June 11, 2023, Centre in the Square, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
I think it was through an American Express “Front of Line” email that I saw that Amanda Marshall was touring again, and playing Kitchener’s Centre in the Square. When I mentioned it to Jean, he was uncharacteristically enthused about the prospect of going—he being as much of a fan of hers as I. Bit of research showed she was planning to celebrate the catalogue, not just present new music, so I was off and buying tickets…
Which landed us in the seventh row centre, so that was terrific!
In the interim, Amanda Marshall did in fact release a new album, Heavy Lifting, that I listened to a few days before the concert. It’s terrific! I liked it instantly.
The show opened with Sophia Fracassi, just her and her piano, getting an incredibly warm welcome from the near sold out crowd. She’s also a gifted singer and songwriter, and it was worth spending the half hour listening to her.
Amanda Marshall’s set began with “Let It Rain”, before introducing two new and very fun songs from the new album, “I’m Not Drunk” and “I Hope She Cheats” (“on you with a basketball player…”), before three more from the first album. (Set list here looks about right.) I have all her albums, so I recognized pretty much everything she played.
Amanda looks a little different these many years later, of course, but she still has that full head of long blonde hair and she still has that incredible voice! And Centre in the Square is one of the best venues in which to hear incredible voices.
She kept addressing the crowd as “Kitchener!” which seemed a bit odd, somehow? (Maybe because I live in Waterloo?) But she was lively and fun and recounted that it took two tour buses to get them to town, and that records are commerce, but stage is the art (or something like that!). Overall, she was more interested in expressing herself through music than anecdote.
She included tributes to Gordon Lightfoot (“Sundown”) and Tina Turner (“What’s Love Gotta Do with It”), which were very nice touches. She got a mid-set standing ovation after a vocal run (during which song? Can’t remember! Must have been one of the ballads, though), after which she pointed out that “Kitchener! We have more show!”.
She did leave the stage after “Birmingham”, but I knew she’d be back. After all, she hadn’t done this one:
Now there’s a fun show closer!
It was a great evening, great crowd, great performer.
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