Grammy award winning artist Billy Ocean graced the intimate stage at the Avalon Ballroom inside the Fallsview Casino this past Friday night. Ocean released his first album back in 1976, but put his name on the map during the heyday of MTV in the mid to late 1980’s. Some of the biggest hits of the decade were penned by Ocean. Fast forward to 2024, and Ocean is still going strong. He continues to release new music. His last effort was in being the 2020 when he release ‘One World.’
Ocean took to the stage at 9pm sharp and was backed by a 9 piece band that included his daughter Cherie Charles on vocals. The set opened up with the title track to his latest effort “One World.” Dressed in an off white suit, Ocean not only dressed classy but acted that way as well. His suave and debonair attitude really won over the crowd. I don’t remember seeing adulation thrown by the crowd towards Ocean consistently throughout an intimate performance like this one. Ocean really took it in stride though. For “Get Out of my Dreams, Get Into my Car,” there was a terrific sax solo. To include crowd participation, Ocean did an extended version of “The Colour of Love.” He encouraged the crowd to sing parts of the chorus. Ocean, talked about wrapping up the tour as this was the 2nd last show in North America. Ocean called Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” one of his favorite songs ever written. He did a fantastic job representing this legendary track. His range throughout the show was quite remarkable. That wasn’t more evident during “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” as he was able to hit the higher notes. Of course, Ocean saved the best for last as he did his mega hit “Caribbean Queen.”
Ocean’s voice has held up very well. To me, he took me back to watching one of his videos back when I was teenager in the 80’s. I truly believe he sounded that good. I never saw Ocean live and didn’t know what to expect. After seeing his perform on Friday night, I look forward to seeing him again and hopefully, it’s sooner rather than later.
Setlist:
One World
Nights (Feel Like Getting Down)
Mystery Lady
There’ll be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)
Love Zone
Get Out of My Dreams, Get Into my Car
The Colour of Love
No Woman, No Cry (Bob Marley & the Wailers cover)
A Change is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke cover)
Mystery
Suddenly
Loverboy
When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going
Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)
We would like to thank Steven Cahill form the Fallsview Casino for the credentials to review the show.
