1) Mystery
2) All Over You
3) Selling The Drama
4) The River
5) They Stood Up For Love
6) I Walk The Line [Johnny Cash]
7) Wings
8) Lightning Crashes
9) Lakini's Juice
   (Small Improv while guitars were fixed/adjusted)
10) The Dolphin's Cry
11) I Alone
12) Heaven
13) Show

ENCORE
14) Run To The Water
15) Mirror Song
16) Sofia
17) White, Discussion
18) Dance With You

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One the best concerts I have ever attended - the part where Ed called all girls named Sofia up onto the stage was very entertaining - My daughter Logan who also attended (she is 21 yrs old) said "Ed dances like you dad" - I take that as a compliment! Live are the best!!

Ok, I was at the show tonight. Actually didn't get a floor ticket (although I wonder why... only about half of the tickets at Massey were sold). I was up on the balcony, great view. I have to say though, I was kind of disappointed with the show. I thought the set was rather short. I dont know what the average length is that LIVE usually play, but tonight they only played an hour and 45 minutes and considering the huge back catalogue they have, I found that to be rather disappointing. I am not sure if it had something to do with the fact that only about half of the seats in the venue were sold and that a lot of people actually SAT DOWN during the show... but I think that would be even more reason to spice it up! However, I really enjoyed the show, even if it was short. I loved the fact that they asked several people from the audience to come on stage. I wish I had been among the lucky few! Oh and I was REALLY happy they played Run To The Water. It's one of my favourite songs. I actually requested Overcome quite a few times during the show, even though I knew it was pretty unlikely they'd play it. Sorry if I got on anyone's nerves.

I have to admit I was shocked at the number of empty seats. Quite frankly, I didnt think the show was publicized as it should have been. I was lucky enough to catch the show in Feb when they opened for Nickelback at the ACC and had to see them again. The Massey Hall show was even better!! It was a more personal setting and being able to dance with Ed in the aisle was the highlight of my life! Keep up the great work guys!!

I thought Live was Brilliant last week in Toronto! I was also frustrated with the low turn-out and the fact that I was in the last row of the balcony when there were so many empty seats! My view was still excellent though. It was such a great night! My favorite part was their final song Dance With You. That's been my favorite Live song since it came out and it was such a nice surprise when they began to play it!

Review Live @ Massey Hall, Toronto, ON - July 19, 2006
We arrived at the venue with lots of time to pick up our tickets and settle in. The venue is the historic Massey Hall, a true wonder of history set in the heart of downtown Toronto near Yonge and Dundas. The hall was first opened and used in June of 1894. Massey Hall was the site of the legendary Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie concert recorded as Jazz at Massey Hall in May 1953.

The theatre was only about a quarter full when Canada's Jeff Martin took the stage. Martin is famous in these parts as well as in Australia as the frontman for "The Tea Party", a recently defunct rock band from Canada. They had a fifteen year career and released nine records before disbanding in 2005.
Jeff's set was reasonably well-received by the crowd, which filtered in throughout his 50 minute set to fill about half of the theatre. Highlights included the Tea Party/Lanois favourite "The Messenger" as well as some of the solo material Martin has been writing in his new home in Ireland.
Interesting to see Michael Lee, drummer for Page and Plant and Bonzo-Bonham carbon-copy behind the skins last evening. His style mimics that of Bonham so closely and the fact that he owns the very same model amber vista-lite drums that Bonham used in "The Song Remains The Same" makes the comparison even stronger. I personally didn't enjoy Lee's style, as I thought he was overplaying the instrument. In fact, I thought Martin's whole opening set, while somewhat engaging thanks to his powerful voice, was amateurish and uninteresting. Others in the crowd seemed to enjoy what was happening, and after Martin had to politely ask people to stand up and rock out to the last song, the room was then luke-warm enough for +Live+ to take the stage.

The changeover between bands was quick and efficient. I had a chance to dart to the washroom and check out the merch table, which proved to be a disappointment, as there was no merch table for +Live+. I've never been to a +Live+ show without a merch table, so this was a bit of a shock. I have seen it happen before, though, where foreign bands don't bother bringing their merch across the border due to import taxes and levies and see it as more of a benefit to leave it in their country... so I'm sure this is what happened here. I made it back to my seat in enough time for the lights to dim and +Live+ to take the stage en-mass.

The opening chords of "Mystery" put me at-ease... this show was going to be great. The band sounded amazing, the mix was great and the musicianship was tight. They all had huge smiles on, and seemed to already be happy to be back. Though the set is posted below, I'd like to talk about some of the personal highlights of the show and how these have affected my interpretation of +Live+'s new material. On an overall level, I have to point out something that we all already know These guys are totally pros. They have been doing this for so long, they are no strangers to the fact that this is a show.

Throughout the concert, I couldn't help but marvel at the showmanship and level of professionalism that this band exudes. The first moment of the show which totally got me was the moment "They Stood Up For Love" began. Taylor's move to the front of the stage to chunk out that incessant chord and the funky beats coming from behind him got me moving, as well as the rest of the crowd. Then, shortly after when Lakini's Juice was beginning, with even more intensity than I've seen recently from +Live+, I knew that my favourite band had not gone anywhere. The set continued with song-after-song of pure rock goodness, with some intense surprises for the die-hard fans in the audience.

Here's the big one Mirror Song Mirror song is a tune that I truthfully never thought I would hear performed Live. I got on-board with this band after Mental Jewellery and missed that tour entirely. Although it was a single, it never received all that much attention. The chances of hearing Mirror Song over, say, Operation Spirit or Pain Lies on the Riverside were pretty slim and I'd written this possibility off completely. However, there in the encore was Mirror Song. Amazing. Although I could have checked setlists online beforehand to see this might have been a possibility, I didn't, and I'm glad I left it to surprise. Good times.

A special mention should be made of Adam Kowalczyk, whose intensity on stage and vocal creativity offered some of the most interesting musical moments of the night. His blend with Ed was perfect, and the musical decisions he made in respect to the backing vocals were very impressive. Another special mention should be made of the girl who was dancing non-stop in the balcony stage left. Very cool. A couple of moments in the show I didn't like the dance-party for 'Sofia' where all the skimpiest-dressed girls in the crowd were chosen to adorn the stage and dance while Ed walked around them and the crowd shirtless. Not my cup of tea. I like looking at girls and all... but it just came off a little cheesy. However, I understand the appeal for some.

Now, here's a personal revelation I have come to in the last weeks. I have said before that I was a huge fan of +Live+ in the old days and in recent years due to Toronto's absence from their tour schedule and the fact that the music had taken a step toward the adult-contemporary realm, I took a step back from the fandom I was once a part of. It seemed to be the right thing to do... as the new music was not speaking to me the way it used to and despite the various other reasons the +Live+ camp was getting to me, the music is really the factor I should be looking to most. I was re-watching the Awake videos DVD in preparation for the show recently, and in the interview section, Ed makes reference to the newer material as being "less of a search, and more of a find". I had never really understood this sentiment until last night. I realise now that the symbolism, darkness, metaphor, angst and mystery that enveloped the first three to four albums, the records that I really connect with, would not be coming from an authentic place if Ed were writing that kind of music today. I find the fact that the lyric has become more simple, the music less sonically intense and more accessible, to be very logical if you consider the place where the musicians are at in their lives. For a musician who is perfectly happy in their personal life to be inconsistently writing about things like loneliness or heartbreak is a farce, and I now appreciate why +Live+ has expired to a different kind of writing. It would be pretentious for it to be anything else, and I appreciate the fact that +Live+ are still writing about aspects of life and the soul that are true and representative of them. I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out, but there it is.

The theatre seats up to 2,750 patrons... it was a little disappointing to see that the theatre was at about three-quarters capacity last evening. That said, +Live+ have not been to Toronto in about five years, and this show was not strongly promoted so it would be wrong to expect a huge turnout. The upside is I was able to get a forth-row seat and see the band that I am proud to call my favourite rock out supreme. Looking forward to the next round.