The Sunday Morning “Nobody-Asked-Me-To, But-Here-I-Go-Anyway” Concert Review – Anne Murray

(or, Why I Will Never Be A Professional Concert Reviewer…)

Of all the small, medium, and big-name Canadian artists we have seen over the years, the one that we just never seemed to add to our collection was “Canada’s Sweetheart”, Anne Murray.

Or maybe she’s “Canada’s Songbird” – I can never seem to get that right. At any rate, she’s a Canadian icon, on the international stage. The point is, Mrs. That Dan Guy and I finally ended that musical omission, last night.

You know, I may have said this before, but it bears repeating – the older we get, the more often we are likely to see concerts with full orchestras, and visual career retrospectives. Anne Murray was no exception. Her concert opened with photos and film footage from her many decades of performing, and the superstars she has come to know over those years. Personally, we are suckers for that sort of thing – we love it.

At any rate, bolstered by the 12-piece Calgary Strings, Anne Murray, hit the stage, and had the crowd pinched by their rosy cheeks for the entire evening. Hit after hit after hit, she was dazzling. That’s right, I said dazzling. She dazzled. A rich, and occasionally raspy voice, with the graceful stage presence garnered over many moons on the road. The lady knows how to work a room…

She peppered the show throughout with her bang-on self-depracating humour (“someone shoot the old broad”), even taking time to read e-mails she’s received. It is amazing what people feel they can say to an international star…

A particular highlight was an “unplugged” segment – Anne, two other guitarists, and a back-up singer – singing versions of her hits, and even some maritime ditties. Hey, she’s from the Maritimes. This is the point in the show where she did “Snowbird”, which even if she hadn’t had umpteen dozen other hit singles, would have kept her in guitar strings for a heck of a long time. Heck, even Elvis recorded that song! Elvis freakin’ Presley!

(Actually, Elvis always did pretty good by Canadians – he recorded songs by Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Anka, and Buffy Saint Marie, just off the top of my head…)

During the unplugged set, Calgary’s very own Jann Arden strolled onstage, to sing along with “Canada’s Songbird” on her track from Anne’s latest cd, Duets (while a very good album, I always get a bit nervous for performers who record these compilations. Sinatra didn’t last too long after he recorded his famous duets sessions, and Ray Charles didn’t have a birthday party after his Genius Loves Company album. Just sayin’…).

That performance was a crowd favourite.

Another highlight – Dawn Langstroth, otherwise known as Anne’s daughter. She sang a song that was so good, we wanted to stick around after the show and pick up her CD, just for that self-penned number. But the line-up was just too long, and at our age, we need to be in bed by a reasonable hour. So, we left. We’ll have to track it down later…

I could go on and on, but I already have. Pianist Michael Kaeshammer opened the show, looking a bit like a young Tom Hanks, but bringing the spirit of a seasoned Victor Borge to the concert. He also was well worth the price of admission.

All-in-all, one of the better shows we’ve seen. And as some of you know, we've see a lot.

This is billed as the "One Last Time" tour. If we're lucky, this is about as final as Cher's current retirement run...

Chow for now!!