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Joshua Radin + Anya Marina – La Tulipe – 30.01.11

February 2, 2011 in Show Reviews

Joshua Radin writes beautiful songs, although his music usually isn’t full of unnexpected surprises. His emotional ballads have been featured in a countless number of TV shows, and have been used in many a wedding soundtrack. Radin’s show last Sunday at La Tulipe in Montreal was full of little surprises that made the performance everything we expected and more.

It’s hard to conquer an unfamiliar crowd of quiet fans with sentimental melodies, but three-man band Andrew Allen from British-Columbia accomplished this task as they got everyone settled in with their laid back dub vibe. Their songs were catchy, and the laid-back ambiance was contagious enough to warm up the cold Montreal crowd. The icing on the cake was a cover of the classic Sublime track, “What I’ve Got”. The band left the stage thanking the receptive Montreal crowd who welcomed them with open arms.

It was then time for Anya Marina to take the stage as the night’s second act. She stood alone for most of her performance and was backed by one of Joshua Radin’s musicians for her last few songs. Although she looked slightly hesitant at first, her voice sounded ready, powerful and clear. Just like the show’s openers, Miss Anya praised the cheerfulness of the audience, and even took a picture of the crowd for her mom! Her atmospheric pop songs were very pleaseant to hear, and she showed us some serious guitar skills. It would be nice to see her backed by a full band. Maybe next time? However, she pretty much blew everyone away with a magical interpretation of the song ‘‘Satellite’’, and a cover of rapper T.I.’s “Whatever You Like.”

Finally is was time for the man of the hour, Joshua Radin, to take the stage. The stage was set very serenely, with table lamps for decoration and guitars aligned on each side. To begin his set, Radin appeared alone on stage and quickly began to sing his heart out while his fellow musicians one by one took position behind their instrument during the first piece. During this first piece, Radin took a step back from the mic and belted out the last verse of the song, showing off his powerful voice. From this moment on the audience was pretty much in the palm of his hand.

Countless “we love you’s” from the fans were heard throughout the night and Radin made sure to return the love each and every time. “You guys are better than my hometown!”, he exclaimed about halfway through the set. Radin’s backing band delivered a solid performance as well and their rocking interludes were well received by all. During one of Radin’s more up-beat songs of the night, he managed to get the whole crowd clapping and had people filming the scene with their iPhones. Could we have asked for more?

Joshua Radin proved with this performance that he is capable of more than just singing sentimental love songs. He also proved that he could put on quite a show and capture the hearts of everyone in a room instantaneously. Let’s hope that our city left a mark on his heart the same way that he left one on ours.

– Christelle Saint-Julien