Sarah McLachlan Concert

Rather than repeatedly tell people what I thought of the Sarah McLachlan concert on Sunday night, I figured I'd just write it out here.

Every artist has their own demographic. Avril Lavigne has her teenypoppers, 50 Cent has his suburban white boys, and Nine Inch Nails have their angsty, black-wearing Trenchcoat Mafia types.

After standing around at the JLC for 5-10 minutes, McLachlan's own demographic becomes obvious: women. Lots of them, of all ages. McLachlan's record label no doubt has a second target demographic, at least for concerts: boyfriends and husbands.

So there I stood, the only single, straight male for at least a mile. I made a lesbian joke or two in an attempt to maintain some semblence of masculinity, but I'm not sure it worked.

So we made our way into the arena, and the first band came out: the Toronto-based Samba Squad. It was a great way to kick off the night; they really pounded the beats out. As far as opening acts go, this one was surprisingly good.

The Perishers stepped up to the plate next, and struck out nicely. It's a toss up as to the worst opening act ever: The Perishers, or "Shaker," who opened up for Great Big Sea last year. Boring, emo mush rock. I might have gnawed my leg off at the knee to dull the pain from their music, but luckily they were short.

Then McLachlan began her set with "World on Fire" and "Building a Mystery," my favourites. Oh, the World On Fire Video is very cool. Clicky.

I'm not enough of a fan to know the names of most of the songs, but they were good. She obviously has an amazing voice. Once or twice, it sounded like she was about to break out into gospel R&B, and boy did I lean forward in anticipation. Didn't quite happen, though. She stayed the songbird path, what she does best.

The most spectacular performance was for "Possession." Great lighting, and played with obvious passion.

Her stage banter was charming, definately better than The Perishers' "uh... yeah, we're The Perishers... buy our CD, or something..." She rambled a bit, like she was doing an episode of VH1's Storytellers. It was nice.

She tossed in a cover of "Salsbury Hill," I guess a ode to her home, Canada. Great stuff.

So what if I'm not her target audience. So what if I listened for every hint of rock from her voice, hoping for me. It was a great concert.