Patrick Watson @ Queen Elizabeth Theater

December 14th, 2009

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Have you heard of Patrick Watson? If the answer is no, you’re missing out. It blows my mind that this man is not more famous. “Now why is that?” you may ask. The answer awaits you…

Saturday December 12th, Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theater was packed. That’s no surprise seeing that Patrick Watson is known for his brilliant live performances; he won me over with his quirky Polaris performance this year. Oh yeah he was a Polaris nominee this year if ya didn’t know. His album Wooden Arms made the shortlist. Oh and he also won the Polaris award for his album Close to Paradise in 2007. No big deal*.

Now back to the show. There we are all waiting being like “Yeah I’ve heard that he’s really good”, “I wonder when then show will start?” and all “Why is there this big screen on stage?” – when suddenly the house lights dim and what should appear on the screen but A BURNING MAN! A PROJECTION OF A MAN ON FIRE! And all of this to his song Fireweed? Super cool move Patrick Watson. The screen was raised and there stood Patrick Watson and his band. Thus commenced the show.

Read the rest of the review and look at some photos after the jump!

Let it be known that Patrick Watson isn’t just one guy. I mean he is -but on stage was Patrick Waston accompanied by his band, as well as some ladies on the strings (who were referred to as “The Mothers on the Run”)! Collectively, they played each song of the night with pazazz and passion. There was another screen behind all of them that played various clips – from fast moving street views that took place during Beijing to silhouettes of people slowly jumping. The big screen from the beginning of the show came back down for a puppet show of sorts to taking place as a song was performed from behind the screen. Neato stuff. Add to that some crazy lights and smoke and you’ve got yourself a bunch of awesome. I mean literally “in awe”.

Throughout the show Patrick was chatty explaining songs, saying hello to his family in the audience, and advising us not to watch Bruno on an airplane because there might be a young child seated near you. The more you know.

Each song of Patrick Watson’s is haunting and chilling in a warm and cozy way. Crazy I know. Chilling annnnnnd cozy!? How is that possible? I’m not sure. The man music be filled with magic or something. When he requested that all of the lights be turned off for his song The Great Escape I was confused, but as soon as he started playing I was put in another state of mind. Like super calm but alive? Magic.

The entire night was magical for lack of a better term. When the set ended with Where the Wild Things Are everyone rose to their feet giving Patrick Watson a standing ovation. The short show passed by too quickly and we wanted more. And we ended up getting more then we bargained for.

The encore was by far the highlight of night night. Patrick Watson and his band dispersed themselves throughout the audience and began to play. Patrick himself wore a megaphone/light contraption (the same one he wore for Polaris) and walked around and serenading us. He made his way back to the stage to sing Man Under The Sea- a song he sang with no mike. That’s right, he just stood at the front of the stage and belted it out. Chills. He then instructed us to sing along, and I think we sounded pretty good if I do say so myself. The show then ended with Patrick asking us was final song we wanted to hear; Drifters or a new one they had recently written. The decision? “Let’s just play both”.

Fantastic show. If you ever have a chance to see Patrick Watson play live do it. He is an overlooked gem.

Ps. To the man who was sitting next to me: There’s no need to wear your cell phone ear piece during a concert.