Judy Blue Eyes

When booking tickets a while back for last night’s Judy Collins concert at the McPherson Theatre in Victoria we were not without qualms. Nagging reminders of the hugely disappointing visit to the same venue by Gordon Lightfoot the year before last persisted. Treasured memories are sometimes best kept in the mind and not revisited in real life.

Such fears were little allayed when Collins took to the stage – accompanied only by her long-time pianist/musical director, Russell Walden – and during the first number her voice cracked several times. She seemed entirely un-phased by such teething problems, however, explaining that she was recovering from illness and implying that all would be well once she had warmed up.

That indeed turned out to be the case and apart from the occasional memory lapse on the lyrical front (the lady is seventy nine for goodness sake!) the remainder of the evening was the stuff of memories itself.

Much as I have always loved many of Judy’s multitude of classic recordings I have always found her a little cool and a touch distant. Two things rapidly became apparent last night – her voice is now warmer and richer than it was of yore (whilst just as affecting) and she has a keen and wicked sense of humour. The form of the evening was a trip through her sixty year music career, spinning hilarious anecdotes about a pantheon of greats – Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Steven Stills, Leonard Cohen and Stephen Sondheim (amongst others) interspersed with memory-inducing renditions of their (and her) songs.

The ninety minute show passed in a flash and included such classics as ‘Both Sides Now‘, ‘Chelsea Morning‘, ‘Mr Tambourine Man‘, ‘Send in the Clowns‘, ‘My Father‘, ‘Suzanne‘, ‘The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress‘ and ‘Amazing Grace‘. I was particularly moved by her rendition of Dylan’s ‘Masters of War‘. This is the stuff on which we (and, quite clearly, the remainder of the packed audience of those also in their second childhoods) had grown up – and it meant something. It was impossible not to be touched.

We learned things that we had not previously known, such as the fact that – had it not been for her cajoling – Leonard Cohen would have remained an obscure poet rather than morphing into the singer/songwriter that he became.

Also most impressive is that even at her age (did I mention that she is seventy nine!) Judy still averages a hundred and twenty live concerts a year!

Inspiring stuff and a fabulous evening!