Concert Review: LIGHTS

Concert Review: Lights

Supporting Act: Jets Overhead

Date: November 27th, 2009

Location: Bronson Centre, Ottawa, Ontario

Lights has been a performer I've wanted to see live in concert for quite sometime. It was about a year ago when I first heard her song "Drive My Soul" that I got into her dreamy voice and synth chords and melodies in her music. I later added her EP to iTunes and forgot about it a few months later. After the MMVAs in June, I rediscovered her music and started listening the EP constantly again anticipating her debut album. Finally when it released a few months ago, I was obsessed and couldn't wait for her to come perform the magical album on stage. I got this oppurtunity on November 27th, 2009.

This opportunity came with a blessing from my frenemy MuchMusic...I had entered a contest about a month before the concert to win tickets and a meet and greet with the singer and a few weeks before the concert I found out I won! Therefore, thanks to MuchMusic, my excitement and overall concert experience was amplified a great level.

The meet and greet occurred first. I had won two tickets and had invited my friend to come along with me. While waiting anxiously to start the meet and greet, my friend and I discussed Lights' talent and our favourite songs. Finally, it came time to meet her and it was the quickest thing ever! We got our picture with her with my camera, my friends camera and Rogers' camera (Rogers hosted the meet & greet) and then were told Lights could sign one item. During this item she did ask how we were doing and gave us hugs. As a fan of Lights, I brought her a gift that I gave to her during this time. One was a

"Listenfied" cover of myself that resembled her album cover "The Listening" as well as a glossy

picture of the Sailor Scouts from Sailor Moon, a television show that Lights (and myself) adore! She loved both things and thought it was cool at the fact that I labelled myself as "The Ringleader" on the cover. She stated that the Sailor scouts looked hot considering they weren't in their traditional sailor outfits. She then gave me a big thank you and another big hug and signed my CD. She began signing the cover when her marker ran out so she signed the back again, this time making it out to me saying "Amazing Art!". Just like that, the meet and greet was over!

It wasn't long till we were let into the venue. Having the meet and greet passes we were let in early and my friend and I were able to get ourselves front row of the concert. If you've read my previous entries, I love being as close as possible and at the Bronson Centre, being front row means you are in against the stage in the centre of the artist's musical talent.

Jets Overhead opened the show in a disappointing manner. Their music, stage presence, and live performance all felt lacking. After doing my research on them when I came back home, I noticed that they were in no way a "new band" and knew what touring was all about. As a result, I felt they could have done much better opening. My dislike for them may have been the combination of the lead singer's creepy ways on stage (he was trying way hard to be "rock and roll") and the uninteresting or capturing songs. I'm very open to music and every genre yet despite that I was still unimpressed. Regardless, their lacklustre performance got me more excited for Lights.

The gap between Jets Overhead and Lights wasn't that large. The lights dimmed and we knew it was time for her to appear. I was so excited! Starting with a musical introduction, Lights came in with a bang and high energy. It was somewhat difficult to hear her clearly over the loud synths and beats and the cheering of the crowd. Knowing her songs made it easier to follow along despite not being able to hear her at her fullest. This, however, did improve as the show went along.

Lights had incredible stage presence. Despite not having a huge budget, she did everything she could to make the show as interesting and interactive as possible. In between her songs, she had a animated video segment that was based on her coming that she herself made and animated. She was interactive with the crowd and kept telling Ottawa that it had "been too long" since she last saw us. She also showcased her talent on various instruments as she played the key-tar, played the piano, and also played an acoustic version of her song February Air as an encore.

In the middle of the show, the fire alarm went off and didn't seem to have the need to stop.

Lights laughed at this and continued to play her set. It ironically happened when she was supposed to sing her song "Quiet". Lights "adapted" well to this and tried to play with the alarm so they overlap in her performance. Her songs "Pretend" and "Quiet" were both joined by the fire alarm. Despite this, she still rocked it out. "Its 'cause your so damn hot," someone shouted regarding the reason for the fire alarm. The alarm eventually stopped and Lights applauded the workers who assisted in fixing it. However, when she came out to do her encore insisting that she felt we were ripped off and that she would play more songs, the alarm started again. Let's put it this way, its a show that neither Lights nor the concertgoers will forget.

Some highlights for me during the show were her performances of Saviour, Drive My Soul, and Ice. Those are also ironically my favourite songs by her. During Saviour she had a little musical introduction before playing the 8 beats that start the song. Another moment for me was the beginning of Ice. The song itself already sounds like the soundtrack to a Nintendo game and she revitalized that by playing the instrumental of "level 2 of the original Mario game". I know it probably has a name, but I'm not quite sure. She played that and synchronized it into the intro of Ice. It definitely added to the song and the performance itself was amazing. Another highlight was Lights' shirt which said "Canada" on it. REPRESENT!

Despite having a bad opener, Lights definitely proved how talented she is during her amazing show. Writing and producing her own music, designing her own set, making her own videos, playing her own instruments, and being an extremely gorgeous and nice person all add to the appeal of Lights and nothing can take away from that, not even a fire alarm.