Tenille Townes Turns First Ontario PAC into Her Living Room [Photos]

Right before the release of her fourth studio album, The Acrobat, Tenille Townes hit the road for “The Living Room Tour” across Ontario. Joined by Terra Lightfoot on all shows, they stopped by St. Catharines at the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre for the second-to-last show of the tour, before Tenille Townes heads to Nashville for a slew of American shows.

The night kicked off with Terra Lightfoot, who is no stranger to the Niagara region. In recent months, she’s played at almost every mid-sized to big venue in the region, headlining the Warehouse Concert Hall on December 5th, opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd back in September at OLG Stage, and now opening for Tenille Townes at the First Ontario PAC.

Terra Lightfoot plays with different kinds of lineups at all shows. Sometimes, you get her solo, sometimes you get her with her entire band, but in the case of fans in St. Catharines, she was joined by keyboardist Miles Evans-Branagh for a duo performance.

These two kicked off the night with a mix of acoustic and electric songs, throwing in a cover of “Angel From Montgomery” by John Prine. Terra made sure to switch up the setlist compared to her previous visits to the Niagara Region, helping her set stay fresh for those who have seen her before.

After a nine-song setlist, Terra Lightfoot wrapped up her set with “Out of Time” and cleared the stage for Tenille Townes to come on shortly after.

Townes kicked off her set strong, opening up with “Where You Are” and “Come As You Are,” a hit song that is all over Canadian Country Radio. After those two songs, the story times began.

The Acrobat is Tenille Townes’ return to being an independent artist, something she crowns as a scary experience that wouldn’t be possible without the help of fans. Although the album isn’t released until April 10th, fans could pick up a vinyl record of The Acrobat at any show during the tour and get early access to the album. Song #3 kicked off the new era of Tenille Townes, playing the title track off of the new album.

This set was a completely acoustic show, with the backdrop of the stage being Tenille Townes’ living room, hence the name of the tour. It was a different vibe than I’m used to at shows, with all the ambient lighting from the lamps filling the stage, which gave the show a much more intimate feeling than your average show.

Every show on “The Living Room Tour” has had a special guest come out and play a few songs. In St. Catharines, it was Donovan Woods who came out for a duet of their song “I Ain’t Ever Loved No One” and turned “Clean Slate” into a duet. Terra Lightfoot came out later in the set as well for a cover of “Til I Am Myself Again” by Blue Rodeo.

If Tenille Townes’ storytelling in her songs wasn’t enough, she continued to give stories all night about the backstory of her biggest hits and the recording of her new album.

After getting requests for it all night, Tenille Townes played her biggest hit, “Somebody’s Daughter,” second last, a powerful song about humanizing individuals who end up on the streets, and really sympathizing with them. The last song of the night was a cover of “At Last” by Harry Warren.

Townes wrapped up her Ontario tour in Brampton on March 26th, but she’s not done touring yet, as she heads up to Tennessee to play shows in Nashville and the surrounding area. With a powerful voice and emotional lyrics, Tenille Townes should be on your radar for Canadian country artists to look out for.