{"id":579327,"date":"2026-04-03T09:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T09:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579327\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T09:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T09:51:08","slug":"why-were-reviewing-ratboys-at-the-biltmore-cabaret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/579327\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We\u2019re Reviewing: Ratboys at the Biltmore Cabaret"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. <a href=\"http:\/\/newsletter.straight.com\/subscribe\/?utm_source=straight&amp;utm_medium=article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for our free newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Why We&#8217;re Reviewing is a series in which we ask one of our reviewers why they plan on checking out an upcoming show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Below, we asked editor in chief Nathan Caddell to put in his own words why he circled Ratboys\u2019 performance on his calendar:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The first and only time that Ratboys has come to Vancouver (to my knowledge, anyway) was two years ago, to support the Chicago band\u2019s fifth album, The Window. The band played the Queen Elizabeth Theatre as an opening act for the Decemberists.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Two years later, and coming off a <a href=\"https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/reviews\/albums\/ratboys-singin-to-an-empty-chair\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">critically acclaimed<\/a> sixth album, Singin\u2019 to an Empty Chair, Ratboys is playing the much smaller Biltmore Cabaret as the headliner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yes, it\u2019s a headline show, and that\u2019s obviously drastically different than an opening spot. But still. I imagine the Biltmore will be absolutely hopping in anticipation for a band that has been an indie darling for some time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ratboys pulled me in with The Window, which ran the gamut from hard-charging rock and rollers like \u201cCrossed That Line\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s Alive!\u201d to slower, heartfelt tunes like the titular \u201cThe Window\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Singin\u2019 to an Empty Chair is a slight departure from some of the noisiness of The Window, as it feels more aligned with the folk-tinged guitar and melodies of Waxahatchee. It works well, especially on songs where it builds, like aptly named opener \u201cOpen Up\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But yes, I\u2019d love to see them roll through some of The Window and bang stuff around at the Biltmore. And I\u2019m sure they will.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ratboys plays the Biltmore Cabaret on April 6. Tickets <a href=\"https:\/\/admitone.com\/events\/vancouver\/pro\/concerts\/biltmore-cabaret\/ratboys\/ratboys\/68cb24e994a2bc44b6ad3813\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[76,49,48,8497,569,16291,75,1048,1187,1554,2998,890,341,13117,3560,404,348,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-579327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vancouver","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-city","12":"tag-culture","13":"tag-dining","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-events","16":"tag-fashion","17":"tag-film","18":"tag-food","19":"tag-lifestyle","20":"tag-music","21":"tag-nightlife","22":"tag-restaurants","23":"tag-shopping","24":"tag-tv","25":"tag-vancouver"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}