Saturday night was a highly anticipated Summer Night Concert as singer/songwriters Colbie Caillat and Gavin Degraw shared the Westjet Concert Stage at The Fair At The PNE.
The “Bubbly” Colbie Caillat took the stage first, looking like the California girl she is, her casual style; loosely tied blond lock, tank top and boots, makes the audience comfortable right away. Like she was born sitting on the beach with her guitar, her effervescent pop sound made the concert bowl a peaceful oasis in the midst of a bustling fairground. Playing songs from all three of her albums during her 40minute set the capacity audience sang and swayed along to hits like Realize and Lucky, during which she welcomed tour-mate Gavin Degraw on stage to sing the part normally sung by Jason Mraz. Finally closing out the set with Bubbly, her signature track perfectly describing her personality.
After a quick stage turnover, Gavin Degraw burst forth, centre-stage, in a blaze of light singing his hit In Love With A Girl. From there on it was hit after hit as the energetic and humourous Degraw bounded about the stage singing and regaling the audience with anecdotes about the upcoming song, or sometimes just about life. In his trademake cap, and looking fully recovered from his 2011 attack in New York City, the singer switched from behind his piano to covering the entire stage as he endeared himself further to the fans. Over the 45 minutes on stage he played tracks from throughout his decade long career including, Soldier, Chariot, Radiation and the hit that brought him to fame I Don’t Wanna Be. The whole set was a big sing-along but that hit boosted it up even further. After a brief moment off stage he returned to close out the night with If You Asked Me Too. I’m sure many of the audience wanted to ask him to keep playing longer as everyone seemed to be enjoying the warm summer evening outdoors with some great music.
Colbie Caillat and Gavin Degraw wrap up their co-headlining tour at the end of August, the culmination of a summer festivals and fairs.
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