This is the first review I ever wrote.
It's weird how music works isn't it? Tell me a year ago that a year into the future that someone like Lights would be my favourite artist I definitely wouldn't have believed it. But I'm glad I did randomly turn on the TV that one day last December and saw the Drive My Soul video and became instantly hooked.
Anyways, this show apparently was Lights' biggest headlining show to date, so she needed to bring her A-Game. Opening act Jets Overhead might have brought their A-Game but it wasn't enough to significantly wow the crowd, especially since they played for almost an hour, which seems far too long for an opening act that most people in the audience don't know. Half an hour, no more, no less, that's what they should have played. Still, at least they got a smattering of polite applause between songs, it wasn't completely still. The singer at one point went on a short tangent about the Olympics in Vancouver maybe not being a good thing, and I'm sure it went over 60% of the audience's heads.
Speaking of the audience, it was surprisingly diverse. I was expecting to be one of the only 19-year-old guys there, but I was proved wrong, there were quite a lot of guys, I'd say they made up at least 35% of the crowd. Of course there were a lot of little girls, but not as many as I thought there would be. And there were also the required Lights-lookalike girls, copying both her old headband-wearing style and her current messy-yet-not-messy hairstyle. There were girls so young they had to be chaperoned by their parents and adults who were there not chaperoning anyone. It just shows the appeal of Lights, she just makes great pop music.
That brings me to Lights. After a short musical intro she came on to deafening cheers, and immediately launched into 'The Listening'. The first thing readily apparent was how good the sound was. I'd never heard the music sound so clear at the Kool Haus. I don't know if they got a new PA or if it was just how well Lights music fit the venue, but everything sounded just perfect. The second thing I noticed was the seeming lack of energy in the crowd, that was probably my only problem with the night, no one moved! Sure most people sang every word and all the cheering after every song was suitably loud but still, it would have been much more enjoyable if the energy level was just off the charts and everyone in the whole place was moving/dancing and singing at the top of their lungs. For her second song, Lights played 'Lions!' which she introduced by saying it was about her favourite video game (IE WoW). From looking at this site and her forum, I was thinking that it seemed like it was people's favourite song on the album, but it seemed to get a really weak response, which was weird. Between songs Lights seemed to be at a lack for words, she seemed genuinely surprised/grateful/amazed that her music could be so popular and inspire such fanfare. I'm saying that because when most bands thank the fans and say they're the luckiest people in the world and such it never seems really believable, but with Lights you could believe every word. Even when she said the prerequisite 'this is quickly turning into one of my favourite shows ever' it seemed like the truth. Of course that was said after some scene boy who looked like a miniature Rob Dyer ran from side stage and hugged her and quickly was taken away by security. I'm still not convinced it wasn't staged, since it happened between songs which was too good timing. After that Lights threw a few curveballs into her set, including a beautiful solo piano version of 'Pretend', which sounded so identical to the version at the end of The Listening it wasn't even funny. Lights' voice over the whole night sounded exactly like the album, which most pop singers can't say they can do. It's even more impressive considering how Lights uses auto-tune in some songs and doesn't use it live. She hit all the bigger notes better than I've heard her do before. Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, her older songs got the biggest reaction (even 'White’, which WAS definitely surprising, considering it's nowhere near the technical level of her newer songs). 'February Air', 'Ice', and of course 'Drive My Soul' all inspired bigger singalongs than any of the other songs, even 'Saviour'. She even performed an awesome new instrumental song that sounded amazing, since she doesn't feature nearly enough instrumental parts in her songs. Oh, and another thing, this Canadian tour is her first tour that incorporated a visual element into the set. For two songs, I think it was 'Face Up' and 'White’, she played black and white stock footage on the screen, first of buildings being blown up and atomic bomb explosions, and then of a bunch of 1930s horror movie footage, seemingly from Nosferatu and Frankenstein. Both of which were weird accompaniments to her music, especially the bombs. Anyways, eventually her initial set came to an end after a well-received 'Last Thing On Your Mind'. But of course no one was leaving, as the obligatory two-song encore was going to happen. She came back on, and arguably performed two of the highlights of the night (along with the aforementioned 'Pretend' and her performance of 'Quiet'). First she launched into a cover of Phil Collins' 'In The Air Tonight’, which was amazing, especially the fast synth-pop part at the end that was 'Second Go'-ish. Then she found a stool and a guitar, and performed 'February Air' for the second time of the night, but this time acoustically. Here you could hear just how good her voice was and how good the song itself was. But I'm not saying that second keyboardist Adam and drummer Maurie weren't playing well last night, because they were, they were essential parts of the set all night.
Overall, I’d say it was probably musically if not the best, then one of the best shows I've been to in terms of how good the songs sounded, but the atmosphere/energy level just wasn't as high as some of the other great concerts I've been to. But it was definitely worth missing the Star Wars symphony for.
-Scott Kendall
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