Amanda Marshall makes a triumphant homecoming at Massey Hall

Amanda Marshall

June 16 at Massey Hall, Toronto

She blew the Massey Hall roof off its rafters.

Wearing a “Toronto For Life” T-shirt and glittery silver pants, Amanda Marshall made her highly anticipated hometown return that was 20 years in the making — and didn’t disappoint.

In fact, despite live appearances that have been few and far between during the decades where her career dropped off the planet, Marshall and her seven-piece band delivered a show that other performers might want to observe and study, because, frankly, she was consummate.

Playing to a near-capacity crowd that thunderously applauded her homecoming, Marshall was a beehive of activity that began with the first note of “Let It Rain” and didn’t let up until the last note of the final encore of “Sunday Morning After” close to two hours later: she incessantly paced or strode from stage right to stage left, continuously sang and addressed all three levels of Massey Hall seating and persistently projected a joyful, charismatic presence as she danced to practically every note of her 16-song set.

Marshall is one of those rare entertainers defined and electrified by the music coursing through her veins — and her one of her rare gifts is that she can convert that into a form of expression that naturally energizes the crowd. So even when she wasn’t singing, she was pumping a fist or kicking a leg to accent particular beats or breaks and it was infectious to watch.

And then, of course, is that voice.

That voice!

If anything has changed over the years concerning Amanda Marshall’s vocal abilities, is that while her tone has become a little deeper and more mature, her soulful intensity can still pulverize your resistance at 50 paces: she can wail at will, offering an impressive blues-and-gospel saturated might, and then sustain it for enviable lengths of time to the point where jaws drop.

Perhaps the most potent demonstration of her remarkable talent was the second time she brought the audience to their feet: “If I Didn’t Have You” was a tour-de-force declaration of love and need that showcased Marshall’s prominent lung capacity as the piece swelled to an emotional crescendo.

The prolonged standing ovation even took Marshall by surprise.

“We have a lot of show left Toronto,” she stammered, six songs in.

Another unexpected highlight, preceded by a story of her first Massey Hall appearance at the age of 17 opening for the Jeff Healey Band, was her a cappella version of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery,” which she confessed was one of her parents’ favourite tunes. The meter seemed a little rushed, but she knocked it out of the ballpark.

While she recently released her fourth album “Heavy Lifting,” the majority of the night’s material was from her self-titled debut … and boy, was the crowd ready for it, joining her to sing and dance along to “Fall From Grace” and “Sitting On Top Of The World,” and engaging in full party throttle when she melded the title track from her third album “Everybody’s Got A Story” into “Birmingham.”

Another evolving aspect of Marshall’s material is her sense of humour; something that seemed to flourish on her last album with “Sunday Morning After” (and its crazy “Oh My God!” catchphrase regarding a reaction to drunken shenanigans) and is continued on “Heavy Lifting” with the song “I’m Not Drunk.” These songs are especially effective live fodder because the singer acts them out with appropriate facial expressions and gestures that seem like she’s engaged in a direct conversation. This little piece of theatricality also adds to the overall impact of her confident performance.

Marshall also incorporated respectful appreciations of some of the giants that have recently passed: she added a chorus of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” to “Last Exit To Eden” in tribute to the beloved songwriting legend, and threw in a few bars of “What’s Love Got To Do With It” to “(Trust Me) This Is Love” to honour the fallen Tina Turner.

She managed to be all things to all people — unpretentious pal, refined storyteller, heartfelt philosopher, romantic reveller — without falling into any cheesy, maudlin or disingenuous sentiment.

Marshall was classy, fun and provided an authentically uplifting experience that one shouldn’t miss if given the opportunity to see her … although, whether venue officials will metaphorically repair the roof in time for Saturday’s second show, remains to be seen.

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