Brooke Fraser – concert review

I haven’t had a chance to talk about going to see Brooke Fraser in concert at the legendary El Mocambo in Toronto last week. I had a great time with lots of friends – old and new. The venue was packed (I’d guess capacity to be 250-300) but it was stinkin’ hot!!

The opener was a solo acoustic guy with a great beard. His songs were very good and he had an awesome personality. Unfortunately the PA was very quiet and so it was kind of hard to hear what he was saying/singing. He actually asked people to be quiet and listen to his songs while he was playing so that people could hear.

Brooke came out with two other musicians – a girl who played keys and violin and a guy who switched between drums, xylophone and keys. Brooke played acoustic and piano for a couple of songs.

Overall the show was good, not great. I’ve listened to lots of her stuff this year so it was good to see it in a live setting. Brooke is a fantastic singer with a beautiful voice but she is not the most engaging personality which makes things kind of tough when you’re in a small, hot room with poor PA. She talked LOTS between songs – and talked between EVERY song, which is a big no-no in my books – and really never got much momentum happening over the course of the night. Her songs are great but it seemed like just as the crowd would get in to something she would stop, talk and draw out the segue to the next song.

The PA issues continued through her whole set. People were calling out for her mic to be turned up – everything else was loud enough but for some reason the sound guy couldn’t get her vocals to the same level. I’ve seen lots of loud shows in the venue so volume is definitely not a problem. There was never anything close to feedback so I don’t know what the issue was. The combination of Brooke talking for good chunks of time and the quietness of her mic really didn’t help things.

All in all, it was a good night. Lots of friends there which made it a great chance to catch up and hear how people are doing. It was a rare opportunity for me to get out for a few hours without kids (thank you, wifey!!) so I tried to make the most of it. Brooke’s show seemed more like background, mood music rather than her being a feature entertainer that we were all there to see.

I’d pay money to see her again in a heartbeat. Her songs are incredible, her voice is incredible and I’m sure that she will develop as a performer as her career continues.