Over the weekend, the venue celebrated it's birthday in style by having none other than legendary Elvis Costello looking fashionable in a three piece pinstripe suit. Both venue and artist have come a long way since it's youthful early days. Other notable people that have graced the stage of Massey Hall (to name a few) are William Booth, Maria Callas, Enrico Caruso, Winston Churchill, George Gershwin, Glenn Gould, Vladimir Horowitz, Dalai Lama, Gordon Lightfoot, Luciano Pavarotti, Neil Young, BB King, Oscar Peterson, and Arturo Toscanini, and many more!
(*Taken from Massey Hall Official Website)
Not to bore you with a history lesson or anything like that, but a quick recap of the historic venue. With an age such as this for a building, it's no wonder that Massey Hall is considered 'Canada's most important venue for concerts and lectures, attracting many of the world's leading celebrities; it has also hosted weddings, movies, boxing matches, beauty contests, religious and political rallies, typing contests and chess tournaments. Massey Hall remains a vital part of Toronto's cultural and entertainment scene.'
"June 14, 1894
A five-concert festival inaugurates the then 3,500-seat "Massey Music Hall." The first concert on June 14 features Handel's Messiah performed by a 500-member chorus with the 70-member Grand Festival Orchestra conducted by Frederick Torrington." -Massey Hall
Even in my short span of 27 years, I have had to opportunity to see many great music and comedy acts. While the venue may not have the modern touches such as an elevator or widened seats, the acoustics of the venue are yet to be matched from another venue in Toronto (OK, maybe Roy Thompson, but that's a given). The hall was designed by Sidney Badgley, a notable architect and designer who also worked on Slocum Hall (Delaware, OH), Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church (Detroit, MI), and Calvary Baptist Church (Providence, RI). Needless to say that Massey Hall has taken the icing on the cake for his legacy, but other designs were beautiful as well. The total cost (in 1894) for Massey Hall was $152,390.75.
(*Taken from Massey Hall Official Website)
So here are a few of the notable recorded performances that I found on the MH Wiki site. I know one that's not on here I would like to quickly point out was the filming of the Trailer Park Boys film (2006). Jonathan Torrens (aka J-Roc) closed out an evening of Ricky, Julian and Bubbles doing stand up comedy and managed to film his performance in front of the sold out crowd. So every time I see J-Roc performing in the film, I always remember to look for myself and my friends in attendance. So like I mentioned before, a few artists have even recorded their performances at Massey Hall.
It was the site of the legendary Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie concert, recorded as Jazz at Massey Hall, in May 1953. Accompanying Gillespie and Parker in this acoustically sound hall were Bud Powell, Max Roach and Charles Mingus.
Rush, in June 1976, recorded the live album All the World's a Stage here.
Neil Young performed and recorded his concert, on January 19, 1971, which was later released as a live album, entitled Live at Massey Hall 1971.
Matthew Good performed and recorded his concert, on May 29, 2008, which was released as a live album, entitled Live at Massey Hall.
On January 8, 1995, Ronnie Hawkins celebrated his 60th birthday by throwing a concert here, which was documented on the album, Let It Rock. The concert featured performances by Hawkins, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Band and Larry Gowan. Jeff Healey sat in on guitar for most, if not all, of the performances. Hawkins' band, The Hawks, or permutations of it, backed most, if not all, of the acts. All of the musicians performing that night were collectively dubbed "The Rock ‘N’ Roll Orchestra".
So a well deserved happy 120th birthday to Massey Hall. Let's cross our fingers for another 120 years of great history and entertainment.
Great piece brother!
ReplyDelete