Photo taken by Sue Sadzak at the Danforth Music Hall in 2017
Canadian singer Serena Ryder blew up the vogue theatre in downtown Vancouver on February 13th. The theatre was packed with enthusiastic fans despite the sudden blizzard that had hit Vancouver. This was the show that was to kickstart the tour and I don’t think it could’ve gone any better.
Luca Fogale, another Canadian artist who is actually from Burnaby, opened the show for Serena Ryder. Personally, I have never heard of him until I heard him play that night. Fogale walked out on stage with only an acoustic guitar and the minute the spotlight hit him he started to play and I fell in love with his voice right away. He reminded me of John Mayer, having kind of the same vibe as him. You could tell Fogale was nervous, his voice was shaky and quiet when he started talking to the crowd but the complete opposite when he started singing. The crowd adored him, after every song the audience cheered as loud as they could and Fogale would breakout into a huge smile. Not only could he play the guitar but he also played a few songs on the keyboard. At the end of his set he talked about his grandmother during World War II and how, in Italy when the bombs were being dropped, they were looking for shelter but all they could really do was hold onto each other and that’s what one of his last songs was inspired by.
I had the pleasure of meeting Fogale after his set and got to talk to him briefly before Serena Ryder came on. He told me about how he writes his own songs and has been for a long time and just how grateful he is for all the support he got that night. He was the most humble person I had ever met and I hope I get to hear him play again.
Just before 9:00 hit the theatre was buzzing, everyone was excited for the show to start, suddenly the lights turned off and everyone went nuts. A bright light lit up from the back of the stage and you see Ryders silhouette standing there with her mic held high. She opened the show with one of her hits “Stompa” and the minute she sang that first line everyone started to join in, getting up, and stomping their feet to the beat. I was absolutely blown away after the first song, she had so much energy and such a full voice. She played the electric guitar for most of her songs and was always dancing around the stage, singing to different people in the crowd. My two favourite songs that she played were “What I Wouldn’t Do” and “Hands”. She got the crowd to sing with her and in “Hands” every time she sang the chorus and said hands she got the whole crown to put their hands up and shake their fingers.
Mid show she slowed things down a little bit. She brought out a little chair and a side table with a lamp on it. She then grabbed her acoustic guitar and played for us. She talked to the crowd a lot during this, asking how everyone was doing, giving Luca a shoutout as well as saying how much she missed playing in Vancouver. Before amping things up again she played a song that started off with just her acoustic guitar then she stood up and the band joined in at the end which was such an amazing sound.
She sat at on the edge of the stage talking to some of the people in the front row and once the next song started she yelled “give it up for the band” and just closed her eyes listening to them play before she started singing again. In one of her last songs her voice gave me chills it was incredible, and in the middle of her song she broke out into the chorus of “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson which surprised the crowd but it sounded really good. She ended the show with a bang, thanking the audience for listening to her tonight then her and the band left the stage, but the crowd stayed and started calling for her to come back out and everyone stomping their feet together until they came back out.
The crowd stayed standing as she played her last 2 songs everyone swaying and singing together. Her last song was “Electric Love” off her newest album “Utopia”, and that seemed to be a crowd favourite with everyone singing as loud as they could with Ryder.
This show was definitely one I will remember for a long time and I’m listening to Serena Ryder a lot more now. I really hope I get the chance to see her live again sometime.