Connecting a Community: How Concerts Can Affect Even the Smallest Cities

By Kyla Lemieux

When you live in a town like Victoria, British Columbia, it’s easy to get used to a noticeable lack of live music. Like any city, Victoria has a good number of local bands which play smaller venues regularly, but ask any resident and they’ll tell you that to see a concert by their favourite artist, they most likely have to travel to other cities, such as Vancouver or even Seattle.

Personally, I have been a part-time resident of Victoria for almost my entire life, and up until just recently I have never been in town for a major concert. But on June 17th, I was lucky enough to attend a concert of Bonnie Raitt at the Royal Theatre in downtown Victoria. When I was given the tickets back in December, I was not only excited about the legendary artist I was soon to see, but I was also looking forward to the effect a concert like this would have on the community. Soon after my tickets were purchased, I went online to find that the concert was entirely sold out. This information heightened my anticipation even more, as I knew a sold out show was the perfect recipe for a community-enhancing night.

I arrived at the venue just as the opening act, Jon Cleary, was finishing up his set. The venue was absolutely gorgeous, complete with a beautifully crafted proscenium arch, dramatic statues above the opera boxes, and atmosphere-enhancing light fixtures all around. I started the evening by making a trip to the merch stand, where I was excited to find a variety of t-shirts, posters, hats, and even vinyl records. Following my purchases, I found my way to my seats. Though I had known I would be sitting in the second row of the theatre, I hadn’t realized quite how close that was. Once I sat down in my aisle seat, I had the perfect view of the entire stage.

Within 15 minutes of sitting down, Bonnie Raitt took the stage. As someone who has known many of Raitt’s songs for a very long time, I was amazed to see the legend just a few feet in front of me. She opened the show with “Tangled and Dark,” a bright rock-and-roll anthem off her 1991 album Luck of the Draw. Upon first stepping on the stage, it became clear that Raitt hasn’t lost one bit of stamina in her 55 years of performing professionally. The energy she began the concert with was clearly not exhausted in the opening number, as it continued through the entire night.

The performance was an equal mix between upbeat rock songs and slower ballads. The former were the songs that got the crowd dancing, as Raitt enthusiastically played slide guitar, a talent she is widely known for. Then, after telling a few witty jokes to the audience, she’d sit down and perform some of the most beautifully executed vocal ballads I’ve ever heard. Despite being nearly 77 years old, Raitt’s voice holds a type of power that most singers never achieve. Her full, low register mixed with her angelic vibrato create a perfect, entirely unique sound, which had the entire audience captivated from the moment the concert began to the very final note. On songs like “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and “Angel From Montgomery,” which are arguably Raitt’s two most well-known tracks, it became clear just why Raitt is one of the most widely respected vocalists of the past half century.

By the time Raitt came out for the encore, she had taken the audience through just about every emotion that music can provoke. After the first two songs of the encore, I decided to make my way to the back of the theatre, to beat the “traffic” of the crowd when leaving. I stood at the very back for the entirety of the final number, and that’s when I noticed something that had not been too prominent for me during the rest of the night: from the second row, I had not noticed much about the people sitting around me, but from the back of the venue, where I had a clear view of the entire theatre, the lack of phones became obvious. I had known that phones were not permitted during the performance, but seeing a crowd of fans, all singing and dancing along to the encore without a single phone in sight made me realize just how rare something like this is in the time we’re living in. As someone who frequently attends large arena concerts, I’m unfortunately very used to the sight of a sea of glowing screens surrounding the stage. But as I stood there during the final encore, a cover of the Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House,” I was reminded of the true purpose of live music: community, connection, and an overall sense of belonging.

Getting the amazing opportunity to attend the concert of a legend like Bonnie Raitt is something I will absolutely never forget. But what really stuck with me from the night was how a simple performance can bring joy and inclusion to an entire city. Though I see this often in more populated places such as Seattle and Vancouver, witnessing this in a traditionally more overlooked place like Victoria was truly special, because it reminded me that no matter where you live, the joy of live music is universal.