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Jam fest
Urban concert scores on Canada Day
WHAM BAM CANADA DAY JAM
SkyDome SkyTent
Monday, July 1, 2002
Toronto got a new, distinctly urban, musical event in honour of the country's birthday last night as the Wham Bam Canada Day Jam took over SkyDome's SkyTent.
Radio station KISS 92 FM has staged the festival before, but never at the downtown venue.
And with rap headliners P. Diddy and Ja Rule on hand to keep the enthusiastic crowd of 13,500 hanging in until the bitter end -- singing along to each and every song -- it would appear to have been a success.
Certainly, the idea was to come up with an alternative to the power-rock-dominated Edgefest at Molson Park in Barrie this year, and Wham Bam's urban-leaning lineup -- rounded out by R&B hip-hop acts Tweet and Ashanti -- was about as far away as you could get from that.
Meanwhile, pop-rock's Avril Lavigne and neo-soul's Remy Shand, along with established singer Amanda Marshall proved there was good reason to celebrate homegrown talent as well.
If there was any major criticism to make about Wham Bam, it's that the lineup could have been even more urban.
For example, Winnipeg-bred Shand delivered a smooth-sounding set, playing both keyboards and guitar alongside his five-piece band, but the audience left their seats in droves. Too bad because the five tunes off his debut, The Way I Feel, including his hit, Take A Message, were among the best of the evening.
PLENTY OF FIREWORKS
There was also a long delay between Shand's and Ashanti's sets but the female singer proved worth waiting for as she commanded the crowd's attention -- if only for 15 minutes -- with songs from her self-titled debut, including her monster hit, Foolish.
Thankfully, she later returned to sing alongside Ja Rule for Always On Time and Down A** B**ch during his spirited, fireworks-laden set that included other Pain Is Love hits like Livin' It Up and I'm Real.
P. Diddy, meanwhile, had his work cut out for him following Ja Rule, but employed plenty of fireworks, flames, slick lights, steam, a Canadian flag, confetti, balloons, four female dancers dressed as cheerleaders and four male dancers dressed like him, to keep things really exciting. There was even a little dirty dancing on his part -- both solo and with the girls. Plus a live satellite appearance by Busta Rhymes.
"Thank you for sticking with me through all my trials and tribulations, Canada!" P. Diddy said at one point.
Earlier, in the evening, Lavigne, a native of Napanee, Ont., proved to be a big-voiced, bouncy little performer as she sang eight songs off her fast-selling, month-old debut, Let Go, including the breakthrough single, Complicated.
SUN RATING: *** 1/2 (out of 5)
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