Michael Bernard Fitzgerald is so darn likeable on stage that he can even make you like a Justin Bieber song by disguising it as a folk song. Don’t ask me which Bieber song it was, though it may have been ‘What Do you Mean.’
Near the end of his set when he asked if anybody had anything to get off their chest and one guy in the back, whose girlfriend had reminded him he was digging a Bieber hit, shouted ‘I hate you for making me like a Bieber song,” just made you like him all the more.
He is so darn likeable that a sold out crowd at the Geomatic Attic, Jan. 26 were ready, willing and able to forgive nervousness , a couple forgotten second verses and the shouts of a three-year-old in the audience of “You’re so funny,” and “That’s my song,” right in the middle of “One Love, ” one of his addictive ear worm hits which is played constantly on the Bridge 98.1 radio station.
That little burst of youthful enthusiasm drew a chorus of “awwwwwwes’ from the audience of mostly young females and their boyfriends and also distracted him enough to take a long instrumental break to remember the second verse. But that was all right by the audience because he is so darn likeable.
Fitzgerald, who attended the University of Lethbridge about seven years ago, and hasn’t played he Lethbridge for two years, strummed his weathered acoustic guitar (as his band were all on tour with country star Brent Kissell in Nova Scotia) like a folk musician while singing like a pop star, pretty much captivating the crowd as soon as he started his set despite a few stumbles.
His newer pop songs, and even the Bieber cover were all right, but he really hit his stride mid set with older, more folky songs like “ Man Overboard,” which drew rousing applause during the mid song freestyle rap. He added a few other songs from the “Yes” album from which “Man Overboard” is part of including “I Will” Follow” and “ In Your Room tonight.”
Fitzgerald kept things light, frothy and fun as he worked through most of his back catalogue. He wound down with his other big radio his “ I Wanna Make it With You,” which he began by teasing the crowd with a few bars of Bieber’s “Baby, Baby, baby.”
And to show he isn’t just about pop music, he officially wound down his set by putting his own twist on Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing In the Dark.”
Local indie rock band the Silkstones open the show, with special guests Tyson Maiko on bass and fiddle player Megan Brown adding an extra layer of strings to the band’s ambient indie rock sound which mixed the sound of bands like Radiohead, U2, Pink Floyd and a dash of reggae music. They always play an entertaining show as they did for an exuberant Geomatic Attic crowd.
