JAZZ CARTIER at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, Friday, February 5. Rating: NNNN
After releasing his Hotel Paranoia mixtape and appearing on the cover of NOW, Jazz Cartier capped off an eventful week with his first hometown headlining concert at a sold-out Phoenix Concert Theatre.
Even if you went into the show without knowing any of that, you might’ve suspected someone special was headlining by the tearful 18-year-old boys loudly arguing with a thoroughly unimpressed-looking security team checking IDs outside the Phoenix.
Hype aside, the self-anointed “prince of the city” is at a pivotal moment creatively. Hotel Paranoia expanded his sound from the booming trap anthems into faster tempo change-ups and more plaintive emotions so it would interesting to see how his hardcore fans received the new material.
Cartier has a reputation for going into a shirtless frenzy on stage, but he mostly played it cool at this show. He mixed up the first half with mosh-inducing bangers such as Talk Of The Town and 100 Roses and taught the crowd call-and-responses for dancier numbers Better When You Lie and Illuminati Love Song.
The energy in the room wavered during some of the new ones but after a brief intermission he returned dressed in black overalls embroidered with roses and whipped up the crowd with singles Opera and Stick And Move. He took the temperature down again when R&B singer River Tiber joined him for the soulful Tell Me.
Although the set’s sequencing did not always flow gracefully, his desire to switch up the mood showed he wasn’t interested in sticking with the standard late-night club show formula.
Of course, he ended with a volley of crowd-pleasing hits – Switch, New Religion, The Downtown Cliché and Dead Or Alive. When he traveled to the side bar to perform Downtown he was in full beast mode and crowd reciprocated the energy. As he played Dead Or Alive back-to-back at the end, it looked like the entire room was pogo-ing with arms in the air.
kevinr@nowtoronto.com | @kevinritchie
