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LIVE: Hawksley Workman Presents A Night Of Theatre and Sexed-Up Drumming
Monday March 10, 2008 @ 01:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
March 7, 2008
The Music Hall
Toronto, Ontario
By Phil Villeneuve
Hawksley Workman's Friday show at the Music Hall shouldn't have been billed as a simple concert. Clocking in at two-and-a-half hours, with five separate segments, it should have been called Frickin' Amazing: An Evening With Hawksley Workman.
Entering the stage to a standing ovation and packed house of mostly hardcore fans, the hefty-looking man of the night — complete in his ghetto-crooner get-up of hip-hop bandana, Biltmore hat and three piece suit — sat down at a miniature drum kit. Long time pianist and sideman Mr. Lonely then mounted a teeny tiny piano beside him. The rest of the band stood in the background accompanying the opening songs.
This was the first act. Sounding like a jangly back alley jam out of an Alice In Wonderland scene (thanks to everything being tiny), the night began with old material to get the crowd good and lathered for his newer material. "We Will Still Need A Song" and "Safe And Sound" took care of that. From these first few songs, the audience was putty in Workman's hands, which set the mood for the entire night. You could hear the sound of the air surrounding the pin dropping. Every word was worshipped.
And did he ever have words. Throughout the show, Workman lightly joked about his life, living in Toronto, Canadian Tire and snow blowers. Despite at times sounding like a slightly insane cartoon character, it's this banter that makes a Workman show such a solid piece of entertainment. Well, that and the music.
The second act of the theatrical evening found all players on their grown up instruments, with Workman on electric guitar for the most part. The violin playing sounded like it was coming from five different instruments. His background vocalist was some sort of earth angel with a powerhouse, ethereal voice that often raised Workman's multi-range hollering to new angelic heights. The tenor sax player brought a much needed bass to the night and Hawksley took care of the rest.
Newer material was brought in during the second act, as were the singer's drumming skills. Workman sat at the drum kits many times and played like I've never seen a man play the skins in my life. He's officially the sexiest drummer alive — hitting, scraping, tapping and stopping every beat with an odd mastery.
The third act began with Workman, alone on stage, slowly stripping down from his three-piece to a T-shirt and pants, then climbing into a bright green lab jumpsuit. After some intense moments and silence, the rest of the band joined him wearing the same for the rocking portion of the show. Cranking the volume and ripping into his "fun quota" for the night, the band played "Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off" while the entire crowd stood up to sway and punch fists.
The final act was a mixed bag of old and new, quiet and quirky, with Workman and his band coming to the front of the stage and performing off-mic for jumpy numbers from Treeful Of Starling. This added bonus intimacy to the already closely-knit show. It was as if Workman trusted the crowd enough to sing and talk to them without the amplification of mics and amps.
The night ended with the amped-up "Striptease" along with samples of Beyonce, Michael Jackson and Gloria Estefan's "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" thrown in, making sitting down no option at that point.
After two encores, he ended with "Ice Age" and profusely thanked the audience for supporting his music during a strange time to be a musician. He could have come out for three more encores and the crowd would have continued to show their love. If he continues to put on evenings like this, he'll have support until he's a very old music man.
 
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