6lack + Sabrina Claudio @ Corona Theatre, Montreal 2017

An eager gathering of mostly young citizens began chanting “Black! Black!” as opening set times ran late. Slated for an eight o’clock kick off, a good quarter hour had elapsed before Sabrina Claudio emerged and sauntered into the limelight, looking ravishing in a gorgeous and revealing red velvet gown. For her entire set, she stood in front of or very near to her microphone, only pulling away to dance a few salsa steps in the areas where her vocals were not called for.

She swayed about as she delivered a phenomenal vocal performance, glowing with sexual prowess and, every now and then, would kick out a long sultry bare leg from the seem of her dress, always to the cheering encouragement of the crowd. On other occasions, she would earn the admiration of the gathering below her with a swift shuffle of the hips, with cheers growing louder as she swayed from side to side. This women has a set of pipes that are destined to carry her places.

Road crews began the break down and rebuild of the stage as 6lack‘s second Montreal performance of the year loomed ever closer. He had played the monstrous Osheaga Festival earlier in the year and had drawn perhaps the biggest crowd to the smaller stages of the day. Not surprising then, that the Corona Theatre was a sold out affair.

His performance too was running late and again the crowd began to chant, trying to lure the musician to the stage. Instead his DJ emerged from the dark confines of the backstage area and began playing clips of some of the more well known Trap tracks. The crowd reacted with waiving hands, dancing, and a unison sing-a-long.

6lack appeared from stage left and the decibel levels rose significantly – it was time for the main event of the evening. Like he had done at Osheaga, he took time to explain the pronunciation of his name, and if my memory serves me correctly, he did so almost word for word the same as before. Stating his name was pronounced “Black”, not “six-lack or slack” nor “Free Black”, which is another project of his. Someone yelled for him to continue the show, and his assumed intoxicated jeer fell on deaf ears.

Beginning with “Never Know” and into “That Far” and “Free”, 6lack was scorching the scene before taking a moment to address the crowd with the most over-used piece of stage banter in the music industry – exclaiming our city as a stand out of his tours much like he probably did the night before and the night before that. That’s show biz, baby!

His high energy performance was a thing of beauty and I strongly believe after witnessing him twice in this calandar year, that his next stop in town will be in a much larger venue. Those that had the chance to catch him at the intimate Corona Theatre tonight will more than likely remember this for years to come; and those that stayed home will one day be kicking themselves at having missed the opportunity. 6lack left the stage following an encore performance of Prblms and the crowd had loved every moment of it.