Lukas Rossi @ Lee's Palace [Live]

www.lukasrossionline.com

One of the musicians I recently went to check out was Lukas Rossi, a Toronto native now a Los Angeles transplantation whose claim to fame was winning an Idol like reality show “Rock Star: Supernova.” Never got into any of his music, I had seen a few episodes of Rock Star Supernova and do remember him being in the band “Cleavage” but other than that his tunes were fresh to my ears. Rossi has a four track EP titled “Love & Lust,” a Christmas EP, and an EP with band “Stars Down.” Of course there is also the Rock Star Supernova record which flopped everywhere else but reached number four in Canada and actually went platinum. If you want more of a background check on Rossi, feel free to click the links at the end of the review.

Lee’s Palace has been host to many concerts since opening their doors as a music venue in 1985. Bands like Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sloan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Oasis, Our Lady Peace and more have graced Lee’s stage. And as I write this, Lee’s Palace is getting a facelift! It’s still the live venue but they tore down the colourful landmark frieze on the buildings face a few days ago and decided to throw in a take-out joint “Big Fat Burrito.” A new mural by the same artist will be up in the spring of 2010 but it just won’t be the same.

Rossi took to the stage with acoustic guitar in hand; his mic stand was decorated with a red and black feather boa, too funny because I have the same one. He kicked off his nearly twenty track set with ‘Lonely Ones’ a tune from his “Rise Electric” days. His tone was tolerable; he definitely had the emotions down, easily conveying the meaning of the song to the audience through his expressions. The crowd loved every minute of his performance egging him on as he embraced the love his hometown was radiating. It was not a sold out show but there were enough people in the venue to make the energy flow.

Rossi’s set consisted of new tunes ‘Lay It On The Line’, old tunes ‘Headspin’ and a few covers like the Eurythmics’ ‘Here Comes The Rain Again.’ There were moments in a few tracks where his voice sounded like it was being trapped in his throat. He does have a pretty good range but needs to watch the head voice and pitch while in falsetto mode. I can listen to him sing longer than some but I was still having some serious A.D.D because it was a long set. The sixth tune in his set was ‘Sunrise Of A Digital Star’ he had a contest winner join him on stage to sing with him. Good for her, donating money to a charity is always a great thing to do but the girl clearly was not a singer.

Near the end of the set for the song ‘War’ he brought up his supporting act Oliver Pigott to join him in singing the tune. They did an exceptional job, Pigott has a very powerful voice and Rossi is a great guitar player. I do give Rossi daps for writing his own material but his vox could use some work as could his songs, they are not compelling enough to catapult him to the heights he could reach. The last encore he performed was a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Creep,’ it was a great way to end the set, and he did a fabulous job on that one. I need to see Rossi in front of a band; he did well acoustically on his own but I feel there are just a few absent elements. Either way ultimately it doesn’t matter what I think, his fans loved him. I do recommend checking Lukas out live.

www.lukasrossionline.com
www.myspace.com/lukasrossitv
www.myspace.com/oliverpigott