Feist, Spoon

Gibson Amphitheatre, November 12

A few years back, among hundreds of urbanite Canucks, I stumbled upon Leslie Feist illuminating the night at an intimate Canada Day celebration in Toronto. Now a top-of-the-charts razzle-dazzler, Feist established Monday that even in front of thousands at a dual theme-park/concert venue with a sign that reads, “All You Can Eat, Adults 19.95,” she can engage a crowd with electric wonder. The zippy sets, complemented by flashes of color and floral silhouettes, displayed Feist as a wiry, larger-than-life sprite.

“What did you say?” my bud asked midshow, not hearing my enthusiastic mumble. I announced it louder, with Feist-like up and down octaves: a satisfactory “MmmmMMM.” Maybe because we think of Feist as more of a songstress, or we’ve heard one too many of her catchy tunes on Verizon commercials, it’s easy to forget that Feist is both a dynamic guitarist and a pianist too. The girl rocks it, and her range of tunings is, like, whoa. Austin-based Spoon warmed up, feeding the audience a wimpy salad of standstill jams that paled when compared to Feist’s savory feast. Spoon singer Britt Daniel’s voice doesn’t fill a large venue as Feist’s shimmy-shinny vocal style does. But Feist was up to the task. Despite her, at one point, describing the amphitheater as “unsizable,” Feist totally satisfied the audience’s appetite — without overstuffing it.

—Sophia Kercher

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