On Thursday, February 15th, Montreal-born singer Charlotte Cardin played her first-ever show at Massey Hall and returned the following week on the 23rd as part of the 99 Nights Tour, named after her 2023 album, that she has been taking across Canada, the United States and Europe.
Cardin’s mixed French and English catalogue brings a substantial amount of French-speaking fans, both from Canada and outside, with Paris being one of the top cities in her Spotify listenership. Francophones were out in full force this evening in Toronto, though only one of her songs in French, “Feel Good,” was performed. These tracks obviously wouldn’t have the same international reach as her English songs, but I would love to see her lean into that side more, especially live. When she did perform this song, it felt like we were seeing a lesser-known side of Cardin.
Dressed in a ruffled crop top and low-rise, baggy leather pants, Cardin’s stage presence was energetic and entertaining, simply because of how much she seemed to enjoy performing her own songs. She has this inherent coolness about her that feels like you’re watching someone at the height of joy, jumping and dancing along to her songs, when not playing guitar or piano. Impassioned fans sang along to ballads like “Anyone Who Loves Me” and moodier performances like “Daddy’s a Psycho.” Consistently acknowledging the audience, Cardin expressed sincere gratitude for being able to play Massey Hall, a goal for so many Canadian musicians, and gave contextual introductions for many of her songs, encouraging audience members to sing along with her.
Gracing the stage with her were band members Benjamin Courcy and Mathieu Sénéchal, as well as an eight-person string section for select songs. I couldn’t decipher the reasoning behind which songs were played live versus a backing track, namely having the string section come out for “Way Back,” a song which also has a heavy saxophone element that was played as a backing track as opposed to live. The strings were the stand-out of the show, contributing to the electro-pop songs with the utmost enthusiasm alongside Cardin and her band members, which was charming to watch.
Production-wise, the show was relatively minimal, with unfiltered, warm stage lighting during breaks between songs, allowing the audience to really see Cardin outside the shadow of black, white and pink lights used during most of the show. It was a no-frills production that was really about the energy both on-stage and in the audience, which was equally matched by engaged performers and audience members alike.
