REVIEW: DARREN HAYES - MOD CLUB, TORONTO:





















Photo copyright KulPop

Darren Hayes returned to Toronto after seven years to a very appreciative crowd at The MOD Club last night. He apologized for the gap blaming the record company (SONY) for not bringing him to Canada for his 'Spin' and 'The Tension & The Spark' releases.

Darren played a sampling of new songs as well as some previous solo material and some Savage Garden tracks. A girl in the audience (the audience was full mainly of screaming young girls) told me he had been feeling a little under the weather a few days ago. During a couple of songs in looked to me like Darren was relying on his vocal tracks being played from one of the two computers he was using to flesh out the three piece band's sound (especially on the track 'Me, Myself and (i)').

Darren spoke about his difficult relationship he's had with his father before he performed 'How To Build A Time Machine', one of the stronger new tracks he performed that will be on his upcoming double album 'This Delicate Thing We've Made' that he is releasing on August 20th. Another standout track was the song 'Step Into The Light' as well as his cover of Prince's 'Baby, I'm A Star' that closed out his set before he came out and performed 'Void' as the encore (rough setlist listed below).





















Photo copyright KulPop

Darren is a seasoned performer and seemed to be really enjoying himself on stage and knows how to get the crowd excited. At one point he said that the crowd would probably scream at anything he said and someone in the audience yelled out 'Say fabric softener', which he did to even more screams. Darren did mention that he got married and asked if you could do that in Canada and someone yelled he should have done it here. He also took a girl's camera at one point and took some photos for her (later in the show he took the same girl's camera and rubbed it on the front of his pants as if he was cleaning the lense (I guess??). Darren also promised he would be back soon, so I'm guessing he will be doing a proper tour after the new cd is released.

It appears that Darren really enjoyed his time in Toronto, he wrote about it here





















Photo copyright KulPop

London's Temposhark opened the gig with seven song set with most songs coming from their debut cd 'The Invisible Line' (which was for sale for the first time ever for $10 so I picked up the first copy before the doors opened). They were pretty good, although I thought their cover of Madonna's 'Like A Prayer' was weak and maybe a mistake. Imogen Heap unfortunately wasn't there to add her vocals on 'Not That Big' (sounds great on the cd, as well as the Guy Sigsworth produced tracks). I would have got my cd signed but the lineup after the show to meet the guys at the merch table was moving slowly I decided to exit on to College Street that was closed off for the very busy 'Taste of Little Italy' festival. As I walked home I think someone tried to pick my pocket as my ticket envelope and setlist paper all of a sudden were removed from my back pocket and when I turned around they were on the ground.


Temposhark - The MOD Club

Not That Big
Paris
Invisible Ink (Prelude)
Blame
Little White Lie
Like A Prayer (Madonna cover)
Joy

Darren Hayes - The MOD Club - Toronto June 15th, 2007

Intro music
?
Who Would Have Thought
Carry On Dancing
Unlovable
Step Into The Light
How To Build A Time Machine
The Tension & The Spark
I Don't Know You Anymore
I Want You
On The Verge Of Something Wonderful
Me, Myself and (i)
Baby, I'm A Star (Prince cover)

Encore:
Void