George Canyon, the tall, dark and handsome family man from Nova Scotia, Canada is a rising star worth keeping an eye on. He is a star who already burns bright over his native country and he proved it in spades tonight to an intimate crowd in the small town of Belleville, Ontario.
Some would argue (just ask any Canadian who watched the show) that George should have won the second season of Nashville Star, but the second place finish certainly hasn't done any damage. It has instead propelled George into the spotlight, a place he fought for 13 years to finally stand.
Gord Bamford, from Alberta, Canada, opened the show with a 7 song acoustic set and would later join George on the stage during his encore. Gord is a talented singer/songwriter who is finally making his breakthrough North of the border, but hasn't really fought his way into the U.S. music scene yet. He did a fantastic job singing most of his singles and a few new songs for the crowd.
After a brief intermission, where I was pleasantly surprised to hear George Strait's Somewhere Down in Texas CD playing over the loud speakers, the main event began. The spotlights produced a fiery cross, George's symbol, and a voice began to speak introducing George in an infomercial-like manner. The curtains pulled back to reveal a 6 piece band, and the man we'd all been waiting to see sauntered out and stepped up to the microphone.
They opened the show with the namesake of the tour "Somebody Wrote Love." When the song was over George noticed 3 empty seats in the front row and proceeded to ask if there were going to be people sitting there. He showed his humorous side very early on when he asked, "What? Did someone fart earlier and they all left?"
The next song was a single from his debut album One Good Friend called "Who Would you Be" and he followed that up with a song from the new album, Somebody Wrote Love, titled "Your Smile." There were several breaks between songs where George would address the audience, crack jokes, tease band members, etc. and that is what made the show for me. For the most part, the music is fantastic at any concert you go to, but it's the in between stuff that sets the entertainers apart from the singers. And George Canyon is definitely an entertainer.
He talked about making his break on Nashville Star and thanked those who voted for him. George said that he truly owes a lot to his Canadian fans and the Canadian Media who have supported him along the way. He told a funny story someone had wrote to him about a little boy who just started school and when he saw the Canadian Flag at school he got excited and said that it was George Canyon's flag. There were so many funny stories and one liners all night long that it would be impossible to share them all, but there were a few memorable ones I will share later on.
