Danny Michel brought his new band, a lot of good humour plus hot guitar playing and new songs to the Slice, Monday Nov. 5. It was the first of two different shows he played at the Slice.
The Monday show combined new and old songs in an enjoyable set which was surprisingly not sold out.
His band was tight and energetic, bassist Mike McIntyre added extra harmony vocals. Opening act Quique Escamilla sat in the background playing extra percussion, though he stepped up to add extra guitar and vocals, provoking McIntyre to chuckle “now you’ll be singing on all of the songs.”
Michel mused why nobody was dancing in the big open space in front of the stage, which convinced a couple to get up and move to Michel's Caribbean tinged groove. Most of them were content to sit back and listen carefully.
A newer favourite “Wish Willy,” came early in the set.
“ Feather Fish and Fin ” was a highlight as was an older song, “ Invisible Man.”
He combined newer songs with a lot of old favourites the audience knew.
Michel told a lot of jokes as well as stories including one about stealing Paul Simon's apple core after meeting him after a show in Toronto and trying to plant a Paul Simon apple tree, which later died.
As usual, Michel actually had a lot of Paul Simon in his voice.
He grinned and was totally blissed out as he danced in place, playing tasteful guitar leads, looking happier than a pig in poo.
He told a story about recording the new CD in Belize and about how relaxed the musicians were.
He had a sample of the voice of one of the musicians, who didn’t show up to the studio for three days, then gleefully discussed how they recorded for three straight days, after which he asked Michel what his name was.
There were a lot of highlights including one of his more popular songs “Tennessee Tobacco,” and several laid back exotic pop songs.
Michel was having fun, adding a few bars of a variety of classic rock tunes into his own songs including “We Will Rock You,” and even the themes from James Bond and Spiderman, among others.
One of the highlights was a new song “What Colour Are You.”
While he didn’t play all of his favourites on the first night, he promised to play them on the next night, Tuesday, Nov. 6.
Throughout, his band provided a rock solid backing though they stepped forward to shine on their own.,
They left the stage as Michel played a beautiful version of the Clash song “Lost in the Supermarket.”
