capital music hall preview

USHER FINDS JOY IN SMALL PLACE

Author: Joy Yokoyama
Source: The Kingston Whig-Standard
Date: October 9, 2003
Provided By: Caitlin (url)

Kingston and David Usher were once again alone in the universe on Wednesday night.

In an intimate sold-out concert at the Cocamo, the local singer whose melodies are now played on radio airwaves around the world performed selections from his three solo albums - including the one-month-old Hallucinations - and a couple of Moist favourites to an audience that included his parents.

The show may have been the Juno Award-winning rocker’s third Kingston show in less than two years, but it was his first since the new release. And a home-town concert for a star whose international fame is growing still marks an extraordinary moment.

His profile is just small enough that he can play local bars, but large enough that he fills them. He’s at the ideal stage of fame for a local love-in.

"This is a special moment for [bassist] Jeff [Pearce] because his mother’s here," Usher told the crowd of about 600 people.

"And so’s my mother."

Usher proceeded to try to point out the "small Asian woman beside the tall white man" through the darkness.

Usher’s parents and the rest of the crowd were treated to a rousing rock show that opened with the haunting title track of Hallucinations and closed with a couple of multi-song encores.

In between were the odd song from his days as frontman of Moist, such as Resurrection and Gasoline, a few tunes from his first solo album Little Songs, such as Jesus Was My Girl, and generous samplings from his Morning Orbit and Hallucinations, such as My Way Out, Message Home and Alone in the Universe.

The biggest cheers from the politely enthusiastic crowd were reserved for Black, Black Heart, a radio-friendly number featuring operatic note-climbing by Kim Bingham.

Even the lyrics of the night gave the concert the feel of a homecoming from Babyskin Tattoo ("It’s not so far from me to you") to the rousing A Day In The Life ("I don’t want to leave this place yet"). The latter was sung as Usher knelt close to the front-row crowd before jumping up to sing "I can’t change it / I can’t change this."

Dressed in a grey t-shirt, whose sleeves he kept tucking away, dark casual pants and a burgundy Puma sweatshirt, which he shed after the first two songs, the shaggy-haired Usher gave a rocking show bathed in whatever colour the Cocamo lights splashed on him and fuelled by screaming front-row girls.

Beyond them the crowd featured a mixed bag of 20-somethings who nodded approvingly and equally for rock tracks and ballads.

"It’s good to be back in Kingston," he said to cheers. "Yes, it’s good to be home."

At one point he even joked about running for mayor.

"If Arnold [Schwarzenegger] can be governor, I can be mayor or something. I’m at least as qualified as he is," he said before adding: "But he has more muscles."

Another local rock artist who came to modest fame through the band Color, Chris Koster opened the show with a powerfully voiced set that was more impressive than the size of his audience.

When a local star is at the stage where he can captivate the audience of a full but intimate venue, as David Usher did, and give home-town fans and his parents a personal sample of what he’s bringing to the world, audience members share with him a special moment in his career.

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