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If you didn’t see the spinning banner statements, then it was impossible to miss the giant scoreboard suspended from the ceiling at BC Place: Diljit Dosanjh’s DIL-LUMINATI Tour: Witness History Being Made.
The opening night of the Punjabi star’s Canadian tour at Vancouver’s biggest venue was truly historic.
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That kind of credibility is what earns you a giant, diamond-encrusted Rolex and legions of fans around the world.
His two sets made it clear why this dynamic artist also has a following. Dosanjh’s combination of high-energy traditional folk idioms with slick contemporary pop production on seductive tracks like Peaches is wildly addictive. No, you don’t need to know Punjabi to know that the song is about a lady.
“Get ready to witness the greatest Punjabi artist on the planet. The time has come,” declared the AI MC, who also highlighted that the show was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
That message was received loud and clear by attendees, a multigenerational audience that ranged in age from four to many more. Without a doubt, Dosanjh’s ability to make music that sounds good at weddings, parties, stadiums (anywhere) deserves meticulous study by rising stars to replicate. It is not something easy to achieve.
But when you can release a song like Hass Hass, with Sia, that keeps them coming back. The singer certainly did that for two long sets and a 30-minute interval that would have sapped the life out of most performances. That didn’t affect the atmosphere in the place.
When Dosanjh returned after the break, it took about three verses to get the place back in full swing. The guy can get the crowd going.
To say that people are familiar with the material doesn’t do their songs justice. At times, it almost seemed like a collaboration more than a concert. But there was no doubt who was the headliner at any time.
For someone who had an average of 30 lavishly attired dancers on stage most of the night, you could easily forget they and the band were there. But they provided excellent support on hits from the first GOAT to the great Jatt Vailly and, I think, Champagne.
The cameras kept the singer’s face in multi-story resolution throughout the night, and if there was a glimpse of a single dancer’s gyrating hip, it was purely incidental. The focus was on one person and he took the concert to such a point that the flashes, columns of smoke, flamethrowers and confetti cannons almost seemed useless. Almost.
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The LED wristbands given to everyone upon entry turned the venue into a constant flashing display of color that matched well with the vibe of the songs. They were also combined with lasers to great effect.
Coldplay did similar lighting work at previous performances at BC Place, but never with this impact. As people left the place, the lights on their bracelets continued to dance.
A fitting end to a performance that kept people up and dancing all night.
So much so, that there were moments when one wondered if the venue could withstand all that movement. He did, but I double-checked the fixtures on those drop-down rows of stands because they were swinging toward Kharku as hard as the fans.
Next up for Indian pop fans: Juno Award-winning singer and rapper Karan Aujla, from Surrey, at Rogers Arena on August 17.
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