Jann Arden - Vancouver Sun Review

JANN ARDEN

Wednesday night

Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Also tonight, 8 p.m.

Tickets $49-$75 from ticketmaster.ca

If Jann Arden gave her fans a bit of a scare on Tuesday night in Victoria, she was back in full force for the first of her two Vancouver performances at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Wednesday.

Moments after she took the stage two days ago, Arden had to step away from the spotlight to recompose due to a short bout of tachycardia — accelerated heartbeats she later quipped were due in part to her tight-fitting dress.

It’s not the first time Arden has had to seek medical attention for heart problems.

In 2007, Arden was diagnosed with takotsubo, a stress-induced heart condition also known as “broken-heart syndrome.”

One can easily understand some of the pressure Arden has been under recently.

Her latest album, Free, is her first collection of original material since her eponymous 2005 effort (2007’s Uncover Me being a collection of cover songs).

For Free, the 47-year-old Calgary-bred singer also parted ways with longtime guitarist and collaborator Russell Broom, who was instrumental in penning some of Arden’s most famous songs and played alongside Arden on stage for 14 years.

And then there’s the stress of special occasions.

At Wednesday night’s show, Arden was inducted as a Vancouver “favourite” into the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame, a celebration that included Arden being presented with a plaque that will be on permanent display at the Orpheum, handed to the singer by Hall of Fame President Elizabeth Ball and local media celebrity and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Red Robinson.

Whew.

If anything, this “intimate evening” with Arden just proved she really shouldn’t sweat the small or the big stuff.

Fans know her material inside and out, wear their love for Arden on their sleeves, and the whole affair felt less like a concert than a big family reunion.

"Just sit back and relax," Arden told the crowd in the opening moments of the evening. "We're going to play you some songs."

Simple enough, no?

It started, of course, with the title track from her latest effort, before quickly kicking into gear with Looking For It (Finding Heaven) and Where No One Knows Me.

For some reason, it took a little while to achieve the right balance in terms of sound, the vocals finding themselves slightly drowned out at first.

Could have been nerves or the desire to hit a bit too hard too soon, perhaps, but by the time Arden and her ace musicians, which included Bryan Adams guitarist Keith Scott (filling in for Broom) as well as the amazing multi-instrumentalist Allison Cornell, settled into the Nashville-tinged The Devil Won and classic Sleepless, we were nicely balanced and sonically comfy.

But Arden's show was about much more than just getting to hear Insensitive once again (stripped down and acoustic this time around, thank you), it was also about experiencing how genuinely funny the woman is. (Seriously, someone needs to get her a comedy gig.)

Among some highlights, there was a brief Q&A where she quickly dispensed some incisive, rib-tickling answers and anecdotes -- about her fat cat that likes tampons and catnip, about her running routine ("As far as the mini-bar"), and about if she remembered Antigua ("Have we screwed?").

There was also the reggaefied version of I Would Die For You, which she hit right on the head, and talking about a song she never performed in concert until this tour, Leave Me Now.

"It's a lovely song but it's so depressing," she said before mentioning it's, quite ironically, from her Happy album. "You can lay down on the floor if you want."

The family feel didn't end with Arden's ability to have the crowd rolling in the aisles, it also came through when she introduced her band, bringing up a personal (if somewhat embarrassing) picture slideshow reminiscent of your not-so-favourite uncle’s home videos or — gasp — his excruciating diaporama marathon (but much, much funnier).

There was also the "karaoke" moment -- Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart -- where more laughter ensued as the crowd joined in ("Security!") and Arden roughed up her voice to echo Tyler's notoriously gritty delivery.

"The whiskey and slurpee period of my life comes to mind," Arden deadpanned.

Of course, Arden's specialty is songs about love, about religion, about personal insecurity and, evidently, about heartbreak (no pun intended), and she can either make you laugh and cry by simply being Jann.

It's easy enough to understand why she'll always be a favourite around here, and it was quite the emotional moment when Robinson and Ball handed her her Hall of Fame plaque, the fans leaping out of their seats for a long (and loud) ovation.

Her acceptance speech would be as tongue-in-cheek as it could possibly be, Arden standing awkwardly in the spotlight like an overwhelmed pageant winner (good time to re-cue At Seventeen, which she had covered so grippingly earlier).

"I believe in gay marriage," she half-whispered. "I believe everyone has the right to be miserable."

Good one, but no one could ever feel miserable after over two hours of such classic Jann.

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