Regardless of what this does to my credibility, I just had to be share: I recently spent a Saturday with my friend from high school at a Backstreet Boys concert.
It was fun being a teenager again, just for one day. Forgetting the responsibilities of being an adult and just having fun dancing and singing along to mindless pop. I would do it again in a heartbeat.
This weekend, I’m going to see Lady Gaga live in concert as part of her Monster Ball tour.
What I’ve always liked about Gaga is that she never turns the Gaga image and personality off – as crazy, out-there and strange as that may be. At times, it’s even scary…
I always enjoyed the singles I heard on the radio, but I never expected that I would love her album. When I finally took the time to listen to it, it became one of my favourite discoveries from the past year – full of excellent and catchy pop and dance songs. I still can’t stop listening to it.
I’m sure it’s going to be a Gaga-good time – a delight to both the ears and eyes and an unbelievable night of entertainment. I expect no less than a full-on spectacle.
Image source: whittlz (Creative Commons License – BY-NC-ND)
A few months ago, one of my friends from high school was talking to me about Justin Timberlake and all of his business ventures. While we were talking, I decided to look up his record label Tennman Records. At that time, I discovered an artist with a talent that I can’t get enough of. An artist with a vastly different music style than I had expected from Timberlake’s label.
That artist is Matt Morris.
Matt was a Mickey Mouse Club star along with Timberlake (and Christina Aguilera, JC Chasez and Britney Spears). While his MMC peers went on to become pop sensations, Matt went home to a more normal life. He didn’t give up his music though and over time he worked with some famous pop stars on their albums, writing for Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson and Timberlake himself.
Long story short, after Timberlake decided he was going to create his own label, he signed Matt as his first artist. The first time I heard Matt sing was when he performed Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” with Timberlake at Hope for Haiti Now earlier this year. Remember that performance?
Matt’s first album When Everything Breaks Open was released earlier this year and is currently one of my favourite cds. His music style is quite different from those he’s written for – Amazon lists him as rock/pop and iTunes lists him as more singer/songwriter. His album is diverse as each song is different from the others. I strongly recommend you listen to “Live Forever,” “Un-American,” “Bloodline,” “Money”, “Forgiveness” and “Love” here.
I recently got to see him perform live as the opening act for Ingrid Michaelson. I went to the show as a big fan of the album but I was blown away the minute he started singing. Matt’s voice was a lot richer, fuller and soulful than I had expected. He was a great performer and a half an hour set just wasn’t enough. I can’t wait for him to return to Toronto to do a full show.
We did manage to meet him after the show and had our CDs signed. He was soft spoken and kind, and seemed surprised by everyone’s enthusiasm for his music.
I will leave you with this acoustic performance by Matt of “Live Forever” – one of my favourite tracks from his album and his new single:
PS. Here’s a short but great interview that InMusic did with Matt when he was in Toronto.
On Wednesday night I saw Imogen Heap perform at Massey Hall in Toronto.
I was blown away.
Her two opening acts, Levi Weaver and Kid Beyond were outstanding. They then joined Imogen on stage for a few songs, along with two other musicians, and together they rocked the house.
If you haven’t heard about any of these three artists, let me explain something first. All three artists perform by sampling. They use a sampler and record beats, melodies, harmonies, and various sounds live, then replay those sounds on a loop while they record other sequences and start to layer each sound on top of the other. The end result is a musical composition that was recorded live and features various instruments and sounds that were all performed by that one person.
So, for example, Imogen will sing a line of lyrics and record it. Then while that sequence is played on a loop, she sings it once again but at a different pitch, and then once more again, and she becomes her own chorus singing in harmony.
In all honesty, the only way you can understand is if you see it for yourself. This video was recorded by someone at her performance on Tuesday in Montreal. It isn’t the best, but you can see Kid Beyond beatboxing, and Imogen layering a few sounds – look for when she layers her vocals near the end.
What I loved about Imogen, beyond her talent, was the personality that she conveyed. She handled all the technical difficulties with grace and bits of British humour. Her random mumbling actually came across as charming but that may have to do with myself being a mumbler at times.
Best of all, at certain points she danced and skipped across the stage barefoot, spinning around in her lovely dress, and having the time of her life while she sang. That was just wonderful to witness and brought a huge smile to my face.
Makes me want to go skipping around now myself!
We saw John Mayer again yesterday for free at Yonge and Dundas Square – thanks to Best Buy. It was wonderful to see and hear the man and his band rock it out in an outdoor concert. It was a different atmosphere but they did very well and I left completely satisfied and impressed 
I was disturbed by the mass marketing scheme Best Buy was doing and refused to take part (though I guess I should be thankful because they gave me a free concert). They handed out flags, t-shirts, and coupons. People were like rabid animals racing for the free stuff and it really bothered me.
I sat on the floor for as long as I could because of my ankle and a few songs into the concert I came to the conclusion that the slight pain I was feeling was worth it. I was happy to have recorded some songs onto my phone but not so happy to find that my camera is malfunctioning. I can no longer record videos… I’ve already sent off an e-mail to Canon for some help.
Thanks Sarah and Em for the fun day .