NICK CARTER
WITH
THE NEW ELECTRIC
& DAN TALEVSKI
LIVE @ THE DANFORTH MUSIC HALL
TORONTO 2016
FEATURE EDITORIAL REVIEW
VISUALS BY: JOANNA GLEZAKOS AND FRIDAE MATTAS
WORDS BY: FRIDAE MATTAS
It’s Thursday November 10th and last night (Nov. 9th) was ear blastingly insane, lots of very loud screaming females! It's now three in the morning and I've been editing videos all day and night, I thought a nap was in my future between renderings, clearly thought wrong! It's mind numbing trying to stabilize live footage, which takes longer than it does to render a final edit, I do not have patience for this. Seriously though, I need to hire someone who can edit and stabilize live footage because editing footage takes up a lot of writing time. The writing is easy when you're the original of so many copies! There is never a dry well, it's my attention span that hinders focus and has been more frequent since the accident. I can't sit for more than twenty minutes or walk for more than half an hour without extreme pain shooting through my body, so I always need to take breaks and do my physio stretches.
Thanks to the freak snowstorm we had April 2nd of this year, I was the front passenger in a motor vehicle collision. Majority is still a blur, I can remember a car coming at us really fast on my side and my boyfriend trying to avoid crashing. It was like watching everything in slow motion, yet it all went so fast! I was screaming, threw my hands out to stop myself from flying through the windshield and that is as far as my memory takes me. No fault, the cops said due to extreme weather conditions...Recently, my Doctors cleared me to cover events but not too many or too frequently because I am still healing. The injuries left me semi-broken, I could not walk for six weeks! It has been a long, painful and expensive road to recovery, I’m just very happy to be alive and walking again thanks to Hydrotherapy, the only method that has worked for me.
Alrighty, enough complaining because we have it way better here in Canada than many across the globe, including our neighbours to the south. Even though our countries are so close to each other, they are so very different. Very proud to be Canadian, especially since he who shall never be spoken of won their election…Rob Ford was a little “special” but at least he helped Toronto by doing his job, he actually knew what he was doing. Okay, that sums up all the political talk, didn’t pursue a career as a News reporter or political advocate for good reason. News about our crazy world is mostly sad, I would much rather cover fun stuff like entertainment, things that make people feel happy, nostalgic, artistic and inspired. I love finding events and artists that showcase creativity and passion, all facets of artistry intrigue my inventive self.
As I was going through the FridaeTV coverage requests, a press release for The New Electric caught my eye and so I listened to their tunes. I’ve heard their music before, maybe I’ve even seen them perform previously. Honestly, its so hard to remember every band and artist I have met and seen these past few years! Emails are one of my least favourite things of life, when I hear a super talented band people should know about, I will get back to them or their team right away. With TNE I wanted to cover them for sure, their talent is serious and I saw that they were opening for Backstreet Boy Nick Carter so I hit up Carter's team to cover his set as well. Also requested an interview with Mr. Carter but FridaeTV could not be squeezed in, maybe next time... You can find the interview with The New Electric here!
Before I begin chatting on about the headliner, lets talk about the Canadian talent that also graced the stage! TNE was the first band to rock the stage, their energy was on point right out the gate. They played most of the tunes from their catchy record. Songs like "Inside Out" and "Ride This Feeling" are very easy on the ears. I can see why industry folks and the public have taken an interest. Guitars and Keys by Chris sounded crisp and in tune, his vibe was chill. Shade aka "Indy" was rocking the Bass like he's been a Rockstar all his life. Let's not forget Indy's brother Kyle whose vocals are ridiculous live, and he does well with the crowd. Adam slams those cans, keeping the beat tight and contributing to the vocals. Thoroughly enjoyed their performance, I was entertained every moment. I wish TNE all the best in the future, have fun on tour and we shall see you guys soon. CALGARY go see your boys on the 18th! Everyone else, if you have the chance to see these guys live go for it, you won't be dissapointed! So grateful Joanna was able to cover these sets with me, don't know what I would have done without her, thank you!
Next to warm the stage was Canadian crooner Dan Talevski, you may have heard his tune "Guilty As Sin" or "Knock Me Off My Feet". We didn't film any of his tunes because we did not confer with his team for the go ahead. However, we did get some shots of his charismatic set. He seemed a little shy at first when he came on stage but soon he was in his element, loving ever minute of being on stage. Vocals were not bad he needs to strengthen hisw core a bit to keep them steady but other than that he did a fantastic job. I was shocked to find out his age because I thought he was like Shawn Mendes' age group not close to mine! I would definitely cover Dan again, and yo should go see him live. Once Dan Talevski's set wrapped the venues lobby filled with fans running to getting their last minute drinks, snacks and merch while they reminisced about their VIP experiences.
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And last but not least, the headliner of the night...Nick Carter (insert the loudest grown female screams here!). Lord knows there was more than enough screaming, thank you for the invention of ear plugs Ray and Cecilia Benner! The crowd was mostly females which is a given, I saw little girls past their bedtime, Mothers, Grandmothers, Sisters, Cousins, Friends, Almost Groupies and the Husbands and Boyfriends who wished they were anywhere else, but there. A few of the venue crew were egging the fans on, pretending like they didn't know who was playing or who the Backstreet Boy were. During smoke breaks we chatted with some of the fans and one told us she dropped over $1500 for a private lunch concert, along with vip meet and greet passes for the show. That cost did not include hotel and travel. Lawd, why? That is a lot of money being dropped on one dude! The same fan was mumbling something about making a fool of herself during a champagne toast as she drifted off into her own world...After that interesting jibber we quickly went back inside, it was getting colder by the minute. Some of the fans travelled across the globe but I've notice that is not unusual for Backstreet Boys fans.
This was a hard show to shoot because we had to film and photograph from the sides of the stage, no media pit for this one! Of course I forgot my longer lens, I mean it is amazing that I made it before the supporting acts hit the stage. Carter was lucky my plans changed and that The New Electric drew me in, because I did not plan to cover this show! My schedule had a secluded tropical island sandy beach waiting for me but that was pushed to January. Anyways, in the previous review of the "All American Tour" in March I explained one of the reason why I cover Nick's sets. Other than the obvious fact that he is a talented guy and people still search for editorials and photos of him on the old website www.fridaetv.ca. The other reason is a promise I made to our mutual friend who is no longer with us. A few years back when I was in college, I wrote for an alternative online magazine based in the UK. My then editor refused any poppy stuff, he said something along the lines of , "we don't cover that shit". So when Q asked me if I would cover any of Nick's performances, I told him what my editor told me, no. That's when I promised him if I ever ran my own publication I would cover Nick and his Backstreet amigos when I could. Since then, I have been good on my word! Once FridaeTV was born I covered a few BSB sets including the tour with "New Kids On The Block" and a few of Carter's solo gigs. We shall see how old and grey the Backstreet Boys get before they stop jamming on.
Naturally, a Backstreet Boy will sing a few of the tunes that launched his career but not right away. He opened the set with an instrumental intro of Everybody Backstreet's Back and went straight into a track from his first record "Blow Your Mind". He had tons of energy when he came out onto the stage and was greeted by his fans with the usual screaming their lungs out. Next track was the title track from his sophomore release "I'm Taking Off" and then came the Backstreet tune. He sang one of the tunes I really like "Incomplete". Everyone has someone they will never forget, the one that got away. Maybe people were trying to keep them a part? If you love a person but know things would never workout, the right thing to do is let them go. And, by clicking the underlined links you too can see those tunes except "I'm Taking Off", I only managed a phone clip of that one, I needed to rest my right hand it was starting to hurt a lot. You can find the clip of "I'm Taking Off" on Fb, Twitter and the new Insta. Ran into a few equipment issues, my monopod would not stay extended, the bottom clasp broke. Another issue was my useless right hand, it is in a brace until fully healed, one of the injuries from the accident. To tell you the truth I would have much rathered film from the soundboard but yeah, we had other directions for this show becuase the usual media rules are always the first three songs, no flash from the pit.
Anyone who has been through the struggle of the music industry, must give the Backstreet Boys major props for sticking it through the fad storms. They are working on a new record and like former label mate Britney Spears they have a residency lined up in Vegas next year. Apparently, it was the fastest selling residency in Vegas history, high fives! Carter has been promoting his latest film "Dead 7", touring, recording and being a first time Dad. I did see some of the recent flick, it needs more fluidity with the story, my attention span could not handle watching it all the way through. On the bright side it was structured better than the first two. The set list was almost the same, something a little different is needed, even the Buddy Holly Hipster Cobain abee look was still there. After Incomplete, Carter went on to tell his fans he was going to take off his clothes because he was there to turn on the fire or something like that. He said it just before he performed a medley of "Jessie's Girl" and his latest records title track "All American". And yes, he switched it up to "All Canadian". I was dying, he is too funny and I was probably the only one laughing because the fans were loving the sexy-time vibes he threw at them, the screams would get louder.
The band did well at backing Carter, I remember for the accoustic portion of the evening there were many guitars, which was awesome! Vocal tone was fuller than expected and it became smoother when he went into falsetto mode. Carter sounded all grown up during Incomplete, surprisingly it was not too nasally good job bud! He did sound like a cold was being battled in various tunes, take it easy, don't stress the vocals with more than one performance a day, you can say no to things. Occasionally I heard cracks here and there but I would rather hear pitchy vocals attempting to sing over a cold, than an auto-tuned lip-sync mime any day. What has made Carter and friends so successful, is their ability to not be so basic when they perform, they have swag. When he performed the tune "Swet" form his current album of course the fans were on peak shrill, as they were during the encore "Everybody". Nick has been consistently improving on the axe, but his focus on getting those chords right is somewhat hindering the performance. Thinking too much, just go with the flow. Even the best guitar players fuck up, that's how people learn to be better, by making mistakes. Thank you so much to Nick's label, publicity team and management for the link. Check some of the photos below and go see Nick Carter on tour now across this great country with The New Electric and Dan Talevski. You can grab the "All American" album here.
