Sunday night didn’t stop any JoJo fans from selling out the Corona Theatre for her first time ever in Montreal. The show was filled with pure energy, love, and nostalgia. Her setlist covered it all. From opening with Clovers, moving onto Leave (Get Out), to inviting a fan on stage to sit while she (and I quote Joanna herself) got ‘frisky’ while dancing to High Heels. The highs and lows were well thought out. A moment that I believe every person in the venue enjoyed was her throwback songs. You guessed it, Baby It’s You, her cover of Drake’s Marvin's Room and the iconic Too Little, Too Late brought everyone back to their younger days.
One of the more delicate and heartfelt moments was during Music. That song is so beautiful and she is so strong to sing that every single night with the crowd singing back those lyrics to her. Especially:
“Went on the road to make my daddy proud
But I lost him and so I sang to the crowd
My only hope is that he's looking down thinking
"Oh my God, my daughter's doing it now"
It's definitely one of those songs where you feel so much for the artist and you can’t help but think how incredible it must feel to have a room full of people sing your meaningful words with you. The songwriting for that song and for I Am is so powerful.
The other heartfelt and compelling moment was her speech before singing I Am. JoJo opened up about her depression and let everyone know that you are never alone; which received a ‘preach it’ from the crowd. And again, having everyone sing ‘I Am worthy of love’ and just the whole song created such a powerful energy. Only concerts can create that atmosphere of feeling so loved and united with complete strangers, so weird but great.
Overall, JoJo’s concert is a complete one. Her stage presence and interaction with the crowd is what fans wish for from their favourite artists. It was exemplary. One thing I would have to say is that her in-between songs speeches were very rehearsed, but then again whose aren’t? She still sounded sincere and you saw how much she loves what she’s doing. Coming back into the industry as strong as she did, JoJo deserves all this mad love.
photos by Coralie Daigneault https://coraliedai.wordpress.com/2017/05/19/jojo/