Carole King really is a big deal. I didn’t fully realize this when I sat down at the Festival Theatre last week to see her on her Natural Woman Tour, nor did the friend who I had roped along, but chances are we’ve all laughed, cried or sung shameless to this beautiful woman’s music. It’s moments like this, this and the far too many of these that have kept King’s music alive in pop culture long after her record-breaking album Tapestry.
Not promoting a body of work (though dropping more than a few references to her memoir A Natural Woman, King followed her own blisses performing the most eclectic and varied set I’d seen in years – her acoustic version of the “big-haired 80s track” ‘City Streets’ a highlight, while Michael McDonald’s ‘Hey Girl’ took us back to the glory days of Carole King and Gerry Goffin co-writes reigning the charts.
She may not have Aretha Franklin’s vocal chops, but her laid-back version of ‘Natural Woman’ reminded me of something more than a few of those big-voiced divas singing King’s co-writes often lack – heart. And just when you thought the night was getting too loved-up for us, King’s song about “love gone bad” (aka ‘It’s Too Late) tore the roof down. Six standing ovations in a night, a record for me. Carole King may have just found herself a couple of new Gen-Y fans.
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