David Usher In Bracebridge

Rene M. Caisse Memorial Theatre

Bracebridge, ON

on Oct 2 2008

Andrew Hoshkiw (CHARTattack)

10/03/2008 3:12pm

"This is a night of experimentation," said David Usher, near the beginning of his performance at the Rene M. Caisse Memorial Theatre in Bracebridge, Ont. "We'll be playing a lot of songs from the new album that we've never played before."

While the tour officially got underway on Oct. 1 in Toronto, this was the
first full concert, said Usher.

Usher and his band entertained a crowd of about 200 raving, mostly teenage, fans. A veteran of the Canadian pop music scene, Usher is playing the 25-date Canadian tour in support of his new album, Wake Up And Say Goodbye, which was released last month.

The recently opened theatre is a small, intimate venue with a capacity of 300. At times during the performance, Usher jumped down and sat on the edge of the stage, singing only inches from the adoring crowd.

"For us, the first one's really exciting," he stressed. "It's like jumping off a bridge and hoping to land someplace soft."

If he had jumped, 400 enthralled hands would have lifted him up. Several times over the course of the evening, he often stopped playing to talk and joke with the audience, mostly about Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate who was engaged in a debate at the same moment the concert was taking place.

At one point, though, an audience member shouted, "Shut up and sing!" At that, Usher obediently jumped back on to the stage and launched into "Love Will Save The Day."

Usher played 18 songs, and the show was a good mix of new and old material, including Moist's hit "Push" from their 1994 Silver album. Usher was joined by guitarist Jonathan Gallivan, bassist Steve Zsirai, keyboardist Kevin Young (also a former member of Moist) and drummer Chris Taylor-Munro.

Crash Parallel, the opening act, were an altogether different beast from Usher.

Their music was generic, repetitive and ultimately sounded like the same, worn-out formula being played over and over.

That said, the crowd didn't seem to notice and screamed enthusiastically throughout their 40-minute set.

"I think this is the most intimate theatre I've ever played in," said lead singer Tim Edwards. "I'm going to try to get to know everyone's face tonight."

In addition to their own songs from their World We Know debut album that was released earlier this year, Crash Parallel also played a heavy cover of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes."

Usher was solid this night. It was a shame the openers didn't add to the evening.