Joel Plaskett Loves His Cat

Massey Hall

Toronto, ON

on May 23 2009

Evan Dickson (CHARTattack)

05/25/2009 3:56pm

You gotta respect a guy who's not afraid to tell the world how much he loves his cat. Joel Plaskett shared his feline affection with Massey Hall more than once during his three-hour concert on Saturday night.

His latest record may be a triple album, but his first ever appearance at the historic concert hall was divided into two parts. Apparently the former Thrush Hermit frontman was so excited about playing Massey that he decided to make it last and be his own opening act. Along with his dad, Bill Plaskett, and sweet-voiced sirens Ana Egge and Rose Cousins, Plaskett the younger played an acoustic set for the first third of the show.

This opening section had a relaxed folk fest atmosphere. If Plaskett was nervous about his big concert hall performance, he didn't show it. He seemed happy and relaxed, and often injected witty lyrical asides and lanky leg dance steps.

Both sets showcased material from the recent triple album, Three, particularly in the first portion. Egge and Cousins each got turns in the spotlight and sang their own songs. While they're both beautiful singers, their musical samples sounded like pat Canadiana folk about hard work and the prairies and so forth — the musical equivalent to a crappy family drama on CBC. In contrast, Plaskett was able to dip into that kind of sentimentality without sacrificing his wit or his individual spark.

The Emergency took the stage after the intermission to kick up the electricity with "Work Out Fine" and "Extraordinary" from 2003's Truthfully Truthfully. The entire cast trickled in along with former Local Rabbit Peter Elkas on guitar during the second tune.

The rest of the show came in waves, as band members came and went from the stage. Slow jams like "Nowhere With You" and "Lazy Bones" were played solo only to transition smoothly back to a full arrangement.

Not only was Joel — I feel like I can call him Joel now — as natural as can be in the big hall, but his affable personality and easy grin made you feel like you were his best buddy. Massey Hall felt like somebody's living room.

The two encores really drove that friendly feeling home. After a solo acoustic version of "Before You Leave," a golden oldie from the Thrush Hermit days, Plaskett was distracted by somebody in the front row of the audience. When he stepped away from the mic, it was hard to tell what was happening, but bits of conversation carried through the hall. Stuff like "I know Mandy from Moncton. That's your sister?"

Plaskett even jumped behind the drums for "Fashionable People," handing drummer Dave Marsh his guitar. The whole thing ended with all 16 verses of "On And On And On" followed by a massive singalong, with the P.A. turned off and the house lights up, about none other than little White Fang, Joel's famous kitty. In the end, everybody filed out of the hall feeling good and humming to themselves about a sleepy cat shedding hair on the couch.