SHOWS THAT ROCKED TORONTO LAST WEEK:
JOEL PLASKETT at Massey Hall Rating: NNNNN
It’s difficult to choose a favourite moment from Joel Plaskett’s Massey debut. Was it the way the pin-thin Dartmouth rocker first hit the stage – wide-eyed, smiling, full of awe – during Happen Now? Was it his hilarious intro to Rewind about why the Value Village Casio sitting on his knee trumps grandiose pipe organs? Was it the cameo by Miniature Tim in Love This Town?Â
Was it the gorgeous 50s-girl-groupesque breakdown in Gone, Gone, Gone, courtesy of his fabulous backup singers Rose Cousins and Ana Egge, who brought breadth to his nice-guy rock? Or the way he gave them each a chance to play one of her own songs while he softly beat a bass drum behind them?Â
Did it come during his final encore song, On & On & On, when he offered shout-outs to loved ones – filmmaker Helen Hill, his grandmother, musician Scott Tappen – who are no longer with us, then asked the sound guy to kill the P.A. and had us sing the words “White Fang†in honour of his ancient, earless cat, now on its last legs?
Ego-free, emotional, entertaining, inspired – this show was one of the year’s best.
by Carla Gillis
LINK: NOW TORONTO