19/11/07: Martha Joy In Concert
Category: Martha Joy
Posted by: starsonidol
On Sunday evening (Nov 11th) I, along with two friends, attended Martha’s concert which was held in the George Weston Recital Hall of the Toronto Centre For The Performing Arts. Since I’ve seen and heard Marha perform live many times and have become a big fan my view of the show can be expected to be favourable. I was interested to hear the views of my two friends who have never seen or heard Martha sing before. More on that later.
I have to admit I had become somewhat worried in the weeks leading up to the show as according to checks on ticketmaster there seemed to be no movement of tickets. Even just hours before the show first row seats were available. I was quite pleasantly surprised to arrive and see a crowd waiting to get in and by the time the show started there was a very good sized showing. According to the website this hall seats 1036 and I’d say looking from my viewpoint it was 70-80% full. Given there was virtually no mainstream advertising of Martha’s concert (even the CTV website doesn’t advertise her shows in their ‘Idol Calendar’ page) I’d say that’s impressive.
The show began with the band taking the stage and then the 45 member Cardinal Carter Academy Choir followed by Martha. The first song performed was Remember Me which was performed as a choir number. Martha sang with them (not out front) which was nice. The choir left and then Martha spoke to the crowd and thanked everyone for coming and introduced her next song which is her favourite song from her cd. ‘See My Face’ has recently been released as a single by Toronto twins who go by the moniker RyanDan (Ryan and Dan) and is getting a lot of airplay. They call it “The Face”. Martha recorded it a few years ago and I think of it as her song as she was the first I heard sing it. I think her version is far better. Anyway, Martha did a great job with it but was just getting warmed up. She would do two sets with a 20 minute intermission in between.
1. Remember Me
2. See My Face
3. Desperado (Eagles)
4. To Where You Are (Josh Groban)
5. That’s The Way It Is (Celine Dion)
6. Dance With My Father
7. And I Am Telling You (from Dreamgirls)
8. Perfidia (featuring dancers Vladimir and Elsie Suanez)
9. One Voice (Barry Manilow)
10. Because of You (from her cd – not the Kelly Clarkson song)
11. Listen (from Dreamgirls)
Intermission
1. Jubilate Deo (with Choir)
2. Someone To Watch Over Me
3. Mi Mancherai (in Spanish)
4. Ikaw/Ikaw Lamang (in Filipino)
5. The Prayer
6. All I Ask of You (featuring guest singer Larry Tozer)
7. Old Man River (sung by Larry Tozer … Martha left the stage)
8. I Believe/ You’ll Never Walk Alone
9. To Love You More (Celine Dion)
10. Angel Watching Over Me (from her cd with choir)
Encore
Kailangan Kita (in Filipino)
I can list all of these as there was a program available that I picked up. The encore song is not listed but I've heard it before and I hope I got the title correct.
It was an excellent show and Martha was in fine voice and the crowd was very appreciative, cheering sometimes in the middle of songs and finishing up with a standing ovation. She did come out after the show to meet people and sign autographs but I wasn’t able to stay so I didn’t get a chance to say hello to her.
So the two friends I took with me are the same two I took with me to see Kalan Porter when I won tickets for his cd release show in Toronto. Both were far more impressed with Martha and think she is a far more talented singer. One of them is a well trained musician himself and is not easily impressed and wasn’t at all impressed with Kalan. He was especially impressed with her performance of Listen from Dreamgirls (which was sung in the movie by Beyonce). He thought she did a really good job on a very difficult song.
Anyway, that’s my report. The show with intermission went from 7:30 until about 9:30. Very enjoyable show in a really nice venue.
I have to admit I had become somewhat worried in the weeks leading up to the show as according to checks on ticketmaster there seemed to be no movement of tickets. Even just hours before the show first row seats were available. I was quite pleasantly surprised to arrive and see a crowd waiting to get in and by the time the show started there was a very good sized showing. According to the website this hall seats 1036 and I’d say looking from my viewpoint it was 70-80% full. Given there was virtually no mainstream advertising of Martha’s concert (even the CTV website doesn’t advertise her shows in their ‘Idol Calendar’ page) I’d say that’s impressive.
The show began with the band taking the stage and then the 45 member Cardinal Carter Academy Choir followed by Martha. The first song performed was Remember Me which was performed as a choir number. Martha sang with them (not out front) which was nice. The choir left and then Martha spoke to the crowd and thanked everyone for coming and introduced her next song which is her favourite song from her cd. ‘See My Face’ has recently been released as a single by Toronto twins who go by the moniker RyanDan (Ryan and Dan) and is getting a lot of airplay. They call it “The Face”. Martha recorded it a few years ago and I think of it as her song as she was the first I heard sing it. I think her version is far better. Anyway, Martha did a great job with it but was just getting warmed up. She would do two sets with a 20 minute intermission in between.
1. Remember Me
2. See My Face
3. Desperado (Eagles)
4. To Where You Are (Josh Groban)
5. That’s The Way It Is (Celine Dion)
6. Dance With My Father
7. And I Am Telling You (from Dreamgirls)
8. Perfidia (featuring dancers Vladimir and Elsie Suanez)
9. One Voice (Barry Manilow)
10. Because of You (from her cd – not the Kelly Clarkson song)
11. Listen (from Dreamgirls)
Intermission
1. Jubilate Deo (with Choir)
2. Someone To Watch Over Me
3. Mi Mancherai (in Spanish)
4. Ikaw/Ikaw Lamang (in Filipino)
5. The Prayer
6. All I Ask of You (featuring guest singer Larry Tozer)
7. Old Man River (sung by Larry Tozer … Martha left the stage)
8. I Believe/ You’ll Never Walk Alone
9. To Love You More (Celine Dion)
10. Angel Watching Over Me (from her cd with choir)
Encore
Kailangan Kita (in Filipino)
I can list all of these as there was a program available that I picked up. The encore song is not listed but I've heard it before and I hope I got the title correct.
It was an excellent show and Martha was in fine voice and the crowd was very appreciative, cheering sometimes in the middle of songs and finishing up with a standing ovation. She did come out after the show to meet people and sign autographs but I wasn’t able to stay so I didn’t get a chance to say hello to her.
So the two friends I took with me are the same two I took with me to see Kalan Porter when I won tickets for his cd release show in Toronto. Both were far more impressed with Martha and think she is a far more talented singer. One of them is a well trained musician himself and is not easily impressed and wasn’t at all impressed with Kalan. He was especially impressed with her performance of Listen from Dreamgirls (which was sung in the movie by Beyonce). He thought she did a really good job on a very difficult song.
Anyway, that’s my report. The show with intermission went from 7:30 until about 9:30. Very enjoyable show in a really nice venue.