Show Review 'k.d. lang'

'Twenty years in the music business and it all boils down
to a medley'. That was k.d. lang, joking with the crowd
at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, before belting
out a stirring rendition of 'Constant Craving', her most
famous hit.
K.d. lang has a voice that can only be described as an
irrepressible force of nature. It's easy to forget just
how powerful her pipes are, when you've become accustomed
to hearing her Grammy Award-winning torch songs and country-
pop medleys wafting through restaurants and shopping malls
across the land.

Anyone who ever saw the rockabilly chanteuse back in her
early days, when she'd blow the roof off a smoky little joint
wearing sawed off cowboy boots and white wedding dress, can
tell you that she possesses a wild rapture that's capable of
much more than just pretty medleys. And rapture is exactly
what Lang delivered at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Several
times interrupted by ecstatic standing ovations and shouted
pledges of undying love from her fans.
Originally from Consort, Alberta, a tiny speck of a town
near Red Deer, lang moved to Vancouver after college in the
mid-eighties, where she was discovered and signed her first
record deal.

Lang hardly looked nervous as she strode onto the stage
in bare feet and a kimono-style jacket, bowed down to the
crowd and dove into a soaring rendition of 'Don't Smoke in
Bed'. She mixes material from her 20-year career with songs
from her latest CD release, July 27 'Hymns of the 49th
Parallel'. Which include 'After the Goldrush' by Neil Young
and 'Hallelulah' by Leonard Cohen, instilling them both with
a pure, simple reverence that lifts these classics into
a whole new stratosphere.
The performance was so powerful lang overwhelmed the
orchestra, in this case the MSO, which barely could be
heard over her voice. Along with her longtime band of
keyboard player, bassist and steel guitarist.
Lang is a playful and political as ever. A devout buddhist,
her trademark exuberance is now combined with a Zen-like
calm that must come from a very peaceful place inside.

By the end of the night, the spellbound audience certainly
walked out breathless, shaking and many in desperate need
of a cigarette, having witnessed one of the most emotionally
rousing concerts in a while. I wasn't a big fan prior to
the Jazz Festival, but all that has changed.