[Review] James Taylor at Molson
Canadian Amphitheatre, Toronto, ON July 24th/14
On a gorgeous summer night, James
Taylor and his All-Star Band graced the stage of the outdoor venue
playing to a sold-out crowd. As his voice and music are timeless, it
was also evident that he has affected generations of music lovers by
the many age groups of the concert goers in attendance.
Foregoing any openers, we were lucky to
have him all to ourselves for a good 2 ½ hours, save for a 20 minute
intermission where he stayed to sign autographs and take pictures.
When's the last time you went to a concert without openers and
without having to pay for a meet & greet to get the opportunity
people had at intermission? It's just another indication of how the
music industry has changed over the years and, in that regard, it's
nice to be old school.
He makes it seem like singing and
playing guitar are so effortless yet he is so precise and flawless in
both endeavours. I was so enthralled I didn't even pull out my phone.
The guitar, or should I say several guitars are such an extension of
the person, you wouldn't even know it wasn't his first instrument. As
a child he started out learning how to play the cello but switched to
guitar at the age of twelve and wrote his first song at fourteen.
Aren't we glad he didn't stay with the cello? Although his
guitar-playing technique is derived from his bass clef-oriented cello
training and from experimenting on his sister's keyboard. “My style
was a finger-picking style that was meant to be like a piano, as if
my thumb were my left hand, and my first, second and third fingers
were my right hand.”
Some may think the majority of his
music is quite somber and classified as easy-listening but don't be
sleepin' on James Taylor. He can get down with his bluesy bad ass
self. He had us clapping, singing and dancing our asses off. Not what
you'd expect at a James Taylor concert.
He joked about the frequent
interruptions from the planes flying by at close range, remarking on
one occasion that, “That one starts out as an A (note)”, an
observation that could only be made by a very musical ear. He played
many of his classic songs, even saying that when he first started
playing Carole King's 'You've Got A Friend' he didn't know he'd be
playing it every night for the rest of his life, not that that's such
a terrible problem to have. He also shared some new songs that are
going to be on his long-awaited forthcoming album.
A five-time Grammy award winner, Taylor
was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the
Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000. His Greatest Hits album was
certified eleven times Platinum in the U.S., earning a Diamond
certification by the RIAA and eventually selling close to 20 million
copies worldwide. Over a time span of 40 years (1968-2008) he has
come out with 16 studio albums.
In an age where the radio charts and
music award shows are rife with electronically manipulated 'music'
and even 'vocals', it's nice to know that there is still REAL music
and REAL vocals out there to be savoured. Coming from an era where it
didn't matter so much what you LOOKED like but it was more about what
you SOUNDED like, seeing James Taylor live was like seeing your
favourite relative that you've known since your childhood who holds a
special place in your heart and brings back fond memories of growing
up with his music.
