Bobby Bazini Up Close and Personal at Centre in the Square, Kitchener

Juno nominated multi-platinum selling Montreal native singer/songwriter Bobby Bazini’s distinctive, soulful voice filled Kitchener’s ‘Centre in the Square’ theatre May 29. This was stop 14 of his cross-Canada 2019 tour following his Zermatt Unplugged Festival appearances in Switzerland in April.

Kudos to Centre in the Square for their ‘On Stage’ concept of making the venue intimate by turning the massive main theatre stage into a night club, complete with full-service bars stage left and right.

Kudos to Centre in the Square for their ‘On Stage’ concept of making the venue intimate by turning the massive main theatre stage into a night club, complete with full-service bars stage left and right.  Truly the ‘best of both worlds’ combining the feel of a smaller venue, but with world-class lighting, acoustics and sound. Between songs Bobby commented that he’d never experienced the “Cabaret style” set-up, thought it was great, and invited the audience to dance if they wanted to.

The first two to take him up on it had me really puzzled by their song choice – how many couples would hear “Cold Cold Heart” and leap to their feet as if saying, ‘hey that’s our song!’

This tour is doing double duty staying connected with his fan base while covering highlights of his first three albums and introducing his audiences to new music from an upcoming release.

Bobby’s banter between songs was limited, but when he took some time to tell stories about the origins of songs and inspiration behind them, he came across as humble, humorous, genuinely easy-going and instantly likable. His explanation of writing with Pedro Vito in various parts of the world started with a self-deprecating apology to the effect, ‘sometimes I take a long time to say small things, so if you need the washroom, this might be a good time’ followed by a great explanation of what it’s like for him to tell people his job is ‘musician’, and that when he’s on tour his parents think he’s ‘on vacation’.

New songs included the opening song “Move Away”, “Back to the Start”, and the rock-opera worthy “Some and Others”, all co-written with Pedro Vito, and all should appear on his next release.

Bazini is one of those rare performers in that class who actually provide a better package and performance live than the studio versions of his songs – all of the vocal control, musicianship, tight harmonies of the studio plus great connection to the audience, extended dynamics, punchy arrangements and personal stories.  Proof was in the encore performance of “I Wonder” with just him and guitar sans band – he’s the real deal. Bobby has an emotive, elastic voice ranging from soulful grit in “The Only One” to haunting, pure falsetto in “Summer Is Gone”.

Ending the set with one of his most popular, “C’est La Vie”, from 2016’s Summer Is Gone, with the audience singing a chorus, was the only time during the concert he was without guitar or at the keyboard, singing without an instrument as a barrier. I think one of the best parts of the night and it had me hoping he’d just grab the mike out of the stand, take two steps forward and completely own the night.

The evening ended with an encore of his rock ballad “Wish You Were Here”, then, after the band had left the stage, Bobby alone with acoustic guitar singing “I Wonder”.

 

(In the, ‘If you like this you’ll like that’ department, my guest at the concert (my wife Fran) stopped by Bobby’s merch table, and when back home removed a Johnny Reid and Jim Cuddy disk from our six disk CD player to make room for two of Bobby’s CD’s, now in constant rotation – high praise from her!)

Joining Bobby on tour a Canadian country super group in the making, Delta Creek. A congregation of three young career musicians from Montreal joining forces to follow their love of Country music. DELTA CREEK is: Ken Presse guitarist for the Juno nominated international touring band The Franklin Electric,  Mario Telaro, a session musician and producer having recorded with the likes of Celine Dion ( and Bobby Bazini’s drummer), and recent addition Britty, an NBC ‘The Voice’ contestant’. Future dates include Patrick Lehman, 2016 ‘Best Soul/R&B Recording of the Year’ Juno award nominee, also a long time member of Delta Creek who was unavailable for this date. 

From here Bobby heads west to BC with stops in between until mid-June, then skips back to the east coast and ends up in Montreal. Follow the tour here http://www.bobbybazini.com/tour/

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