There was a time where a woman named Taylor ruled the pop charts back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. That Taylor was 80’s pop star Taylor Dayne who played the Avalon Ballroom in Niagara Falls, Ontario this past Friday night. It was match made in heaven as the the intimacy of theater matched the talent of Dayne to give the fans a memorable evening of of hits. These songs took most most fans in attendance back to their teenage years of teh late 80’s and early 90’s time period. She was backed by a 4 piece outfit.
She opened up with her second single ever in “Prove Your Love.” It was evident from the get go that Dayne was in great spirits and did a lot of crowd interaction throughout. A few songs later for “I’ll Be Your Shelter,” she went through the crowd high fiving fans and even hugged a few too. She talked about her battle with colon cancer and stated how this battle made her become a better human being overall. This was segue into the next song which was a cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” This song was dedicated to a lot of pop stars who we lost over the last several years like Michael Jackson, George Michael and Whitney Houston to name a few. It also included the woman who made this song a hit in Sinead O’Connor. A lot of people got up for a raving rendition of the Barry White cover “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe.” It seemed like Dayne went back and forth between the ballads and up tempo dance tunes with ease. Her voice is as still as powerful as ever.
There really wasn’t a encore per se as she really didn’t leave the stage. The keys cued up to one of her biggest hits in “Tell It To My Heart” and she killed it. She closed the set with her the song that might be most associated with her in “Love Will Lead You Back.” Personally, I would have switched the order of these as it would have been more fun with her closing out with “Tell It To My Heart” than the ballad.
Even though Dayne has battled colon cancer within the last few years, her voice and stage presence said otherwise. This was the second show of the ‘Love Me Tour’ and you would have thought it was the 42nd show. She still has an amazing set of pipes and seemed well seasoned already. It was my first time taking in the pop star and hopefully not my last.
Setlist:
Prove Your Love
With Every Beat of my Heart
Don’t Rush Me
Heart of Stone
I’ll Always Love You
I’ll Be Your Shelter
Nothing Compares 2 U (Prince cover)
Send Me a Lover
Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe (Barry White cover)
Tell It To My Heart (Louisa Florio cover)
Love Will Lead You Back
We want to thank Steven Cahill from the Fallsview Casino or the credentials to review the show
