Michael Bublé nothing less than fucking perfect in Vancouver

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      At Rogers Arena on Thursday, June 19

      Michael Bublé already seems like the kind of guy that makes every moment on stage count, but it was pretty clear at a packed Rogers Arena on Thursday night that the Burnaby-raised crooner wanted to up his game for the hometown crowd. Though Bublé's golden throat was the focus of the night, the megastar spent a lot of time humbly saluting family, friends and every single local fan for coming out. And to be clear, representatives from all factions made it out in spades. "If it didn't sell out it was going to be embarrassing," he said with a chuckle early on in the evening.

      Long-time touring partners Naturally 7 were tasked with warming up the crowd. The a capella combo did this via a beat-box assisted version of Coldplay's "Fix You" and a soul medley that had the jovial vocalists giving their all in an attempt to get Vancouverites out of their seats and doing the pony to "I Feel Good".

      Bublé fired things up even more, however, in the opening seconds of his own set. After mass blasts of pyro shot up from the stage, the tuxedo-adorned singer creeped out from beneath a partially raised curtain covered in magma projections to deliver "Fever". His vocals on the torch song ran more smooth than smoky, but he still brought the heat on the standard before transitioning into his own sunny pop stomp "I Haven't Met You Yet".

      Bublé cracked wise whenever the music died down, at one point joking about the recent joys of fatherhood ("It's the most I've gotten back for 15 seconds of work") and hamming it up with a sign-waving woman he'd discovered had been catching his concerts steadily over the last decade. "You've seen 45 concerts? You crazy bitch!" he said, laughing, before bringing the rhinestone-jean-jacket sporting fan up front for a hug and a picture.

      Smooth talking the rest of Rogers, Bublé explained he was approaching the show like a date, starting things off romantically before kicking into overdrive. "Hopefully, if the date goes good, we'll have dirty sex in my car," he said with a lil' devil's smirk creeping across his face. It was one of many just-slightly dirty punch lines to elicit peals of laughter from the family crowd.

      As planned, he eased into the first half of his show with a steady blend of familiar tunes, from a cocktail-lounge revamp of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" to the opulent, blaring-brass big-band arrangement of  "You Make Me Feel So Young" to  Van Morrison's "Moondance".

      Instead of hogging the spotlight, a gracious Bublé extended his thanks to his bandmates, delivering cornball quips about the members of his horn section as TSN-style sports graphics full of stats flashed across the big screen. Later, he and writing partner Alan Chang cozied up together on the pianist's bench to explain their writing process on tracks like the breezy AC hit "Everything."

      After busting out big ballad "Home", Bublé switched gears and asked Vancouverites to shake their asses to a lightly funked-up version of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" while he strutted through the crowd toward a secondary stage at the back of the arena. Naturally 7 helped him through an a cappella version of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back", with the crooner's voice a few octaves below MJ's original squeak. The singer then traversed the neon-trim stage to shake hands with the faithful for a lovey-dovey take on the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" as confetti cannons shot out a steady stream of heart-shaped paper into the stands. 

      After jumping into jazzy pop-and-lock dance moves on "I Cried a River Over You" the pride of Burnaby closed things out with a tear-welling run through of Leon Russell's "A Song for You". Even after close to two hours of performing, his tenor boomed its best on the finale as he shut off his mike, eschewed accompaniment and let the natural power of his passionate pipes hit the nosebleeds.

      Just a few songs earlier, during the lemon-yellow sunniness of "It's a Beautiful Day", Bublé mouthed out his feelings about the night as a whole. It may have come as kind of a shock to actually hear the wholesome Canadian singer say it, but the silent statement summed up, at the very least, the concert's stunning closing moment. Those two words? 

      Fucking perfect.

      Comments

      21 Comments

      I love Michael

      Jun 20, 2014 at 10:25am

      Just wondering if you can write an article without poisoning it with vulgarity.

      Yea, whats up with the swearing?

      Jun 20, 2014 at 10:43am

      Very odd to do, i was suspecting this was Miranda Nelson posting this garbage, but it wasn't o_0

      emily

      Jun 20, 2014 at 10:51am

      did either of you even read the article before commenting?

      the swear word in the headline is alluding to a quote from buble himself.

      it's a quote.

      sumfker

      Jun 20, 2014 at 11:45am

      Aint nobody got time to read no articles. See, we have our heads so far up our ass that we confuse curiosity with outrage.

      Your job, as a 'news site', is to feed into this outrage so as to increase your readership and relevance. These extra readers will allow you to hire more reporters to outrage us. It grows. If all goes well - you turn into CNN. Fuck, yeah!

      Meathead

      Jun 20, 2014 at 12:08pm

      Unlike the reviewer, Michael Bublé is all class...

      doon99

      Jun 20, 2014 at 1:00pm

      I don't suppose any of the negative reviewers were even at the concert or read his review in its entirety. If they were they would realize that the reporter very accurately detailed the amazing performance and concert experience, quoting Buble and his overwhelming gratitude for his family and fans. People are so quick to be nasty and negative. They should have bought a ticket to the show last night and enjoyed a little lighthearted, good natured fun with a very talented BC artist. Shame on you!

      Class

      Jun 20, 2014 at 1:05pm

      The headline was a cheap turn off so I passed on reading the article.

      Angela

      Jun 20, 2014 at 2:20pm

      I was at the concert last night, and it was, as stated, "fucking perfect." Michael was engaging, charming, and very humourous. His self-effacing humour and his appreciation for his fans, his family, and his band shows his true humble nature. The finale of his last song without the use of the mike showed his passion, and his talent shone through as his voice boomed up to the rafters, bringing many to tears of joy.

      banditos

      Jun 20, 2014 at 4:28pm

      What's with the potty mouth?

      theotherguy

      Jun 20, 2014 at 4:29pm

      who the bleep offered up the bleeping rude bleeping headline?
      What a total bleeping empty bleeping skull
      Come bleeping on willya!