Air Canada Centre: Night Two

Arriving at 6.00pm at the venue yesterday meant that no April Fool’s pranks could be played … just the final concert in Toronto. The audience took up where their compatriots on Thursday night left off, cheering and clapping from start to finish. A great audience spurs a band on, they feel the vibe, and so it was last night. David’s singing and guitar solos were at the highest level, supported by his superb band which gave him the context to ‘shine on’. But concerts at this level are a team effort, everyone in the crew plays their part to make the band sound great, and no-one more so than Colin Norfield, sound engineer, out there with his desk wrestling the challenges that different venues present, and always winning: throughout the Rattle that Lock tour, the quality of the sound has been noted by fans and reviewers.

Tonight The Blue, from the On An Island album, sounded particularly moving, with the giant round screen showing close ups of string bending and mind blowing fret work, those in the know would have also admired the Jimi Hendrix cross stitched guitar strap. Fat Old Sun is a huge crowd-pleaser with some tasty lap steel played by Jon Carin. Before David introduced the band, the 14,000 capacity crowd gave him and them a standing ovation; this was a concert first. After the introductions, a lady audience member (and there aren’t that many of them) sagely observed, “there’s a lot of talent in that band”.

The deep growling of the guitar sound on Sorrow feels like it’s been conjured up from a subterranean world and tends to still the audience, as they wonder what exactly is coming next.

A local critic observed of David’s performance here, “he’s left the concert performance bar raised as high as when Pink Floyd first set it, nearly half a century ago”.

Thanks Toronto, you’ve been great; next stop Chicago.

Last night’s setlist was…

First Set: 5 A.M.; Rattle That Lock; Faces Of Stone; Wish You Were Here; What Do You Want From Me; A Boat Lies Waiting; The Blue; Money; Us And Them; In Any Tongue; High Hopes.

Second Set: Astronomy Domine; Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-5); Fat Old Sun; Coming Back To Life; The Girl In The Yellow Dress; Today; Sorrow; Run Like Hell.

Encores: Time/Breathe (reprise); Comfortably Numb.