Montreal Jazz Festival 2009

Can you distinguish the sound of 1,000 from that of 10,000 people? How about between 10,000 and 50,000? 50,000 and 100,000? 200,000 people? I can tell you this much, the roar from the audience in Montreal (estimated to be over 200,000) was beyond thundering, beyond explosive, into the realm of unfathomable! The cheers that Stevie elicited from the crowd from his mere presence shook my body to the core. And that was with my ear monitors in place! As far as I could see, people were crowed into the street that lay beyond the stage where we performed. We were supposed to start the show at 9:30, but were postponed by 30 minutes due to rain. Shortly after Stevie walked on stage, the rain subsided. Coincidence? Maybe…

We all poured our hearts in the 2.5 hour concert that night. The music of course included several of Stevie’s hit (Master Blaster, Higher Ground, Superstition, etc), but also included homage to Michael Jackson. The band performed “I Can’t Help It”, and grooved along while Michael’s recordings of a few hits (“The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Billie Jean”, etc.) were played over the PA. In a nod to the fact that we were performing for a Jazz Festival, we also performed “All Blues”, “Giant Steps” and “Spain”. The concert was a beautiful experience for all of us onstage, and most reviews and comments I’ve read online indicate that the massive crowd felt the same emotions that we performers did.