Photos by Marc Bourget
Urban Dictionary defines the term ‘G’ as a ‘Gangster’. I use the term slightly differently. I look at is as someone in control of a situation.
‘She can walk into any room and just own it, she’s such a G!’ ‘He predicted who would win the NCAA Tournament at the beginning of the season. He’s such a G!’ ‘She speaks something like 10 languages. She was amazing having on the trip. She’s such a G’
We will get back to that in a moment.
Kenny G. took over the National Arts Centre Tuesday night with his ‘The Miracles Holiday & Hits Tour’. Now I have a ton of respect for Kenny G. How can you not? He is an international superstar and I was very interested to see what his live performance were like. Many times I have seen an artist live and have been disappointed with their on stage performance. That was not the case Tuesday. While his five man band started playing, Kenny G. and his saxophone emerged in the crowd and slowly, but surely made his way to the stage.
He played some early favorites before taking a break to say a proper ‘Hello’ (or should I say a proper ‘Bonjour’). I was immediately impressed how he made a strong, consistent effort to state everything he said to the crowd in both English and French. While French clearly was not his first language I take my hat off to him as most wouldn’t have done as well.
One thing I always look for is whether the artist interacts with the crowd. A+ to Kenny G. He often spoke to the crowd and displayed his sense of humour. He even had one lucky audience member come onto the stage where he performed a song ‘just for them’ and presented her with a special saxophone.
Being the true musician he is he has surrounded himself with other great musicians and each one had an opportunity to display their talents through a variety of perfectly timed solos.
With all of his success, he is extremely down to earth, which was great to see. At the end of the show, he made his way to the foyer where eager fans had the opportunity of getting autographs and taking pictures with the international superstar.
I overheard one person. In line who had one of the best quotes of the night. She said ‘I didn’t expect the show to be this good. Listening to his CD’s I am used to simple quiet music but this show was amazing. I’ll never look at Kenny G. the same’.
I feel very fortunate that I have had the opportunity of seeing amazing artists such as arguably the greatest artist of our time, Prince, the greatest country artist of all time, Garth Brooks and one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time, U2 live in concert. Now I have added the greatest instrumentalist of modern time to that list.
He came to the NAC and had the sold out crowd in the palm of his hands. He gave the audience a night they will not seen forget. He is an award-winning musician loved the world over but make no mistake, 40 plus years later in the industry, Kenny is still a G!
SET LIST:
Home
Silhouette
G Bop
Havana (Guital/Percussion Solo)
Forever in Love
Desafinado (Piano Solo)
Bass Solo
Sax o Loco
Deck the Halls
Winter Wonderland
White Christmas
Sleigh Ride
Rainbow
Santa Claus (Drum Solo)
Pieces
Cadenza
Songbird
Titanic
