In the time it’s taken Feist to return to Victoria, I managed to move to England, get married, move back, and get a divorce. Her last show was on the Legislative grounds during the BC Day long weekend in 2008. I attended it as a naïve VIU theatre student who was mesmerized by the tech at the show (shadow puppetry was prominently featured, and I may have been a touch stoned), and have the set list somewhere in my parent’s basement. Sixteen years went by without this absolute dreamboat of a human being returning to the city. Thankfully, she was worth the wait. Supporting her album Multitudes, the Finale Tour was the end of a long and winding era of experimentation in her live shows and a definitive exploration of her discography.
Feist started her two-hour set walking through the theatre aisles to a platform at the front of the stage, projections from her phone displayed on a white drop curtain behind her. It began with just her and her guitar, playing The Bad in Each Other. She confided that she had the set list written on her arm with words and symbols for the first act of her show. It reminded me of my high school boyfriend writing down the set lists for the Green Day, Foo Fighters, and White Stripes shows we went to see way back in the day. She rearranged her phone’s viewpoint from her feet (clad in stockings and a sensible heel) to her waist, showcasing her blue dress and was thusly dubbed “Silk Cam.” She relinquished the phone to Charlie (totally not an audience plant…) who became the camera person for the next few songs.
As she started into The Redwing, she requested the audience along the aisle hold up their phones with photos of what they are grateful for in the everyday. There was crocuses, dogs, families, all sorts of everyday happiness. It was quite a poignant moment. During her time talking to the audience between songs, she got emotional and would start crying, then joked that “This is the sort of thing you have nightmares about in high school,” to lighten the mood. She balanced emotions and humour with ease during these chats. Before starting Century, she talked about how, during the pandemic, she and her daughter had to stay still in a place with seasons, and watch one particular tree in her yard go through it all. During all of these gorgeous, human moments there was simple and spectacular visuals from Charlie the cameraman. He framed her in multitudes of herself (check out her album cover for reference) and took us on adventures of the theatres features and people’s shoes. He found a purse behind a seat and a notebook within it and delivered it to Feist. She read poetry from it and then descended from the stage.
I Took All of My Rings Off began as she walked down the aisle, placing rings down gently and as she returned to the stage, music swelled and the curtain dropped. Her band was on stage, backlit and a disco ball throwing orbs of light into the audience. My jaw dropped out of wonder during this – it was so simple, so clean, so right. The change of music was dramatic and beautiful without losing the intimacy of the first act. Feist and her band leaned into filling the room with sound — In Lightning with its chaotic, drum-led start and through synths and guitar picks, Any Party leaned into its peaks and valleys, and Caught a Long Wind had a build that reduced me to tears. The lighting was kept to basic concert lighting and I appreciated that – it just added to the craftiness and shape of the whole experience. I Feel It All had the crowd up on their feet and dancing as much as the Royal Theatre allows; ushers were escorting people back to their seats in the aisles.
She closed out her show with an updated version of 1234 that left behind the poppy sound of the original and had a dark richness to it. That would be the best way I know how to describe it. Her white curtain rose back up and she was going into her two encore songs as I snuck out to catch an Uber and chat with my friend about what we’d just witnessed.
To put it simply – she’s a genuine artist. She’s got the humour, the grace, the voice, the talent . . . everything. She showed depth both visually and sonically. You could hear a pin drop during her set — something I don’t equate with a lot of concert crowds post-lockdown. To hold that power — and do it with such humility and charisma — takes strength, and Leslie Feist is the real deal. A Canadian legend.
This was one of my favourite concerts of all time and I hope everyone else in that audience felt lucky to be there.
