It was quite refreshing to go out on a Tuesday evening and find a packed room to see live music. Personally I went to see the return of Haley McNeil, who moved to Toronto from her hometown of Teeswater Ontario. She had an opportunity to grow her style of music and moved to B.C.
We may have missed the boat trying to nurture her career here. The good news is that she is playing all over Canada and developing her talent. She came back to Toronto and I wanted to catch up.
The top bill went to an artist I have never heard of before. Her name is Jimi and she has a growing number of fans. So this was a great opportunity to catch up with a friend and to witness a brand new artist.
Haley McNeil
Haley simply walked on stage quietly and with an acoustic guitar just began to play. It was a modest way of saying, “Let the party begin”. Her delicate opening soon transformed with a stellar guitar tone and her strong and clear voice. With a hint of a bourbon soaked voice, this young artist was out to prove what she is made of.
She is currently working on new material and couldn’t wait to share it with all of us. She looked like she was bursting with enthusiasm as she was trying out new material in a packed room of new listeners. Her level of excitement soon soaked into the crowd as their feedback was growing louder.
Haley normally plays solo with her acoustic guitar, but on this night she introduced us to her friend Marcus who ramped things up with an electric guitar. The two of them went into an old Fleetwood Mac song, “Rhianna”. Again Haley’s vocals were not only robust, but she pulled out that Stevie Nicks vibes and bathed us in them.
Personally, I love her brand new song called, “Bloom”. She is describing her emotional state of where she is right now in life and is extremely grateful as she is emerging into an artist that she is envisioning.
By the end of the set, Haley decided to share her favourite song with us. It was a song I am sure she sang growing up since she was a child. I believe a lot of us have sung that same song. It was “Me and Bobby McGee”. It was clear that this classic is still alive and mighty as the audience loved her version of it. You can catch a clip of this moment from my Instagram post.
This is Haley McNeil live-
Jimi
Jimi was a mystery to me. I was intrigued with the name thinking of a Black Guitar God. This Jimi is a white female rocker.
With a mystical Country Rock opening, this dark and smoky moment led into a cool and confident young woman walking on stage and began to own it. In our fashion today as an audience, we all had camera phones out and pointing them at her, she replied by staring at those phones and pointing at them like a Rock Star.
Once she established herself on this stage, she began to engage the crowd like we were all in this bar room together and it was time to loosen up. With a smoky roar she gave us permission to get into a full groove and get a little rowdier. Well she got the crowd a little rowdier when she stepped off stage and walked through the crowd. As she was making her way back, she and another woman just connected and rocked out together on the floor and a Rock and Roll spectacle was born. How fun was that!
When she dove into her song 1969, it was homage to one of the best periods in music. It was a fantasy song about being alive during that time and how she wished she was born earlier to exist in that time frame. I also have that exact same fantasy. I was born a little too late to truly revel in that time.
Jimi then went and did a cool and raspy version of Bill Wither’s 1971 hit, “Ain’t no Sunshine”. The way she blended her blues style to this classic had everybody in a very chilled mood.
One of her biggest highlights in life happened 4 years ago when she had the opportunity to hang out with Bryan Adams. She practically gushed when Bryan made her a sandwich. I guess not everybody gets this privilege. Well she didn’t just receive a sandwich, they wrote a song together and it is called, “I don’t want to close my eyes”.
Jimi also has a wonderful power of persuasion. She jokingly said she could use a shot of Tequila and two minute later an audience member comes up with a tray of 4 tequila shots for the entire band. This was such a classic Rockstar move.
Speaking of Rockstar, that was one of her last songs of the night. This song was filled with ambition and desire as they reached for the sky. My only desire in that moment was, I wanted to see them really rock out the ending of the song, good and hard. That would be my only hint to Jimi.
Jimi came back on for her encore with a song called, “Back in my Boots”, and then she really did kick some ass.
If you would like to follow these artists on Instagram, here are their pages.
www.instagram.com/haleymcneilmusic/
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This is Jimi live-
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