KULAS : TORONTO HEALY'S 28.4.04

Set list: There’s Going To Come A Time, The Only One, Pavement, Starland, Having & Losing It All, A Clever Mess, This Song’s For You/Shine, Anyone Else, Hallelujah, Laid

review by BRD

You’d think it was Stanley Cup time in Toronto, as Kulas kicked off his solo (largely) acoustic set a bit later than expected in order to let tonight’s Toronto Maple Leafs come to a close.

It’s always a pleasure hearing Michael in the solo format as he is such a powerful performer. And Kulas was notably upbeat in mood during his hour long set tonight which was a rather eclectic mix of songs, as compared to recent outings, spanning his career over the past decade.  Set opener There’s Going To Come A Time, off first Kulas cd Mosquito and played for the first time in eight years, lit an intense fire under the night’s events.  A handful of songs were done from last Kulas cd Another Small Machine, including the reflective Shine which hasn’t been performed in about a year. Standard set pieces Pavement and Starland, from upcoming cd American Sweetheart, were tossed into the mix too.

Before we knew it, Kulas started the opening sequence of Hallelujah. What? The set is over already?  In particularily good voice tonight, its obvious why this is a crowd favourite.  What a great voice! The other year, Michael did Hallelujah once or twice on an electric with lotsa reverb – it would be interesting to hear it done this way again.

Then much to our surprise, in a nod to his most recent past, Kulas brought up his band Dead City Radio to join him in a rocking take of James classic Laid.  And in three minutes time the night is definitely over. Damn. Things were just starting to roll again. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the home town Maple Leafs put the hated Philadelphia Flyers’ winning streak to an end tonight. (I guess you gotta be Canajun, eh, to really understand).