That Shit Was B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

My friend Alina took me to a concert as a belated birthday present. In a mirror of my last year's gift to her (Sting + Annie Lennox), we returned to the Air Canada Centre, this time for some Love, Angel, Music, Baby! We went to see Gwen Stefani.

I've liked her music ever since the first No Doubt album. Tragic Kingdom produced nostalgic classics like Don't Speak and I'm Just a Girl. A decade later and Gwen is all grown up with intelligent catchy tunes Hollaback Girl, What You Waiting For and Rich Girl.

The highlight of tonight's concert, were the outlandish wardrobes. I'm guessing that newfound fashionista Gwen Stefani designed the outfits worn by herself and her dancing crew. They put on quite a show! The dancers brought out some law of physics defying moves, at times forcing you to pinch yourself after viewing their impossible coordination and poses.

Of course, the bottom line is that Stefani's voice was the star of the show. She is as good live, as she is in the studio. Audio engineers working on her album must have had many days off since her voice doesn't seem to require much tweaking or editing. She was so musically articulate that you sometimes wondered if what you were hearing was a produced recording. Of course it was not, she sang every word live.

And now the pictures:

Pedro & Alina's view from our ACC perch.


Marla, her sister and friends were coincidentally also at the concert.


Too close! Back up ... Back it up now!


Gwen Stefani points at the crowd.


The show goes on.


Obligatory end of concert balcony shot.

More photos @ my Flickr album.