It’s special when a musician can keep his audience mesmerized for more than two hours simply through sitting together with them, facing each other, playing and singing; however, Shawn Phillips made an art out of his constantly evolving single-figure act, and the 81-year-old concert in Toronto’s “Hugh’s Room” – currently a culture cathedral, rather than the aurally-focused restaurant of yore – found him creating wonders on the spot. Clearly tired after quite a few misadventures on route from Montreal, the much-loved performer appeared before the reverently hushed punters in high spirits nevertheless, eager to endear and enchant even non-aficionados with his masterful storytelling, both melodically intoned and plainly spoken. And also to impress with his armory of guitars – electric and acoustic, including a bass and an ugly-looking, though celestially sounding, hybrid of Les Paul and Strat – which, taken in turn and applied to real-time loops, would sculpt a series of stunning sonic images.
![](https://dmme.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/shphillive4.jpg "Shawn Phillips in "Hugh's Room"")
The results of the tech-savvy approach came across as deliciously raw – but then, there’s a lot of raw nerve exposed in such pieces as “Man With A Gun” that marry haunting tunes to hard-hitting lyrics. The continuous juggling of instruments may – serving implicitly as an integral part of the show, if what the veteran does can be construed as a show – distract the listener from immersing themselves into the songs, so closing one’s eyes and slipping into it felt like the safest sort of escapism. Still, ungluing one’s glance away from the troubadour when he’s weaving mesmeric lines into the epic tapestry of “As The Days Pass By” would mean casting aside the entire purpose of seeing Phillips on-stage. That would also prove impossible during the melding of the ever-riveting “Woman” to “Concierto de Aranjuez” where Shawn’s clever use of symphonic orchestra samples, which got shifted from brass to strings, proved most magnificent – only baring the words “C’mon Round” by stripping this cut of accompaniment and reciting them as a pure poem turned out to seem no less effective.
Of course, fans embraced familiar tracks – the perennial “Hey Miss Lonely” among those – often delivered as mood-forming medleys – with quiet rapture, yet Shawn’s non-classic compositions like “Tribute To D” and “Starlight” landed upon one’s ears just as elegantly. And it’s this timelessness of experience which Phillips offered with a lot of stamina and gusto that went down in the Canadian audience’s collective and individual memory: the memory of witnessing a great artist in his age-defying prime.
