TORONTO - Feist had her fans in the dark last night at Massey Hall.
Literally.
The Calgary-raised, Toronto-based singer-songwriter kept the lights way down low, perhaps in an attempt to draw attention to a gigantic mirror ball and several rows of green and red Christmas lights decorating her otherwise minimalistic-looking stage.
Or maybe it was so the audience would concentrate on her exquisite, warm-sounding voice instead of her striking face, covered by long bangs, and a stylish outfit that included bright red stockings and matching shoes and a sequined silver armband that she pulled on and off one shoulder.
Whatever the reason for the darkness -- I suspect her intentions were good -- the ultimate effect was to mute the audience's collective response.
It really wasn't until a good hour into the 90-minute concert, the first of two sold-out shows at the venue, that Feist finally had the crowd on its feet and dancing up a storm at the front of the stage to her reworked cover of the Nina Simone-popularized Sea Lion Woman from her month-old third solo album, The Reminder.
That was followed by another crowd pleaser, Let It Die, the title track from her 2004 breakthrough sophomore effort, during which Feist encouraged audience members to slow dance on stage with her and her five-piece band, and about 50 couples complied.
Apparently, Feist wasn't feeling that well last night and the less-than-energetic first hour seemed to reflect that.
Still, there were some notable highlights like new songs The Park, 1, 2, 3, 4, and The Water, and the encore numbers Intuition, Mushaboom and Brandy Alexander.
Feist, who alternated between playing acoustic and electric guitar, should also be applauded for her willingness to experiment, whether it was with her own vocals, the crowd's or the addition of dancers dressed up as a flight crew or a tap dancer.
The set list was definitely heavy on material from The Reminder as she opened with Honey Honey, I Feel It All and So Sorry from the new album although When I Was A Young Girl and Gatekeeper from Let It Die later followed .
The buzz on Feist has never been bigger with recent appearances on Jay Leno and Jimmy Kimmel and a rave write up in the New York Times recently.
But she's still a work in progress as a solo performer, having previously sung with such Toronto indie royalty as Peaches, By Divine Right and Broken Social Scene.
To that end, she'd be well-advised to pay attention to last night's opening act and her "musical co-conspirator" as she called frequent producer and keyboardist Chili Gonzalez.
The onetime Torontonian, who has been living in Paris for the past decade -- apparently after some scathing music reviews which he read aloud last night -- proved to be a playful theatrical showman.
Dressed in a white lab coat and white gloves to play the piano -- actually the one from his family home that he first learned to play on -- Gonzalez's highly entertaining 50-minute set made good use of the camera on his piano keys.
