On a freezing and foggy January evening just before payday, it takes something a little special to pack a venue out to the rafters and something even more special to warm the hearts and souls of all in attendance. Thankfully, Martha Wainwright was in town as part of her Goodnight City tour, ably supported by Toronto band Bernice, who opened the night with an incredibly mellow set. With unassuming main songwriter and vocalist Robin Dann’s gentle voice threading through their set, their songs started delicately before adding layers of electronic beats in almost a jazz style. There were elements of Massive Attack at their most chilled, while songs from the perspective of a hunted bear added a quirkiness to their lyrics. That gentle mixture of trip-hop and Dann’s folk-singer style is perfect for a small and intimate venue such as Komedia, where there is no danger of it being washed away by background noise.

Bernice returned to act as the backing band for Martha Wainwright, who came to the stage last and immediately launched into opening track ‘Around The Bend’ from her current album Goodnight City. On record, her voice has always been exceptional, but live it soars with echoes of Patti Smith in its rawness. There is a real presence to Wainwright on stage, singing either with her eyes tight shut or a beaming grin, while the audience stood captivated. In between songs she also showed a wicked sense of humour, demanding that the photographers capture her in a good pose and pausing during her second song ‘Traveller’ to ask them, “Do I look OK?” Her ability to fire zingers at the crowd like this, while also delivering a beautifully poignant song about life taken away too soon, with lyrics such as “you died on the vine before it was your turn”, showed the two sides to her stagecraft and appeal. Following that up with ‘Franci’, the first of several songs written about her sons, the album’s themes began to appear.

Goodnight City’s predecessor, Come Home To Mama was a response to her mother’s death and to the birth of her first child, and this record builds on those themes further with three songs written about her children. Artists such as Beth Orton, and her brother Rufus, have written or co-written tracks on the album, which has a more playful and joyous feel than some of her earlier work. In a set understandably dominated by tracks from the current album, an early highlight was ‘Before The Children Came Along’, which brought audible gasps from the audience due to her incredible, powerful and gravelly vocal delivery. Wainwright may be seen as a folk singer because of the family history, but that voice also packs a powerful, rocky punch and it would be fascinating to hear her tackle a heavy blues style of song. On the day that images of a group of rich and powerful men signing anti-abortion laws circulated, Wainwright brought attention to a necklace that she had bought while on tour. It was in the shape of a woman’s uterus with one simple word on it ‘MINE’. On today of all days, it spoke a thousand words. “That sums up this tour for me,” she stated simply and then without drawing any more attention to it than that, moved into a beautiful duet with Dann on ‘Look Into My Eyes’. There was an immediate reaction from the crowd when the opening notes of ‘When The Day Is Short’ from her eponymous debut album of 2005 played, one of the first songs to bring her to the attention of the world. During this, Wainwright really let her hair down and brought the crowd along with her by performing it in a rollicking country style, with great backing from Bernice. Their presence remained subtle throughout, knowing when to hold back and allow her voice to dominate proceedings. Even in an intimate venue like Komedia, it takes an incredible talent and nerve to hold a crowd in the palm of your hand with just your voice, but her vocal performance regularly resulted in awed silence from all who were present.

As most of the band filed off for a few songs, Wainwright told the story, in her typically self-effacing manner, of how she had to use a lot of friends and family to help her write Goodnight City. Glen Hansard (Once, The Commitments) helped her by writing half of track ‘One Of Us’, and the crowd were told you could tell which bits as his part sounded like “making money” while Martha’s part sounded like “not making money”. During the friendly ramblings of this story, you could imagine happily giving over your money to watch her perform in the same venue on a comedy night, as her comic and musical timings are as perfect as each other. By now, she was alone on stage with only the stomp of her heels as an accompaniment to some obscure, though still stunningly beautiful, cover versions of songs by Kate & Anna McGarrigle (her mother and aunt respectively). Her lack of ego and mischievous streak surfaced again, describing one of them as another “morbid McGarrigle song” after telling a tale of its intended use in a stage show that was never made. All too often when an artist indulges in less familiar work, the audience may drift away to the bar, but not on this night as barely a soul moved or took their eyes off the stage.

Bringing the full band back for ‘Factory’ and ‘So Down’, an album highlight which rocked even harder live, they then paused for a brief interlude. Coming back for the encore, there was a communal singalong to Leonard Cohen’s ‘Chelsea Hotel #2’ (once covered by Rufus Wainwright) and finally ‘Proserpina’, which had gorgeous a cappella harmonies from the full Bernice band, before a swift farewell into the night. This finished an achingly beautiful set from an extremely talented and wonderfully unique singer, one who doesn’t shy away from her family heritage, yet would flourish no matter what the surname. Martha Wainwright most definitely is a diamond who is going to keep shining, and it will be very exciting to see where she goes next.
Jamie Macmillan

Website: marthawainwright.com