The Owl Acoustic lounge went back to the ”90s with a sold out show by Bif Naked and her hot band, Aug.10.
The Toronto via Vancouver and Winnipeg based musician Beth Tolbert, best known as Bif Naked is an inspiration— a breast cancer survivor, philanthropist, author and performer.
She bared her soul about her battle with cancer and break ups and bounced around the stage in stilettos and a mini skirt like a woman half her age. She sounded like she was losing her voice, but still hit some piercing high notes.
She chatted engagingly with audience and quipped “Mama’s working” as she posed for selfies with audience members in front of the stage.
Audience members wanted to share their favourite Bif Naked memories, which she obliged by giving them the microphone before saying “Mama’s Working,” as she promised to return to Lethbridge ridge soon.
She introduced her band and joked she gets told she talks a lot, observing her voice isn’t as high as it used to be.
She hit all the hits like “Moment of Weakness,” “ Tango Shoes” and wound down her set with crowd favourites ‘Spaceman” and “ I Love Myself Today,” which she saved for the end.
She hit most of the highlights of her career. I arrived in the middle of “ Daddy’s Getting Married.”
“Chotee” about her first marriage to a drummer was a crowd favourite which was one of several songs that had an X Ray Spex feel.
She channelled Patti Smith for a couple other songs and fellow ’90s icons like No Doubt and Garbage in others.
The band also played some newer songs including a song they had only played four times before that had more of a straight ahead power-pop feel.
She noted she has a new album coming out soon.
“Jim” was a particularly haunting highlight as she noted “ it’s a song about betrayal, so replace it with your own name.’
She talked a little about winning her battle with breast cancer, and observed her experience encouraged her to volunteer with other cancer patients.
She advised the audience to check themselves for cancer.
There was a little crowd surfing during Spaceman, with which they wound down their set .
They were called back for an encore of “Twitch” from her breakthrough 1998 album “I Bificus.”
Unfortunately I missed an opening set from Miesha and the Spanks, but She gave several shout outs to the Calgary duo and encouraged the audience to buy Miesha and the Spanks’ merch.
— By Richard Amery, L.A.Beat editor
