I was temporarily deaf for several days this week. That's because I got to see one of my favourite bands ever play one of the best rock shows I have seen in a long time. The band is The Verve. And the show happened in Toronto at the Ricoh Coliseum. The Verve undoubtedly picked up where they left off. What an amazing return to Toronto after a ten year hiatus.
This was not my first time catching The Verve front man in concert. I was fortunate enough to see Ashcroft play some of his solo material when he opened for Coldplay a couple of years back. He played some Verve songs at that show and don't get me wrong it was great but it was simply amazing to see him play these songs with Nick McCabe, Simon Jones and drummer Pete Salisbury. Fresh from Coachella, the group's energy was high and they seemed genuinely happy to be back together.
The show consisted of a good mix of material from the three studio releases. Most seemed to be taken from Urban Hymns. The The Verve played a lot of their hits like 'Lucky Man,' 'Sonnet,' 'The Drugs Don't Work' and of course, 'Bittersweet Symphony,' a song that was taken back for the night from "...the lawyers and the managers...," as Ashcroft proclaimed. Fans were also treated to two new songs. “Sit and Wonder” and “Love Is Pain.” The latter has a very "dancey" feel to it, very different for The Verve but it was the song that was stuck in my head as I left the venue.
If this show was any indication fans have a lot to look forward to. Hopefully a new album is in the works sooner rather than later. The wait has been long enough.
