It's no real big secret that I've been a bit out of the loop of the concert scene lately. But when think that I would have almost missed out on such a fantastic show if it hadn't been for my BFF coming home from Montreal for a visit and looking through the weekly papers to see what was going on, it makes me realize that I should really pay more attention!
The show is an annual Christmas concert presented by Mouthparts+Wings. It featured some of my favourite artists, including Hawksley Workman, Luke Doucet & Melissa McClelland, and some new folks that I hadn't heard before, but I must investigate: Justin Rutledge, Paul Linkletter, and John Southworth, just to name a few.
The evening, hosted by Mia Sheard started out with an a cappella choral song, sung by four of the ladies that would be appearing later in the show. One by one, artists were brought out to sing a Christmas song (with only a few exceptions). It was fantastic - especially since last week at the Andy Kim show, my only complaint was that the artists didn't play very many Christmas songs. They played a mix of original Christmas songs and traditional ones, in various arrangements.
The last performer of the night was one of my favourites - Hawksley Workman. A few years ago, he released a Christmas album called Almost A Full Moon that immediately became one of my favourite Christmas albums ever. He played two selections from the album last night - "A House Or Maybe A Boat" and "Merry Christmas (I Love You)" (which always makes me think of my grandfather, and how much I miss him, along with another one of his tunes from that same album, "Three Generations").
After Hawksley, all of the performers came out for one last song - a group sing-a-long to "Deck The Halls" - it was super fun!
I'm so glad an impromptu plan for a night out turned out to be one of the most festive things I've done all year. I'll have to keep this show on my radar again for next December.
Happy Holidays to all! For more photos, visit my flickr.
Yesterday, we headed down to Massey Hall in Downtown Toronto to catch the ever-so-brilliant Blue Rodeo in the last of three sold out gigs, and coincidentally the last show of their winter tour.
Luke Doucet was the opener - which actually caught me by surprise. He took the stage with his band, the White Falcon, going straight into two songs, without even an introduction. I'm only vaguely familiar with a few of Luke's songs, so as I was sitting there listening to the music, trying to figure out if I liked the band or not... he introduced himself and the band, and a smile crept across my face. It was great to see him in this type of venue - I had only before seen him at small club gigs, where people were mostly talking and not paying attention, which this gig was definitely not (in fact, I sheepishly got in "trouble" for talking to my sister through part of the first song - the lady in front of us turned around and basically told us to shut up. Not cool, considering we were excited, and we were actually talking ABOUT the gig... that actually kind of annoyed me... but whatever) Anyway... his set was really good. At the end of the set, he announced that if anyone wanted to buy his cd downstairs at the merch table, he would sell them personally. So, I headed downstairs, picked up a copy of his old cd that I've been meaning to buy for a while, and got him to sign it. Super nice guy too.
My sister and I had a laugh afterwards, though, because we were reading the credits of the cd, and it completely hit me that he actually recorded part of the cd at the studio that I interned at... While I was interning! I realized that I had totally met him before, but it didn't register until I read the credits! (LOL.) Silly me.
Blue Rodeo took the stage at around 9pm. They started the set with 5 Days in May, and continued to play a mix of old songs and new, singles and not. The sound was amazing (as always at Massey Hall). The crowd was a little tamer than I was expecting, but still good. They started the show off in a smaller, more intimate setting. A street lamp and record booth were set up. One snare drum, and acoustic guitars. They played probably around half of the show, including the hit singles Try & Bad Timing - both were incredible - in this setting. It was followed by To Love Somebody, a cover that they released on their Greatest Hits album. They also brought out Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet at various points.
Mid-way through the show, the curtain came down to reveal a full drum kit, and a more "electric" setting. The energy definitely peaked at that point. I believe it was during the single Til I Am Myself Again. The funniest moment in the show, between my sister and I was when they played "Heart Like Mine" ... Now a little backstory here - I actually used to HATE Blue Rodeo for the longest time, and my sister always loved them. So I knew the songs, but I was not a fan (except for the songs Try and Rose Coloured Glasses, always liked those). I basically started liking them within the last couple of years, after having worked with Jim Cuddy on a couple of shows, and realizing how incredible he, and then the band, actually were. So anyway, they played that song, and it dawned on me that I actually knew all the lyrics, and I hadn't heard the song until I was probably around 8 years old! LOL. Towards the last moments of the set, they said that anyone who felt like coming up and dancing were welcome to stand in the aisles at the front of the stage. So cool!
The encore was really incredible. As soon as I saw the stage with the streetlight... and then there was "snow" on the video wall... which was followed by falling snow as soon as the band came out. I knew right away that they were going to play Hasn't Hit Me Yet (lyrics "I stand here transfixed before the streetlight, watching the snow fall on this cold December night") ... it was so AMAZING. They started the song with just Greg Keelor on guitar, and the crowd completely singing the first verse & chorus. INCREDIBLE. It was such a unifying moment. The last song they played was Lost Together, and they brought out both of the opening bands from their tour - Luke Doucet & White Falcon, and Cuff The Duke. It was so awesome.
The one song that they didn't play that I really wanted to hear was Rose Coloured Glasses - but they played so many songs that I really love that I shouldn't complain.
It's no real big secret that I've been a bit out of the loop of the concert scene lately. But when think that I would have almost missed out on such a fantastic show if it hadn't been for my BFF coming home from Montreal for a visit and looking through the weekly papers to see what was going on, it makes me realize that I should really pay more attention!
The last performer of the night was one of my favourites - Hawksley Workman. A few years ago, he released a Christmas album called Almost A Full Moon that immediately became one of my favourite Christmas albums ever. He played two selections from the album last night - "A House Or Maybe A Boat" and "Merry Christmas (I Love You)" (which always makes me think of my grandfather, and how much I miss him, along with another one of his tunes from that same album, "Three Generations").
After Hawksley, all of the performers came out for one last song - a group sing-a-long to "Deck The Halls" - it was super fun!
