Concert review: David Ryan Harris and Hanson
The concert took place at the historic
Danforth Music Hall which was opened in 1919 in the city of Toronto.
The 1,500 capacity crowd was lined up down a city block and around
the corner for the sold out show. The first floor of the venue
manages somehow to have either full seating or just a wide open
concrete floor depending on the concert. Last night it was standing
room only. I was lucky enough to get upgraded by Live Nation so I
could have a floor view. I chose to stay there for the opening act,
David Ryan Harris, the man I really came to see. Not that I'm averse
to Hanson but the boy band era was not really part of my generation.
Not only is David Ryan Harris an
amazing singer-songwriter-musician-producer but just seems like a
genuinely down to earth “real” human being. Just a man and his
guitar had the audience mesmerized with his beautiful voice,
compelling and humorous storytelling and his ability to take familiar
songs, mash them together in a medley, altering the lyrics to fit his
story. It was funny, funky, bluesy, soulful and a heartwarming shared
experience with just the right amount of audience participation. He
even downplayed the “showy stuff” after he played his guitar
behind his head, bringing the music back down to being real and
honest. One point in particular struck me as he was speaking to the
girls in the audience about worrying so much about their physical
appearance before he played his song 'Pretty Girl'. To paraphrase his
message: Be yourself, love yourself just the way you are, others love
you just the way you are too, the little insignificant things you
spend so much time worrying about are not important, especially to
guys, and you are amazing anyway just for being girls. Just an
indication of what this man is all about, keeping it real.
At intermission, as promised, David
made himself available to sign his CD's after his set. I'm not one
for autographs as that is not important to me but it did offer an
opportunity to have a bit of a chat with him. I even said as such to
him, that I really just wanted to say Hi and ask how the Canadian leg
of the tour was going so far. When I told him my name and mentioned
our little twitter chat he said he recognized me from my avatar. Not
important but he was just a lovely man and it's nice to be
acknowledged in some way. I wished him well on the rest of his
journey through Canada and would have loved to talk more about it but
others were waiting for his autograph. I decided to enjoy the comfort
of my seat in the second floor balcony for the second half of the
concert.
There is no doubt that the Hanson
brothers are also exceptionally talented singers and musicians. The
crowd sang every word to most of the songs. They really mixed up the
set with quiet songs, high energy dance songs, an a capella version
of a Bee Gees song that really showcased their voices and each Hanson
brother individually did one song alone on stage. There were times
during their set where there was too much of a lull, perhaps too many
quiet not so well known songs where even the diehard Hanson fans went
back to their conversations about other things and checking their
phones. That may just be a normal generational thing but it did drag
a bit too much in spots. As I am not well-versed in Hanson's music
beyond when MmmBop was popular perhaps it's not for me to say but
maybe they might want to rethink their setlist as there were too many
quiet songs in a row. Don't get me wrong, I still danced my ass off
until I was a sweaty mess for the more energetic songs, even if I
didn't know them because that's how I roll, just like I did for David
Ryan Harris' set.
On a side note: As we were shuffling
out of the balcony seats I was astonished at the amount of garbage
left on the first floor below. People, pick up your shit and put it
in the garbage/recycling bins. Other than that, it was a fun-filled
exuberant evening making more musical memories.
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