This was my fourth time seeing Norah Jones in Toronto. And this was the second-best performance she gave, next to her debut performance at the Palais Royal Ballroom in 2002.
She came out of total surprise as the opening two songs from the opening act was accompanied by Norah herself. Standing alongside M. Ward while he strummed the guitar, I didn’t realize it was Norah until she started singing. After the two songs, however, she stepped off the stage as quietly as she came on it.
After the opening act, there was a 15 minute intermission where the crew re-organized the instruments and prepared for Norah.
And then the lights went dim. The players stepped up on stage, and that’s how the second-best Norah Jones concert I’ve ever been to, started.
Adam Levy, Daru Oda, Andrew Borger, Lee Alexander and Norah Jones. They were all there, just like in 2002 at the Palais Royal Ballroom (now called the Casino Royale). This year, once again held at Massey Hall wasn’t as intimate as her first performance in Toronto, but was noticeably better in all respects than when she played at Massey Hall in 2003.
The acoustics were much better. The lighting, much more varied and interesting, the song selection was evenly distributed between her three albums, and Norah’s on stage presence was still the same, good old Norah that we all love.
Not quite as shy on stage anymore, but nonetheless a quiet presence, Norah goes through her setlist like it is programmed into her. When something unexpected happens, Norah is forced to amuse the crowd with her sheepish comments about Toronto, how the band members don’t watch sports, and a little chit chat with the audience about how she thought “Row double Z” was a city and not a seating location.
Even since her last performance at the Molson Amphitheatre in the summer of 2004, her talents have grown considerably in addition to her maturation in singing. Norah – and Daru – now play the guitar, making her more active on stage, jumping from the grand, the wurlitzer, the acoustic, and electric guitars.
My only qualm about this concert was that Norah didn’t play on the wurlizter enough. I absolutely love the sound of that piano and as soon as I hear it, an unmistakable image of Norah immediately jumps into my head.
Throughout the concert, cameras and their flashes seemed to be OK by the staff members, as flashes were constantly going off. Fortunately I was able to get some half decent shots even without the use of flash, enabling me to take more shots without the apparent disturbance of my close neighbours. I do have to apologize though, for the shutter noise my camera makes. It may have been a nuisance to my direct neighbour who probably thought I was taking way too many pictures. Only 53 though. Only.
I have to commend her though, on her choice to play Painter Song. That has to be one of my favourite songs on her first album and I am so very happy she put that in to her set list. As always, after she graciously takes a bow and exits the stage, the crowd cheers on for an Encore. After a few minutes of cheering, they all come back for 3 more songs.
Taking a last twirl on stage, she exits and the lights lite up.
As an aside, what amazes me all the time is how fast the crew is able to disassemble the stage. As soon as the concert is over, they storm the stage and start tearing it apart like there’s no tomorrow.
So now that the concert is over, I decide to wait a while to see if she would come out of the Stage door on Victoria Street. Seeing that there were about 9 others doing the same thing, I didn’t feel all that silly doing it by myself. I asked them if she came out the last time she was here. One guy mentioned that there was a huge crowd that time, and that they were asked to line up along the building as Norah patiently and so kindly signed everybody’s requests one by one.
So a mere hour later, there were 10 of us including myself as she came out of the door with a security guy by her side. At first nobody knew if they should approach her, but as I found myself standing right next to her, I took my picture of the two of us that was taken 5 years back, and asked her to sign it for me. I told her that was the year Toronto had a garbage strike and she seemed to remember that incident.
I asked if I could have yet another picture with her, and she graciously agreed as someone working with her volunteered to take my picture. Norah takes a look at my camera and says the same thing she told me 5 years ago. “Wow, that’s a great camera!” I remember distinctly 5 years ago I had my Kodak DC265 Zoom, and she had though that was a fancy camera. 5 years later and me with my Nikon D200 and SB600, I get the same comment from her; made me laugh inside.
She expressed how she didn’t like her picture taken when she was not ready for it. So out of respect, I didn’t take any additional pictures – except for the one from behind showing her signing for the crowd.
She readies herself by putting her arm around you and posing for the camera. She has to be one of the friendliest artists I’ve met to date. Even Lisa Loeb doesn’t beat that. As she was signing autographs, she chit chatted with one of the fans as he talked about past Canadian concerts. I merely marvelled at the fact that Norah is standing in front of me and talking to a fan. It just seemed surreal for a moment.
And once again, I realized that she is indeed pretty short.
But she is definitely no short in talent, nor personable character. And that’s what makes Norah Jones such a great artist to listen to, and see live in concert.
The next time she comes to Toronto, you can bet I’ll have the picture that was taken today in hand, ready for her to sign!
