Daniel Lanois - Luminato 2009, Day 3, Toronto

Dave Matthews & Tim Raynolds Live At Radio City was the first time I heard of the name Daniel Lanois when Dave credits him for the song The Maker. I finally saw the man behind the last three U2 albums live today at Dundas Square and the crowd was hyped to see him perform after waiting for an hour, apparently the previous shows were also delayed by about 1 hour.

His instrumental improvisation with the electric guitar and the slide guitar came as a surprise to me since I was expecting a more vocal show. Regardless, I admire his guitar improvisation prowess even though the melodies were not following any specific pattern. Daniel Lanois then mentioned how he thought it was supposed to be an instrumental show today, the entire Luminato event for the day was called The World Of Slide Guitar. Of the instrumental pieces, I really enjoyed his version of a possible alternative of the Canadian anthem.

I did notice that some members of the audience left the square within the first 30 min of instrumental play, I assumed that they did not warm up to the sound of the 6 strings only. A drummer then joined him for the remainder of the show where he performed The Maker and Still Water. Those titles are the only two songs I am familiar with from Dave Matthews Live At Radio City and Daniel Lenois has performed The Maker brillantly, a perfect conclusion to my first 3 days at the Luminato Festival. I am looking forward to what next weekend has to offer.