribou was born.

But maybe Manitoba barking up Snaith’s tree over a silly name more than 15 years ago was actually a small blessing in disguise. After all, it’s only subsequently led Snaith to make several excellent Caribou records, most notably 2014’s seminal Our Love but also last year’s Suddenly that dropped just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm. And of course there’s Snaith’s DJ side project Daphni that allows him to focus on more club-oriented sounds as Caribou’s live-electronic aesthetic has simultaneously grown in its appeal to larger audiences.

So after having his return to Coachella in 2020 postponed due to coronavirus cases skyrocketing at the time, that could be why Snaith decided to kick off Caribou’s tour across North America in LA to mark the Greek Theatre’s final gig of the year. While it would have been a lot to expect a full house on a Monday night in mid-November, the outdoor amphitheater with a 5,900 capacity still managed to welcome a few thousand folks inside its gates as Snaith’s fellow Canadian Jessy Lanza, who collaborated with him on the Grammy-nominated Our Love, warmed up a modest crowd as part singer, part electronic producer.

Snaith, like Lanza, has taken a somewhat similar approach with Caribou, though even one step further live as a four-piece band that sees him not only incorporating various samples into the performance but also his vocals. Suddenly is actually the first Caribou album that features Snaith singing on every track, and you could sense it was a point of emphasis at the Greek over the course of 14 songs that spanned the project’s last three studio efforts and included new single “You Can Do It” from this past August.

That said, it isn’t often that you come across an electronic act as eclectic as Caribou. Snaith, in fact, has a knack for making dance-ready tracks that blend everything from 70’s funk and soul to 90’s hip-hop and R&B, with some of the highlights on Suddenly — whether it be the glitchy “New Jade” or soulful “Home” — serving as prime examples. But the real standout on the 12-track LP has to be the infectious “Never Come Back”, which has amassed nearly 28 million streams on Spotify and closed Caribou’s set with a version that employed elements of Four Tet’s extended remix.

And while it was a little bit surprising that Lanza did not join Snaith and company onstage at point in the evening, a Caribou concert wouldn’t be complete without hearing “Can’t Do Without You” before heading for the exits. The Our Love opener is no doubt a favorite for many Caribou fans, and at a time when the live music industry is still recovering after being shut down for 18 months or so, it was a simple reminder to soak up every second of the show we had left.

With plenty of uncertainty still surrounding the pandemic, there’s no telling what the future will hold for live music. If all goes as scheduled though, Snaith and his sidekicks will be back in California next year for a date at the Fox Theater Oakland on February 16th, and we can tell our Bay Area friends right now that’s one you won’t want to miss in 2022.

Setlist:
New Jade
Odessa
Our Love
Silver
Lime
Bowls
Like I Loved You
You and I
Ravi
Sun
Home
You Can Do It
Never Come Back (with elements of the Four Tet remix)

Encore:
Can’t Do Without You