JONI: A PORTRAIT IN SONG – A BIRTHDAY HAPPENING LIVE at Massey Hall, Tuesday, June 18. Rating: NNNN
Joni: A Portrait In Song felt like two shows. The bulk of it was a so-so schmaltzy tribute to the Canadian icon featuring buzzy Canadian and international artists including Rufus Wainwright, Glen Hansard, Kathleen Edwards and Cold Specks.
Hansard confessed that it took him a month to learn one of Mitchell’s songs because she doesn’t think in the same time signatures as the rest of us Wainwright sheepishly mangled a number of lyrics. But it just went to show how friggin’ hard Mitchell’s songs are to sing. The only performer who seemed to pull it off with consistent ease was jazz singer Lizz Wright.
The mood changed instantly when Mitchell – who will be 70 in November – came onstage, doffed her strappy shoes and began her performance. As promised, she recited her new Emily Carr-inspired poem about the rain, beat-style, backed by the evening’s fantastic band (led by drummer Brian Blade and pianist Jon Cowherd). But then she surprised a packed Massey Hall by singing not one, but three songs, including Furry Sings The Blues and Woodstock.
Sarah Greene
SMOKEY ROBINSON as part of TORONTO JAZZ FEST at Nathan Phillips Square, Friday, June 21. Rating: NN
Parts of Smokey Robinson’s Jazz Fest show were immensely enjoyable. Robinson is, after all, responsible for some of the greatest songs of the 60s and 70s, including Temptations hits The Way You Do The Things You Do and Get Ready, which he performed with zeal. His voice is as honeyed as ever, and the crowd was undeniably smitten. So it was puzzling that he picked so many sleepy songs that stretched out interminably.
But first, fellow Motown stars Martha Reeves and the Vandellas overcame a stiff backing band and lengthy between-song banter to finish their opening set with the joyous Love (Makes Me Do Foolish Things) and Jimmy Mack. Listeners – even those victim to the tented area’s awkward sightlines – were primed to party once Robinson came on, but every time he gained momentum with a classic, he dampened it with an elevator tune.
In addition to a four-piece band and backup singers, two women emerged every few songs, dancing provocatively in a series of befuddling outfits (70s hippie garb, fur-buttoned trench coats). Cringe-worthy.
Robinson saved Cruising for the finale, which began strong but quickly deteriorated into 20 minutes of audience participation.
Julia LeConte
TORTURED SOUL at Wrongbar, Friday, June 21. Rating: NNNN
Cameras are a given at live shows, but they were more apparent than usual at Tortured Soul’s Wrongbar show, since the NYC soulful house band was filming the gig for an upcoming DVD. Capturing them in an intimate club is a smart move – they’ve always been more impressive as a live act than a studio project. They had a few massive deep house hits in the early to mid-00s, but it’s their strength as performers that’s sustained their career since.
People who only know the band from their recordings are often surprised that singer John-Christian Urich is a bald white guy sitting at a drum kit wearing a shirt and tie, but there’s no question he’s an effective frontman.
Their mix of house, disco and jazz-funk isn’t pushing a lot of musical boundaries, but that doesn’t diminish the experience of hearing it done this expertly. The absurdly tight band are all virtuoso players, and Urich’s smooth falsetto oozes soul. What was the deal with the lizard-tongue-flicking, though? Were we supposed to be doing that back at him?
BenjamIn Boles
A TRIBE CALLED RED at the Opera House, Friday, June 21. Rating: NNNN
Girls twerked, hips ground and a lone crowd-surfer made his way across a sea of sweaty bodies. At the centre of it all was A Tribe Called Red, who transformed the Opera House into a frenzied dance hall for National Aboriginal Day.
The three producer-DJs rallied the packed house with their signature pow wow step sound, a hybrid of new-school dubstep and native drum-and-chant. After being summoned onstage by the pounding drums of opener Sitting Bear (who played in the middle of the dance floor), the trio took the stage and got down to business. Performing in front of cartoon and film projections that portrayed aboriginals in stereotypical ways – think spears, crudely painted faces – they played songs from their latest album, Nation II Nation, as well as other crowd favourites like club banger Electric Pow Wow Drum, which had even the wallflowers gyrating (this reviewer included).
Toward the end, the show dove into the deep end of dubstep, seemingly never to return. But then the DJs turned down the bass and brought out hoop dancer Rhonda Doxtator, who invigorated the crowd with her interlocking hoop formations that were timed perfectly to the music, and metamorphosed into an eagle right as the beat dropped.
Samantha Edwards
