As the first note of “Don’t Stop Believing” echoed throughout the Air Canada Centre at 9:00 p.m. on June 12, 2011, in Toronto, Ont., the crowd of Gleeks, young and old alike let themselves get lost in the music, letting out a unanimous shriek of delight. Red foam loser finger at the ready, everyone began dancing as Corey Monteith and Lea Michele kicked of what would be one hour and twenty five minutes of Glee heaven, full of songbirds, ballads, and duets…I mean, duvets – according to Britney S. Pierce, anyway.
Throughout every song, the vocals of each cast member were flawless – it is next to impossible to single out any of them as the greatest performer of the night. What was most impressive was how many songs they fit into such a short amount of time! They covered most of the favourites – although I would have liked a song or two from Wicked, but you can’t be too picky! – paying homage to all the little details from the show that the fans hold so dear to their hearts, from the costumes, the classroom, and the dance moves, right down to good ol’ “Trouty Mouth”.
Although Matthew Morrison and Jane Lynch were not there in person, their lack of attendance was made up by a series of videos the two filmed beforehand, where they are talking to the audience or the cast themselves, giving advice or just being plain ol’ Sue Sylvester and getting the Cheerios to hand out barf bags to the audience before the concert started.
It was especially nice to see the cast being so interactive with the audience. There was a little stage set up at the other end of the floor section, and the cast switched back and forth regularly from there to the main stage so everyone had a good view. As well, they would walk through the audience to get from one stage to another, singing into peoples cameras and shaking hands as they went along.
The Warblers got their time to shine as well, with a three-song set in the middle of the show. Heather Morris, a.k.a. Britney, even hit on “Blaine Warbler”, asking him to make out with her in front of the whole audience, and was answered by a charming and sassy Chris Colfer with a, “Britney, are you flirting with my man in Toronto?!” Chris, a-la Kurt Hummel, then went on to make a “deep proposal” to Blaine in honour of Lake Ontario being the deepest of the Great Lakes, asking him to join the Glee club – which Darren Criss then did, for all the encore songs that New Directions sang.
Over all, the concert was extremely entertaining and mistake free aside from the one time Chris dropped his microphone in the middle of a song. Heather did Britney Spears justice by giving a performance that made the audience second guess if they weren’t actually watching Britney Spears on stage right then and there. When Amber Riley sang “Ain’t No Way,” her flawless vocals that rang through the darkness, a single spotlight only on her, were accompanied by the constant camera flashes all around the arena as if a hundred fireflies were circling her, making the performance truly magical. And when Ashley Fink as Lauren Zizes told Mark Salling (Noah “Puck” Puckerman) to “Get over here,” during “Fat Bottomed Girls,” every girl in the audience wished they were her.
While being as unbiased as possible, I have to say that this was one of the greatest concerts I have been to, vocally and entertainment-wise – the only criticism I have was that it ended way too soon after it began. I give it a four and a half stars out of five – good job Glee club!
Set List:
