Marina was fabulous...the opener not so much
by Jan on 2019-10-25Orpheum Theatre - VancouverRating: 4 out of 5Marina was fabulous...the opener not so much. After about five minutes I realized that: a) the opener had no stage presence whatsoever, and b) the singer didn't know how to work a microphone (she'd be singing about something, and at one moment (when the microphone was close to her mouth) she would be very LOUD, and then she'd move the microphone away from her mouth and would sound like a whisper) - initially I thought the venue had bad acoustics, then I realized it was the singer, not the venue, and c) the band were amateurs. Somebody needed to "get the hook." Marina, on the other hand, was fabulous. She has great material, an amazing voice, great stage presence, and actively engaged with the audience. She's also an amazing dancer. I felt bad for one of her backup dancers because she was holding a fluorescent tube that wasn't lit (unlike everyone else's - one would think that the stagehands would have checked this beforehand?). It was a bit odd that they got about halfway through the song before someone finally replaced the burnt-out item with a lit-up item, but whatever. Her drummer was also fabulous, but unfortunately we never saw him as he was in the back and in the dark. The background light show was also quite spectacular. Overall it was a great show, but I could have done without the opener.