Feist
03/12/11 12:18 Filed in: Review
Massey Hall, November 30, 2011
The first thing I’d highlight about this show is that Feist is a helluva guitar player. I knew it after seeing her ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ tour a few years ago, and her real fans would know about her facility with the guitar, but casual fans may not be aware of what an outstanding guitarist she is. Sharp little attacks, great melodic lines, wonderful distorted chunks of rhythm. Feist also likes sound as a thing in and of itself.
The second thing is that voice. The woman can flat out sing. Full and husky in the low end, pure up high with flawless intonation. A great instrument in and of itself. A trio of fluidly dynamic female background singers - who tended to harmonize above the melody line almost all of the time, so they’re up there - fleshed out the vocals beautifully. Even though I could rarely make out the words the vocals were mesmerizing. (Usually not being able to understand the words is a non starter for me, but not this time out. It was just such a fantastically musical experience.)
Feist’s arrangements run the gamut from spare to big, fat, full on rock. Excellent band (drum, keyboard, trumpet/percussion/harmonica/bowed something-or-other/bass), swooping dynamics, each song set in its own time and space.
Familiar songs were twisted and warped. Still recognizable, but delightfully different. When the singer asked the crowd to sing along on Mushaboom the audience demurred because rhythmically and harmonically the song just wasn’t what the crowd remembered.
The crowd was clearly rooting for the singer, and Feist had a lot of fun with them. A mad old hippie started dancing in the middle of the hall. Eventually he and some other younger dudes were invited onto the stage to cavort around - and then, of course, a horde of people jumped up to join the band. Instead of asking them to return to their seats the singer invited them to take a seat on the stage. So they sat like kids in “kindergarten” (Feist’s word) and enjoyed the rest of the show. Not sure how she was able to maintain her concentration at times, but it became one of the nicest, most informal but nonetheless controlled presentations I’ve had the pleasure of seeing.
By the time she closed out her last encore, just her on stage with her electric guitar performing Intuition, the crowd spontaneously singing out “Did I, Did I” I’d had another fab night of music.
The first thing I’d highlight about this show is that Feist is a helluva guitar player. I knew it after seeing her ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ tour a few years ago, and her real fans would know about her facility with the guitar, but casual fans may not be aware of what an outstanding guitarist she is. Sharp little attacks, great melodic lines, wonderful distorted chunks of rhythm. Feist also likes sound as a thing in and of itself.
The second thing is that voice. The woman can flat out sing. Full and husky in the low end, pure up high with flawless intonation. A great instrument in and of itself. A trio of fluidly dynamic female background singers - who tended to harmonize above the melody line almost all of the time, so they’re up there - fleshed out the vocals beautifully. Even though I could rarely make out the words the vocals were mesmerizing. (Usually not being able to understand the words is a non starter for me, but not this time out. It was just such a fantastically musical experience.)
Feist’s arrangements run the gamut from spare to big, fat, full on rock. Excellent band (drum, keyboard, trumpet/percussion/harmonica/bowed something-or-other/bass), swooping dynamics, each song set in its own time and space.
Familiar songs were twisted and warped. Still recognizable, but delightfully different. When the singer asked the crowd to sing along on Mushaboom the audience demurred because rhythmically and harmonically the song just wasn’t what the crowd remembered.
The crowd was clearly rooting for the singer, and Feist had a lot of fun with them. A mad old hippie started dancing in the middle of the hall. Eventually he and some other younger dudes were invited onto the stage to cavort around - and then, of course, a horde of people jumped up to join the band. Instead of asking them to return to their seats the singer invited them to take a seat on the stage. So they sat like kids in “kindergarten” (Feist’s word) and enjoyed the rest of the show. Not sure how she was able to maintain her concentration at times, but it became one of the nicest, most informal but nonetheless controlled presentations I’ve had the pleasure of seeing.
By the time she closed out her last encore, just her on stage with her electric guitar performing Intuition, the crowd spontaneously singing out “Did I, Did I” I’d had another fab night of music.