CONCERT REVIEWS by JAM


	Repeating herself Marshall returns for deja vu show By IAN NATHANSON -- Ottawa Sun AMANDA MARSHALL National Arts Centre, Ottawa Sunday, April 30, 2000 OTTAWA - If last night was your first time seeing Amanda Marshall in concert, congratulations. You've managed to get through those agonizing two weeks since the massive-haired, massive-voiced Toronto singer had to put the kibosh on that show due to a cold she developed coming off her tour of Germany. (It prompted one fan to blurt out, "Gesundheit!" No laughs.) So it was no surprise that not long into her two-hour and 15-minute set last night at the National Arts Centre, she declared in front her 2,300-plus worshippers: "We made it. We finally made it." Oddly enough, she repeated the sentiment after belting out Too Little Too Late, as if the message didn't get across the first time: "We made it. We finally made it." Sorry, but Marshall does has this habit of repeating herself. SOLD-OUT SHOW If you recall, she began touring in support of her second album, Tuesday's Child, close to a year ago, including a performance at the Civic Centre in June. Last night's sold-out show marked her second go-round, still plugging said album. (Funnily enough, Marshall followed the same pattern with her self-titled debut in 1997 -- playing the NAC first in mid-May, then the Civic Centre in mid-September. Coincidence?) Not much has changed since those days of June. Almost the same set list. Same gets-those-ovations-every-time belting moments. Same excessive hand-shaking, air guitar gestures and repeated hopscotch-like dance steps. Heck, even the same clothing. But you didn't hear that from me, because last night was supposed to be your first time, right? Keeping that in mind, the crowd witnessed a decent performance putting Marshall's belting vocal prowess to use on mostly formulaic fare. The exceptions: Last Exit to Eden, Beautiful Goodbye, Let It Rain and an elongated Right Here All Along, featuring snippets of My Guy, Fly Like An Eagle, the Stones' Miss You and In The Air Tonight tossed over a cool jamming groove. As expected, all of which earned her resounding applause. What did differ from the June 1999 show was the opening act. Given her early gospel introduction and classically trained voice, Edmonton native Roberta Michele can potentially go far in the pop world with her debut Today. Unfortunately, her tuneful melodies and Celine-esque delivery was marred by a bit too much echo and just one keyboard guy tinkling away as if this were a talent contest. Had she added another vocalist and perhaps a cellist, her six-song set would've easily surpassed Marshall's. Pop powerhouse Amanda Marshall gives it her all By DAVE VEITCH -- Calgary Sun AMANDA MARSHALL Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary Monday, April 24, 2000 CALGARY - Expecting some surprises was probably expecting too much. Last night, Canadian pop-rock singer Amanda Marshall returned to the Jubilee Auditorium less than a year after she last played the venue. Anyone who saw that 1999 show was likely experiencing some serious deja vu as Marshall ran through songs from her two albums with impressive gusto and, of course, that gusty voice of hers. How similar were the concerts? The backdrop was the same (with its Hollywood Squares motif). Her hand gestures were the same (lots of pointing, punching the air and pretending to play guitar and sax). The dance moves were the same (she still likes to kick her butt with the heels of her feet, hardly behaviour befitting a diva-in-training). And, if memory serves, the set list was remarkably similar, perhaps even identical. The 2,200 assembled fans didn't seem to mind, though. They had come to hear one of the biggest voices in Canadian music -- out-powered only by Celine Dion's and then not by much. Marshall did not disappoint. She filled her lungs and let 'er rip during the big, anthemic choruses of Love Lifts Me and I Believe in You. She took it down a notch, coming across all backwoods and bluesy, on Last Exit to Eden (in which she inserted some lines from Big Yellow Taxi, as she did in '99). Then, on Beautiful Goodbye, she quietly seethed (at least for her) until the song ended with guitar power-chording and quasi-cathartic caterwauling. The crowd loved it. Now, there's that niggly issue with her material. My Edmonton Sun rock critic colleague wrote in a review last year that Marshall's songs are out-classed by her voice. He promptly received an angry letter from the singer in which she called him "obnoxious, arrogant, ignorant and ill-mannered." In an effort not to receive similar correspondence, let me just say about Marshall's songs: If lyrics such as, "I need to feel you need me like a river needs an ocean" or "somewhere there's a dreamer looking for a dream" strike you as poetry, then Marshall is a poet, all right. Otherwise, it's just best to let her music wash over you. It's always tuneful and as immaculately groomed as Marshall's wavy hair. Opening act Roberta Michele is a young, promising talent who could blossom beautifully with some time and nurturing. The former Edmontonian, who now lives in Toronto, certainly has the pipes. Songs such as Sweet and a cover of Bread's Make it With You showed she is capable of Dion-style vocal gymnastics, although later in her six-song, 30-minute set Michele switched into Kate Bush mode, gasping and emoting through the theatrical mini-dramas Pioneers (her best song) and Make Christina Dance. Too bad Michele was only backed by a pianist, which didn't do justice to material that was given a lush production on her debut album Today. The sparse instrumentation had the unfortunate effect of making her look like a lounge singer or a talent-show contestant. The music world already has a Dion and a Bush, but when Michele finds her own voice, she'll be on her way to a long, illustrious career. onday, April 24, 2000 Marshall arts Amanda continues to have the voice but not the material By MIKE ROSS -- Edmonton Sun AMANDA MARSHALL Winspear Centre, Edmonton Sunday, April 23, 200 EDMONTON - Hell hath no fury like a diva scorned. I found that out the last time I gave Amanda Marshall a bad review. Following my carve of her July 4 concert last year, and I've been going on about this since she started - in a nutshell: great voice, shame about the material - she wrote me a hate letter. She called me the most "obnoxious, condescending, arrogant, ignorant, ill-mannered and poorly spoken individual" she has ever had the "misfortune" to come in contact with. She called me a "small man who works for a small paper, with a big axe to grind." And, not surprisingly, she promised never to allow me free access to any of her concerts again. Sure enough, The Sun's reviewer tickets had been revoked for last night's almost sold-out show in the Winspear Centre. So I bought a seat. But I was willing to give her another chance and try to keep an open mind, since it's supposed to be my job ... and darn it if I didn't come to the same conclusion. As I've said in every past review of this Toronto star, there is no problem with her voice. Marshall is one of these rare singers who has power and pinpoint control to go with it. She's up there with Celine Dion, and can sing circles around high-priced divas like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. However, I'm distressed to hear what Marshall often does with this gift. She opened with the same song she did on July 4, the same song she performed on the Juno Awards: Believe In You, from her latest album, Tuesday's Child. With great dramatic flair, the song begins with this ridiculous lyric: "Somewhere there's a river looking for a stream /somewhere there's a dreamer looking for a dream." Throughout the evening, Marshall delivered passion that seemed strangely incongruous with some of the words she sang. More samples: "You're like the sun shining up in my sky ... I need to feel you need me like a river needs an ocean ... keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the prize ... " Who writes this stuff?! Well, in the case of Tuesday's Child, Amanda does, often partnered with hitmaker Eric Bazilian. I suppose I ought to concentrate on the one third of the show I liked. Last Exit To Eden was a refreshing change from the usual full-on rock-pop sound, if only because it had a Fleetwood Mac feel and Marshall quoted lines from Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi. The piano-driven Beautiful Goodbye was a favourite, drawing spontaneous cheers before the song even ended. Songs on the topic of unrequited love, like Give Up Giving In, seemed to connect better than anything else she did. Dark Horse, from her debut album, was another highlight. That's about it. The rest of what I saw last night came across like a by-the-numbers pop show, which wasn't helped by the slick, easy-rock performance from her five-piece band. Marked by Marshall's hopscotching dance steps and intense gestures, every note was in its perfect place, nearly every song followed the same formula. For all the talent up there, I found it dull. I found it frustrating. But I obviously must be mistaken - unless the 1.2 million Canadians who bought her albums are wrong, unless the 1,700 fans cheering her on last night were doing it out of a sense of Canadian pride. I doubt it. For myself - from the point of view of someone who gets angry at talent wasted on fluff, and begrudge the time spent witnessing it - I hope Marshall harnesses some of the rage she unleashed at me in that letter and uses it on her next album. Judging from some of the comments overheard during the break, it wasn't exactly a triumphant homecoming for opening act Roberta Michele, who won all those talent contests in the early '90s and is now a Sony recording artist based in Toronto. Hampered by a talent show-like set-up - electronic piano and a single spotlight on the singer - and unnecessary, overwhelming vocal reverb that made the place sound like Valhalla, Michele displayed as fine a voice as the headliner. But it's too early to judge yet. She only got six songs to prove herself. To those who slammed her, let's wait until Michele has a real band and a proper setting. She, too, deserves another chance. More reviews...