Valley fave Ken Lavigne’s Playing Favourites tour in September includes two stops in the Cowichan Valley.
His upcoming Island tour, from Sept. 25 to 30, will stop in both Mill Bay (Sept. 27) and Chemainus (Sept. 30), and you’re going to love the songs he’ll be singing.
“This show features my ‘Deserted Island’ go to list,” he says. “If I could only take three songs with me, these would be them.”
Of course, there are more than three in the show, but each one is a tried and true favourite with audiences, a personal favourite of Lavigne’s or a new favourite that might just bump one off the top of the ‘Deserted Island’ list.
“I get a sense being on the stage of what people enjoy by the universal and democratic clap-o-meter,” he says, smiling.
“I get a sense of what they are really into. They come to hear their favourites. This tour is about reconnecting the audience with some of the great songs they’ve grown to love.”
Music has the power to move people, from one emotional place to another and part of that, Lavigne says, is meeting the audiences where they are.
“On tour,” he says. “You start to recognize where the audiences are at and you will morph and adapt to where they are, and from that place you can start to lead. It’s a duet between the audience and the performer. I always strive for that, a synergy. When that happens, you can emerge renewed and transformed.”
Playing Favourites will include Lavigne’s renditions of songs from Andrea Bocelli, Elton John, Billy Joel, Leonard Cohen and David Foster, to name a few.
Lavigne has also been experimenting with some new (song) obsessions.
He’s been exploring some of the great music from country artists like Hank Williams, Roy Rogers and Johnny Cash.
We can understand the Johnny Cash: his songs often need a near-operatic voice to recreate, and are full of emotion.
But the others?
The singer says he’s poised to inflict this new obsession on his audiences. That well-known Lavigne humour is never far away.
“Much of that musical style is in alignment with how I sing,” he says. “Hank Williams’s songs are so poignant. The stories are so heartbreaking. I want to go down that road a little bit. I like to experiment and have fun.
“It’s great to take an audience on a new ride, share stories and new musical obsessions but it’s important to remember that people want to hear what they’ve grown to love. This concert features the favourites of all the favourites.”
Playing Favourites with Ken Lavigne and his band comes to the Valley on Thursday, Sept. 27 with a concert at Sylvan United Church, Mill Bay and again on Sunday, Sept. 30 at Chemainus United Church.
Get your tickets online at www.kenlavigne.com at a cost of $30 each. They’ll cost you $37 apiece if you leave it late and try to get them at the door.
