Nelly Furtado Plays With Swollen Members

Massey Hall

Toronto, ON

on Apr 19 2002

Aaron Brophy (CHARTattack)

04/22/2002 5:30pm

Nelly Furtado's greatest asset is also her greatest weakness. She's multi-talented, dynamic and hip in that same vaguely ethnic way that models get cast for Gap commercials are. She can also dance, sing, play guitar and rap.

Unfortunately, the need to show off all the wonders that are Nelly end up being to her detriment. For Furtado's sold-out show at Massey Hall, all those skills were shown off to great degree, but this came, at the expense of focus. Over the course of her set the screaming tweens and twentysomethings in the audience were treated to well-polished takes on R'n'B Nelly, party-jam Nelly, histrionic-vocalizing diva Nelly, drum 'n' bass Nelly, balladeer Nelly, retro hip-hop Nelly, empowered-girl Nelly and even a bit of rock Nelly.

When wrapped up in the garish feel-good fluorescent washes of her stage set-up (complete with bubble machine!) it makes for an overwhelmingly positive vibe — the kind that can even soften hardened rock critics to appreciate it with at least moderate wistfulness.

That said, for all her international acclaim, Furtado's show screams of a comfortable, cloying Canadianness that eschews true depth of character in favour of warm platitudes. It's the same brilliantly-scrubbed artistry that's made superstars out of Sarah McLachlan, Shania Twain and Barenaked Ladies, but when measured against the world-weary wisdom in the likes of Madonna, Destiny's Child or even a rubber-faced Cher, Furtado falls short.

Sure, the show's instrumental dance interlude featured a musical background suitable for a porn soundtrack, but that's hardly a deep moment. The cutesy medley-salute to the radio hip-pop of yore (ie. Kriss Kross) furthered this point.

Furtado may have been trying to pay homage to the guilty pleasures of her youth, but sporting a sideways fluorescent baseball cap while her bandmates bopped around the stage in a state of terminally unhip did little to elevate her stature. The superfluous whick-whicks of the DJ didn't help things either.

At least the run-in by the Swollen Members near set-end was real. Considering S&M's short opening set, their infusion of headbanging added a much-needed element of danger. Still, there's much hope left for Nelly. If you take out the stilted singalong of "I'm Like A Bird" and the moderately received "Party," Furtado did have some moments of sincere brilliance.

A down-tempo chunk of mid-set balladry was chilling and songs like "I Will Make U Cry," "Well, Well" and "Legend" are both heartfelt and winsome. But to paraphrase BNL, right now Nelly doesn't know where her eggs are or where her nest is.