k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang kicked off their North American tour at the Rochester Jazz Festival last week, followed by a free outdoor concert at Toronto's Luminato Festival; the tour lands at New York City's Beacon Theatre tonight. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle says lang's "voice was potent from the get-go." The Toronto Sun gives the Luminato set four-and-a-half stars, calling lang's voice "one of the world’s best." The Independent says lang's new album, Sing it Loud, is "an elegant, understated LP that contains nods to the singer's country-pop roots and brims with warmth and contentment."
k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang kicked off their North American tour at the Rochester Jazz Festival in Rochester, New York, last week, followed by two concerts in Ontario this weekend: a free outdoor concert in Toronto's David Pecaut Square Friday as part of the Luminato Festival and a show at the Grand Theatre in London Saturday night. The tour—featuring music from lang and the band's recently released album, Sing it Loud, as well as favorites from throughout lang's career—hits New York City tonight with a concert at the beautiful Beacon Theatre (recently home to the Tony Awards broadcast). The Belle Brigade opens tonight, as on several dates along the tour, including Wednesday at The Palladium in Carmel, Indiana, and Thursday at the Ravinia Pavilion outside Chicago.
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle's Jack Garner, reviewing Thursday's tour-opening concert, says lang's "voice was potent from the get-go ... at the core of her singing is that incredibly smooth flawless pitch." The Rochester City Newspaper's Frank de Blase says her "vocals were absolutely amazing as they shook the hall."
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The Toronto Sun gives Friday's Luminato concert four-and-a-half stars out of five. "With trees and nearby buildings providing a dramatic setting for a dramatic voice—one of the world’s best," writes reviewer Jane Stevenson, k.d. lang and the Siss Boom Bang "delivered an entertaining, at times moving, 70-minute show brimming with new alt-country material from her latest disc recorded in Nashville and older favourites."
Stevenson says "it was the thrilling new tune, 'Sugar Buzz,' that really wowed as it closed the night." Read the complete concert review at torontosun.com.
The Globe and Mail calls Sing it Loud "her best original album in years." Concert reviewer Robert Everett-Green, too, notes the new song "Sugar Buzz," saying, "This big sexy number expanded beautifully in live performance, and showed how many musical directions are available to lang these days—even within a single song." He concludes: "At 49, lang’s powerful voice remains a natural wonder, capable of changing colour and density, quickly and easily."
Read the review at theglobeandmail.com.
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To pick up a copy of Sing it Loud, which the Independent describes as "an elegant, understated LP that contains nods to the singer's country-pop roots and brims with warmth and contentment," head to the Nonesuch Store, where orders include high-quality, 320 kbps MP3s of the album at checkout.
For more information on upcoming shows, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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