How do you reach a crowd who isn’t listening? You get them involved with the show.
Soulful Toronto based piano pop musician Mike Evin and drummer Ian McKay did just that at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Wednesday, Oct. 21.
I caught the end of a percussion jam which finished the first set, but the second one was where all of the action happened.
He played pretty piano sounding equal parts Ben Folds, Bruce Hornsby and Elton John, though vocally he was reminiscent of Joel Plaskett. It was beautiful, but he was getting drowned out by a raucous birthday party bursting through the door.
So first, he brought out an acoustic guitar and played a soft, acoustic ballad unplugged for two of the attentive members of the audience.
When that didn’t work, he got everyone dancing, singing and clapping with a cover of the O Jays’ 1970s soul hit “Form a Love Train,” which lead to Evin actually getting them to join hands and form a snake dance which wove its way through the room.
The talkers ended up singing and dancing by the end of the song.
He ended his brief second set with an Elton Johnish song about going to shows which included vocalizing the melody of “When the Saints Go Marching in. ” He had them singing again “Tell them Percy Humphrey.”
