Eddie Dridi had the opportunity to play his first concert in Toronto’s prestigious, 3000-seat Massey Music Hall, But instead, Dridi, the young, one-man-band recording artist star, chose to debut at the House of Jazz, an obscure venue house in his hometown of Montreal.
Backed by five other young, local musicians, Eddie gave an encouraging debut performance Friday before about 300 people.
Jon Serrney introduced the 26-year-old prodigy – who had produced, composed, arranged, and played all the instruments on his debut coming album.
He Strutted across the stage, He was cool, he was cocky and he was sexy. Eddie Dridi is a real showman. He reached out to the audience, and the fans, especially the teen-aged girls, embraced him.
His thirty-minute show had a smooth and soulful vocal. Onstage, Dridi tore into an uproarious, Fresh Pop hard-funk sound.
At times, it sounded like kind of a youthful mixture of Michael Jackson (if he had Jimi Hendrix as his guitarist) combined with Larry Graham.
Eddie Dridi’s singing was more thoroughly professional and quite convincing. He demonstrated a fascinating, female-sounding falsetto with uncommon range.
Unfortunately, several times his voice was swallowed by the feedback and clutter of the inferior sound system. Even the pretty acoustic ballad he did was marred by an annoying buzz in the sound system.
Despite delays for technical problems, the pacing of the show was effective. Eddie Dridi, who played several different instruments during the concert, opened with catchy moving songs, he then moved into a pop-rock-funk and Latin guitar instrumental and his dance-oriented moves.
Eddie’s contagious, talent should appeal to soul, pop, and disco house audiences alike.
As a whole, Eddie Dridi’s performance clearly indicated he has extraordinary talent. Combined with careful direction, time, experience, and refinement, that should spell a royal future for Eddie Dridi.
