Lief Vollebekk at Mtelus in Montreal

On Friday night Leif Vollebekk, currently on tour to support his new album Revelation, came back to Montreal for a homecoming show at Mtelus. With a snowy Friday night as a backdrop, the Montreal’s very own gave his city a set packed with hits and some very surprising guests.

Starting the show for Leif was Reuben Bullock presenting his current solo project. It was a very intimate folk set to kick off the night that got more and more energy as it went on. Just him, an acoustic guitar and a mic. Quite a nice highlight was Mercy Walker (who also plays with Leif’s band) joining Reuben for a duet towards the end of his set. I wasn’t familiar with his music before last night but he’s now definitely going into my regular folk-acoustic rotation. 

At around 9:10, the front lights went out and a row of white lights illuminated the back of the set. 

The band walks in first to the cheer of the Montreal crowd who was ready for Leif’s return home. A few moments after, the Canadian artist walked onstage simply wearing a grey tank top and dark jeans to the burst cheers of his fellow montrealers. He waved to the crowd, sat on his piano with a smile ear-to-ear and sighed in relief as if saying “It’s good to be home”.

Starting out the night with his set with ‘Rock and Roll’, the first track of his latest album. Lief sat on the piano for a couple of songs before standing up and grabbing his acoustic guitar to play some of his greatest hits like ‘Long Blue Light’ and ‘Hot Tears’. 

It was clear this was a special show for Lief who surprised the entire venue mid set when he said “I have a friend who asked if I was in Montreal tonight. I said I was so he wanted to join us for a bit if that’s ok”, then to a roar of the crowd he said “Ladies and Gentleman, my friend James Bay.”

The English songwriter joined in, on rhythm guitar for my personal favorite ‘Peace of Mind (Morning)’. Not long after, another surprise guest, Birdy, joined in for a duet of ‘Southern Star’.

Friday didn’t feel like just another part of the ‘Revelation’ Tour for the Canadian artist. Even though he’s still playing Toronto tonight, yesterday felt like the perfect wrap up party for this leg of the tour. Playing in his city, for his people,  with a bunch of his friends, before heading out the other side of the planet to Australia. We’re just happy he brought us along for the ride.

Check out our favourite photos of the night below or head to our Facebook page for the full gallery!

LIEF VOLLEBEK

REUBEN BULLOCK

All Photo credit: Andres Amaya