This is probably going to be pretty rambly... you have been warned!
Sorry about the wait, guys! I was only in Toronto two days and I was pretty exhausted the whole time from lack of sleep and from residual cold symptoms. I'm glad someone updated 'Love Is An Art' already! Sorry to anyone who was waiting on me to upload it. I really just didn't get the chance to do it.
Anyways, onto a rambly recap/review of the show! So, I arrived very early to the venue. Around an hour and half before the doors were supposed to open. I was dead set on getting front row (the show was general admission seating)!There wasn't a line yet, just this small group of girls near the venue doors. As it happens, this black van drove up to the venue shortly after I arrived and the girls got super excited so I assumed it was probably Vanessa. When she came out with Victor they kind of pounced on her asking for pictures. I was kind of uncofortable with the whole thing and Vanessa looked super cold (it was freezing, and she wasn't wearing a coat) so I kind of just stood back. After that I waited a while at the venue doors, which were thankfully kind of covered by the wind, because it was absolutely freezing. This guy who said he was there for set up showed up eventually, trying to get in, and told me he thought Vanessa was actually performing in the hall over on the side of the building. I went over on the side, but since it wasn't covered from the wind, I ended up going to a café across the street to warm up because there was still no one else waiting.
Twenty five minutes before doors were supposed to open I went back and waited and waited and froze my butt off! I found it kind of weird that no one else was waiting, but it was pretty cold so I assumed people were going to show up at 7 on the dot. Just before seven these two girls showed up and we waited together. Finally, at seven this guy came out and asked us if we were there to see Vanessa. We said we were, and he told us they has FREAKING CHANGED THE HALL! And she was now performing in the main hall. We went to the main doors (where I had initially been waiting!) and there was already a pretty big group of people waiting to be let in. Suffice to say I was very angry(mostly with myself, I guess) because I had made such an effort to get there early and brave to cold to get front row..
Me and the girls who had been waiting in the wrong place ended up in the third row in the middle, and we ended up having a good time together, so in the end it was fine, but I was really disappointed...
Anyways, Tristen oppened for Vanessa and she was really good! She was really charming and great with the crowd, too.
I should mention, as well, that the stage was absolutely gorgeous. The big Liberman print in the back is absolutely breathtaking. The lights and the smoke made for such a beautiful and atmospheric stage.
Vanessa came on and started with ATM. She said 'let's just let this eagle fly'. Then she did Carousel with the Learning to Fly intro. After that she did her blurb explaining that she was starting off with songs from older albums and then she'd move on the the 'trippier' Liberman stuff. She followed with Fairweather friend and I almost DIED because I wasn't expecting it and I simply adore that song. She also mentionned before hand that the lesson of this song is that if your significant other tells you they're flying to a certain destination, but end up in another, that it's a red flag. And then she said 'I was in my twenties, what did I know?'.
She followed with Who's To Say, which she dedicated to the LGBTQ community. It was so beautiful. I love the 'who we are, who we are, we are, we are....' part that she does live. I wish she had included Who's To Say on Earlier Things Live!
She did White Houses after that and actually went pretty in detail about what had inspired the song. I hadn't actually heard all of it before. She talked about going off to school and how dorms are interesting places because they're all wiped clean after you leave and no one 'knows or cared what you did in there'. She talked a bit about the coming of age that happens, and etc. I wish I had recorded it!
Vanessa started the 'Liberman' portion of the show with Take It Easy. She mentionned that it's now played on Delta airlines! That's super cool. If we had Delta in Canada I might fly with them just for that. It was cute too, because she mentionned that she found out through her mom texting her.
Then she did Operator and basically just said 'younger man, older woman... this one's for the 'coug's'.
Then, Willows. She went pretty into detail about what inspired it. How she's much closer to her mom now that she has Sid because she understands the choices she made and etc.
Blue Pool came after. I don't think that she introduced it.
Love Is An Art was next. It. Is. So Beautiful! I got chills. I am so excited about it!
She did River after and mentionned it was the only thing she could think of to play was Sid was crying uncontrollably.
Her encore was The Marching Line and Bride. Almost died when she did Bride! Another of my Rabbits faves that I wasn't expecting.
She dedicated Bride to John (ha!) and TML to the victims of the Bataclan in Paris. This part was honestly heartbreaking because she mentionned how strongly she voices her political views on social media and that the blacklash she gets is pretty fierce. She said that she worries sometimes, being on stage, because it's basically 'open season' and she wouldn't want to leave Sid without a mom. I had actually never thought about how she must worry about that stuff and it broke my heart. It's so sad that we live in an age where artists fear for their well being on stage... Anyways, she said that she wouldn't stop, because live shows are like a 'church' and the stage is a sacred place, and that if Julian, a drummer that had been performing at the Bataclan during the attacks (a friend of John's I think?) was still performing, so could she. I'm paraphrasing because I have a terrible memory, but that's basically the gist. She did a new intro for TML. It was beautiful. It was 'ooohs' that were progressively looped together. Totally went with the mood of the song and the way she introduced it.
She also did a short song with Tristen at the end. She both got up togther. It was really cute. I didn't recongnize the song, but I think she mentionned it was John's song? It was something about a mustang.
Anyways, the performance was absolutely amazing. She signed stuff after. I purchased a Rabbits vinyl and got it signed. It's definitely becoming one of my most prized possessions!
A few other things, when she introduced Love Is An Art, she mentionned that she had 'started writing a new record without realizing it' (aaaaah!). When she explained her whole set up with Skye, she mentionned that she next time she'd come out touring (then she said 'IF' she comes out again), she'd do it with a full band!!!!!
Aaaah! Exciting stuff!
I'll add some pictures to this post if I have the chance to use my computer tomorrow. I'll post a pic of the new t-shirt at the merch table. It's gorgeous
If you actually made it to the end of this, congrats, lol.
Edit : Here are some pics of the show
