Off to see Hugh Laurie tonight at the Montreal Symphony venue.
Hoping for some amizang SQ as they are well equipped.
WELL!!!
I will skip to the good part.
WOW!
Hugh entered the stage with the whole theater clapping in participation while they performed “iko iko” which was appropriate given “that bringing extremely diverse musicians together would create something new that was greater than the sum of its parts”. [More than 30 years ago, Graham Wood Drout had the idea]He then, after an almost obscene level and period of applause, had a “chat” with the audience.
The stage was set with “living room” props. Side tables with lamps, picture frames, and shot glasses. It created a very warm and simple environment and felt as if we had all been invited to join them in their home while they enjoyed some musical fun.
This may sound “cute” but they really pulled it off well and this was in the elegant Montreal Symphony Hall where I’m sure the ushers were used to a bit stiffer presentations.
Hugh was accompanied by 4 musicians and two female back up singers. He played piano and occasionally the guitar. He also rolled around a lot on the floor. [you had to be there to understand]. His humor and wit history was quite apparent during the show and so was his love and respect for the Southern Bayou genres.
One got the impression that this was a show of 7 performers orchestrated by Hugh but not over powered by him.
I mean it was not like they each had an intro and a solo moment and that was it.
More like an “Allstar” gala and he was the MC as well as a player.
Every single player got standing ovations after THEIR set and it was well deserved as each one contributed a special moment to the show that reached out and touched the entire audience of 2000 souls. [venue capacity].
We were seated 2nd row center in the first corbeille [balcony].
I will say that I considered the sound to be “very good”. Mixing piano, standing bass, guitar, trombone, clarinet, organ, banjo, harmonica and sax as well as multiple voices in a live venue must be difficult to tune to just my liking but it is fair to call it VG.
On “more delicate” songs the acoustics of the venue got to show off all the money we invested in the building and tweaking. The “air” around the voices and instruments was simply magical,[just right- nothing added and nothing lost] and I know the audience was aware of this while listening. We have plenty of venues here and a pretty famous jazz festival so live music in Montreal is not a rarity. This was something completely different. One did not need to be an Audiophile to realize that we were enjoying this wonderful concert and also experiencing how involving it can be in an exceptionally well designed theater.
The music ranged from Gumbo to Dixie and RnB with moments of 2000 people standing, dancing and clapping as well as moments of almost eerie quiet when certain solo contributions demanded it.
In short Hugh and Company OWNED the crowd from almost the moment they arrived on stage to the end of the THIRD ENCORE when he announced that they had run out of songs and would have to start over at the beginning again.
The crowd roared an overwhelming “GO FOR IT”.
If their tour brings them to a venue anywhere near you, I highly recommend that you get a ticket before they sell out.