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TORONTO - I know why the Caged Bird sings.
Or in the case of neo-soul star Alicia Keys, who initially appeared inside a silver cage at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night, singing Caged Bird, why she sings: Because she sounds so good.
Keys brought her biggest production to date for the occasion: a dazzling gigantic video screen that broke into many smaller screens, a large gleaming silver staircase, a nine-piece band, and three dancers.
Touring in support of her fourth album, The Element Of Freedom, the 29-year-old New York singer-songwriter-pianist also made a good glamazon, appearing in silver sequined pants, a black shirt, a blood red blazer, and high heels, with her hair in soft curls.
Her first hit, Fallin', prompted major applause, as she stood at the front of stage playing a tiny white piano - and the song ended with the words, "Rise Up" on the enormous video screen above her.
But she delivered a more dramatic performance with her Bond theme (a collaboration with Jack White), Another Way To Die, losing the blazer and seductively prowling the staircase and her large stage with her dancers.
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For her next song, Karma, Keys added some of the lyrics of Talking Heads' Once In A Lifetime, but it was her own, I Need You, that proved to be a stronger follow-up tune.
And when she sat down to play Prayer For Forgiveness, her piano flashed the words: "Play Me," and then, "Thank You," before it began rotating during, Diary, which prompted a crowd singalong and some mighty high notes from her male back up singer.
"We're excited to be here in Toronto," said Keys, who hit a few big notes of her own during Like You'll Never See Me Again. "God bless you."
After a brief band interlude, Keys re-appeared lying on top of the piano, now moving from the back of the stage to the front, for another uplifting number, Wait Til You See My Smile.
But the mid-show highlight proved to be the uber-soulful and funky Go Ahead featuring Keys playing a portable keyboard strapped around her neck, while her guitar player traded licks alongside her.
Finally elegant in a floor length white gown for Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart, the first single from The Element Of Freedom, there simply was no stopping Keys in the last half-hour of her 90-minute show.
Hit after hit followed: the female empowerment anthem, Superwoman; the heart-on-her-sleeve songs, If I Ain't Got You and No One; and the crowd-pleasing encore number, Empire State Of Mind Part II (Broken Down).
Earlier in the show, the bouncy Put It In A Love Song, Keys' collaboration with Beyonce, and the R&B ballad, Un-thinkable (I'm Ready), her duet with Drake, came across too calculated for the more mature Keys, who has always been an amazing songwriter and singer but is only now hitting her stride as a live performer.
SET LIST
Caged Bird
Love Is Blind
You Don't Know My Name
Fallin'
Another Way To Die
Karma
Like the Sea
I Need You
Pray for Forgiveness
Diary
Like You'll Never See Me Again
Band interlude
Wait Til You See My Smile
Go Ahead
Put It in a Love Song
Un-thinkable (I'm Ready)
Feeling Good (performed by the band)
Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart
Superwoman
If I Ain't Got You
No One
ENCORE
Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down