Two-time Grammy winner, Melanie Fiona, returned to her hometown and put on a legendary show for her city at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre for her first-ever headlining concert in Canada earlier this month.
The show began on time (surprisingly) with a short list of talented opening acts such as Toronto’s own LeiLa Dey, who stepped on stage, exciting fans with a sweet voice and relatable tracks for female fans who were vibing along with the up and comer.
New York duo CharlieRED, comprised of vocalist Rocki Evans and producer Cobaine Ivory, hit the Phoenix stage next, introducing their hip-hop/blues sound to Toronto with an electric performance. The two, accompanied by their band, paid homage to their influences such as James Brown and Notorious B.I.G. and made a good first impression on a critical city.
The dark venue filled up and it was evident fans were ready for Melanie.
As her band began to play, hometown legend Melanie Fiona skipped onstage at 11 p.m. on the dot, in the dot, sporting a pair of cut-off jean shorts that had a Canadian flag stuffed in the back pocket and sky-high Louboutins that the songstress was amazingly able to dance in effortlessly.
From start to finish, Melanie took us through an ‘emotional journey’ of her MF life and performed to her fullest capabilities, belting out her hits such as “Give It To Me Right”, “It Kills Me”, “Monday Morning” and “Change The Record” with immense class, so rare for R&B artists today.
In Toronto fashion, the crowd erupted in cheers with Melanie’s use of patois and danced along to her energetic performance of the Caribbean-influenced “Ay Yo”. Astonishingly, Melanie announced to the crowd that earlier she had lost her voice, but the energy from the city brought it back through sparked adrenaline, which was hard to believe as her pitches and melodies were completely on point throughout the powerful set.
To conclude the show, Melanie belted out her soulful ballad “4 AM”, which the predominantly female crowd sang along with. She left the stage as the lights went low before chants and claps brought her back out for an encore of her Drake cover of “Started From The Bottom” and fan requests of favourites like “Gone and Never Coming Back”.
Melanie delivered arguably the best R&B performance of the year to her hometown city, reciprocating the love she received from her fans and giving them a superstar-quality show. Toronto should be proud.
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