[Dixielandjazz] Michael Buble reviewed

[Robert Ringwald]

Charm, Not Vocals, Defines and Boosts Sold-Out Michael Buble Concert
by Howard Cohen
Miami Herald, March 14, 2010

Canadian crooner Michael Buble treated his sold-out BankAtlantic Center arena crowd
Friday night to some of pop's greatest tunes played by an exceptional 14-piece band,
a raft of zingers that scored more often than not, ample charm and some fine singing.
But just some of the latter.
The legends 34-year-old Buble freely quotes -- Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett -- would
seldom, in their prime, perform standards with the level of insouciance in which
Buble tossed off material like Sway, Save the Last Dance for Me or, especially, a
haphazard, dull Mack the Knife.
Buble treated those tunes as mere throwaways, opening Sway with some garbled Spanish,
trotting around the arena floor during Dance and mumbling his way through Knife as
if he couldn't care to place mike and mouth in close enough proximity to get the
Kurt Weill/Bertold Brecht lyrical tale out intelligibly.
But letting these occasional lapses in vocal delivery weigh too heavily in a summation
of a Buble concert experience would be a mistake.
On his grandly entertaining first arena performance in South Florida, as he begins
this leg of his Crazy Love Tour, the warm and engaging Buble sported so much charm
only someone with the disposition of American Idol's cranky judge Simon Cowell could
leave the joint upset.
In one of many bits of banter with his audience, the widely popular Buble naturally
mentions Canada's recent hockey victory at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. How could
the British Columbia native not do so?
"You booed me, like you give a s--- about hockey," he teased the few vocal Panthers
fans in the house.
When he sang Billy Vera and the Beaters' lone hit, At This Moment, a song familiar
to those who grew up in the 1980s and probably remember the oldie from its use in
the Family Ties sitcom, Buble prefaced by saying he was going to perform "a medley
of their hit."
After a shower of unexpected pyrotechnics punctuated Cry Me a River, a thrilling,
brassy, James Bond-worthy set opener, the star joked, "Did you like the opening?
Good. I'll pass the collection plate cause that s--- was expensive."
It was also hard not to crack a smile when Buble paid tribute to director John Hughes'
beloved Ferris Bueller character of the 1986 movie and Michael Jackson. The younger
members of the audience, he joked, have the Jonas Brothers for inspiration. "I had
Michael Jackson."
>From Ferris Beuller's Day Off he did a brief Twist and Shout. From Jackson's catalog,
Buble gamely sang a little of Billie Jean and busted some credible Jacko dance moves.
"That was just an excuse to grab my crotch in public," he said.
The concert wasn't all quips and giggles. Bubbly tunes like Buble's Beatlesque Haven't
Met You Yet proved just as likely to send fans out of the vast arena on a giddy high.
Vocally, too, when Buble was on his game he sang with the same strength and brash
flair found on his chart-topping albums.
The opening Cry Me a River, for instance, was terrific. A tender Georgia on My Mind
soared and was elevated higher by a lovely solo from lead trumpet player Jumaane
Smith. When Buble closed his nicely paced, if a bit too brief, 90-minute concert
with a hushed rendition of songwriter Leon Russell's staple, A Song for You, he pulled
out one of Tony Bennett's famed stage tricks and sang the last few lines of the song
without vocal mike or amplification. The gimmick worked because Buble's voice still
carried well into the arena.
Buble's ample charm and genuine love for performing probably carried even a greater
distance, all the way back to Canada.


--Bob Ringwald K6YBV
rsr at ringwald.com
Fulton Street Jazz Band
916/806-9551

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