The TD Union Station Summer Lounge event began this past Monday right in front of Union Station. The first act on this summer’s long bill was Jack DeKeyser. The set up is very conducive for a lunch crowd as they have food and drinks at the ready for your musical experience.

Jack started his set of right by singing,” Music is the food of love”, as I scarfed down some Gus Tacos with a tropical drink.  Then he reminisced about the good old days and sang about his old broken down Cadillac. It definitely sounded cooler than singing about his minivan.

Even though it was raining, this did not deter the loyal crowd that was hungry for music. The stage had a covering and the patio was mostly covered so we could still be singing and dancing in the rain.

Jack was truly in the moment as he could sing about what was going on around him, like ambulance sirens and other city noises that seemed non-stop. The only remark Jack had was the accompanied sounds were out of key.

The Blues songs were light and playful, like “Who let the cat out of the bag”, and “You turn my world to Blue”. The one song that got everybody’s attention was when he slipped in an acoustic version of Led Zeppelin’s, “Babe,I’m gonna leave you”.  That was the dessert of the day.

Unfortunately, Jack’s set was cut short by the promoters because they heard there may be lightning in the future. I didn’t hear any rumblings yet. Jack seemed really disappointed, because he is a consummate professional and hated leaving the stage early.

I remember back in my days; you would have to actually get struck by lightning for the show to stop. These days the promoters are a bunch of wimps. The security was ushering everyone away from the patio, not because of safety issues. They looked like they had to do it, or they would lose their jobs.

I took my time and bought a CD from Jack and found out he is busy this summer travelling around Ontario. So if you have a chance to see him make sure you are indoors or have a super sunny day. We would hate it if we got our hair wet at a concert. It may turn into a lawsuit or something.

Just a few shots of Jack in action: