Glee Cast
Consider me a transformed Gleek.
The Glee Live! Tour took place this past weekend at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and I can say in all honesty that the last show on Sunday that I took in (there were four performances in total over the weekend) was one of the best concerts that I have ever seen. Perhaps it was because I didn’t go in expecting anything more than a lot of fluff that is omnipresent on the show or because I thought the show would be inundated with silly vignettes from Sue Sylvester (which there were, but used quite effectively) but the prevailing that I left the venue with was the one that I shared with everyone else in attendance. These kids can sing.
Despite the critical acclaim of the soundtrack sales from the show (in fact, in one poignant taped piece Sue Sylvester/Jane Lynch reminds the audience that The Warblers debuted at #2 on the Billboard Hot 200, second only to Adele), their true talent is most clearly apparent live and in-person. It seemed that every song outdid the one before it and while there some gimmicks with the cast shooting confetti out into the crowd and fireworks exploding inside the arena when Lea Michele covered Katy Perry’s song of the same title for example, these were kept at a minimum which highlighted the voices of the artists and was a major plus.
Heather Morris
A good show offers talent but also some degree of intrigue and Heather Morris’ take on Britney Spears’ “Slave 4 U” was shocking to me. Like Britney, the show’s Brittany wore a barely-there replica similar to what Britney wore when she performed the song at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2001. It was very risqué and certainly the biggest surprise of the night.
Other notable moments included:
– Kevin McHale’s character Artie getting out of his wheelchair and busting a move in one of the encore performances (to “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats no less).
– A cute sequence between Heather Morris, Chris Colfer and Darren Criss where Brittany asks Blaine to makeout with her and Kurt hilariously interrupting asking “are you flirting with my man in Toronto?” but then leading him to making a bizarre reference to Lake Ontario being the deepest of the Great Lakes before inexplicably throwing to Cory Monteith singing “Jessie’s Girl.”
– Lea Michele erasing any doubt that she is the best singer of the bunch and probably one of the best singers around today.
– The Warblers led by Darren Criss’ Blaine stealing the show with their three songs including “Teenage Dream,” “Silly Love Songs,” and “Raise Your Glass” and references alluding to Blaine joining New Directions in the upcoming season. Criss in particularly sounded fantastic, playing to the crowd while maintaining a strong and controlled structure in his vocal.
– A nice duet sequence near the end of the show that featured popular pairings from the TV version including Lea Michele & Chris Colfer singing a fusion of “Happy Days Are Here Again” & “Get Happy” , Dianna Agron & Chord Overstreet covering Jason Mraz’s “Lucky,” and Naya Rivera & Amber Riley singing “River Deep, Mountain High.”
Glee Cast
– The performance of the original song, “Loser Like Me” was particularly great as it highlighted the group’s skill even when they weren’t covering something by a music superstar and got just as many people to sing along in the audience.
– I was initially skeptical of the cast sticking to their on-camera characters for a tour performance, but after seeing the show I think this was the right call. The dynamic and chemistry that they share with each other resonated throughout the show.
All in all, the show was a resounding success on all fronts. I was, however, quite disappointed that the cast didn’t cover “Friday” by Rebecca Black as one of their encores (which they apparently had in some of the other Toronto performances).
The Glee cast were on stage for about an hour and 20 minutes and were preceded by The Legion Of Extraordinary Dancers (The LXD), led by Stephen “Twitch” Boss of So You Think You Can Dance fame. For those who don’t know (myself included), the LXD is a web series about two groups of rival dancers. The LXD are the heroes and their rivals are “The Alliance Of The Dark.” Wish I had checked that out before the show as the performance totally makes sense now. I also noticed another So You Think You Can Dance alumni in the troupe. Will Wingfield from Season 4 was there and I interviewed him a couple of months ago at Reality Rocks. Twitch told the crowd to check out LXD on Hulu, but I guess he wasn’t aware that the site is geogated here.
Go and see this show. It was entertaining, fast-paced, and proved that the cast are limitless in their potential.
Gleeks unite!
Murtz is a Gleek
Remaining Tour Dates:
Jun 13 Auburn Hills, MI
Jun 14 Cleveland, OH
Jun 16 East Rutherford, NJ
Jun 17 East Rutherford, NJ
Jun 18 Long Island, NY
Jun 18 Long Island, NY
Jun 22 Manchester
Jun 23 Manchester
Jun 25 London
Jun 25 London
Jun 26 London
Jun 26 London
Jun 28 London
Jun 29 London
Jun 30 London
Jul 2 Dublin
Jul 2 Dublin
Jul 3 Dublin
Jul 3 Dublin
More information can be found at GleeTour.com
Glee Live! Setlist
Toronto, ON
June 12, 2011 – 8 PM Show
1. Don’t Stop Believin’ (Journey cover)
2. Dog Days Are Over (Florence and The Machine cover)
3. SING (My Chemical Romance cover)
4. I’m a Slave 4 U (Britney Spears cover)
5. Fat Bottomed Girls (Queen cover)
6. I Want to Hold Your Hand
(The Beatles cover)
7. Ain’t No Way (Aretha Franklin cover)
8. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) (Michael Jackson cover)
9. Born This Way (Lady Gaga cover)
10. Firework (Katy Perry cover)
11. Teenage Dream (Katy Perry cover)
12. Silly Love Songs (Wings cover)
13. Raise Your Glass (Pink cover)
14. Happy Days Are Here Again / Get Happy (Barbra Streisand cover)
15. Lucky (Jason Mraz cover)
16. River Deep, Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner cover)
17. Jessie’s Girl (Rick Springfield cover)
18. Valerie (The Zutons cover)
19. Loser Like Me (Original)
Encore #1
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) (Beyoncé cover)
Encore #2
Safety Dance (Men Without Hats cover)
Encore #3
Empire State of Mind (Jay-Z cover)
Encore #4 Somebody to Love
(Queen cover)
Next up for me are the MuchMusic Video Music Awards next weekend. Stay tuned for my live coverage!
**This was a review of the June 12, 2011 evening show in Toronto.
