An artist in our midst

Attending a k.d. lang concert is a memorable experience. The Canadian native arrived on stage barefoot, wearing a wearing a shapeless suit and an indefinably practical haircut. Then the sound was unleashed, and for the next hour and a half, the audience was spellbound in a sensuously transcending experience through the soaring angelic voice; astonishingly complex in range, texture, and pitch. Only k.d. lang could pull the Ingenue Redux Tour, 25 years after the album catapulted her into fame, with a fuller figure but the same resplendent vocals as the original recording. Have eighteen years as a practicing Buddhist helped? Voice control is dependent on breathing, and so is successful meditation.

Lang is a mesmerizing presence, familiarly engaging the septet of superb musicians she’s touring with, including longtime bassist David Piltch and Daniel Clarke, on keyboards. From the slow-motion rendition of Save Me to the intensely lush Miss Chatelaine, she sings the 1992 Ingenue in the order it appears on the album, ending with the sultry yearning Constant Craving. The song became a “life-changing hit,” winning a 1992 Grammy for Record of the Year, on its Single category.

In full command of the scene, with perfect pitch delivery whether on vocals, political or double entendre comments. The second half of the concert was a mosaic of versatility. Lang first performed Honey and Smokey, from case/lang/veirs album, a 2016 collaborative effort with two female colleagues: the Neko Case and Laura Veirs. It was followed by a selection of three favorite Canadian composers: Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen. Help Me by Mitchell and Young’s Helpless were followed by Cohen’s 1984 Hallelujah, a composition that she initially chose as part of her Hymns of the 49th Parallel and in 2006, sang to her fellow Buddhist. Accompanied on keyboards by Clarke, the brilliant religiously secular hymn became a hauntingly aching juxtaposition of the spiritual and physical, tugging at our souls through her interpretation.

Intense ovation brought her back for two encores: Sing It Loud, reminding each of us to always “be yourself.” Lang bid a final adieu after Sleeping Alone.

Then reality set back only significantly altered: we’ve been witness to an artist at work.

Save me
The Mind of Love
Miss Chatelaine
Wash Me Clean
So It Shall Be
Still Thrives This Love
Season of Hollow Soul (memory of coming upon a fallen cedar tree during a walk through Vancouver’s verdant Stanley Park)
Outside Myself
Tears of Love’s Recall
Constant Craving

Honey and Smoke (case/lang/veirs)
I Dream of Spring
Help Me (Joni Mitchell)
Helpless (Neil Young)
Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)

Sing It Loud
Sleeping Alone

Share