Starting her new tour tonight in Vancouver, Idina Menzel performed at The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts. One word – WICKED! 
Although not a full house tonight, the crowd was loud and supportive. Idina came on to cheering and “It’s about time!” and “We love you!” as she started her set just before 8:30pm. Warming up and a bit shaky on Somewhere Over the Rainbow, she transitioned to “Wizard and I” from Wicked. Throwing in stories in between her songs and telling jokes, at times her cussing and sexual jokes might have been much for the parents who bought their kids to this all ages show. However, for us adults, it was quite entertaining to listen to her stories and have them lead into an amazing song performance. Goodbye lip-synching artists. Idina is genuine!
Accompanied by her orchestra she sang a total of 12 songs before coming back to encore with 2 final songs. For Take Me or Leave Me she invited 4 audience members to come up on stage and join her in a rousing performance! It was amazing to hear the talent in the Vancouver audience. Gave her fans a chance to share the stage with her too!
My favorite songs for the evening included the Both Sides Now cover (Joni Mitchell), No Day But Today (Rent), and of course Defying Gravity (Wicked). She also sang a new song she’s been working on, I suspect the title might be “It was I“.
If you have a chance to see her live throughout her tour this year, go. Well worth it. Plus at the end of the show she came out and signed autographs and posed for photos.
Song List for the evening:
1. Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Wizard of Oz)
2. Wizard and I (Wicked)
3. Fireworks (Katy Perry)
4. Love for Sale (Cole Porter)/Roxanne (Police)
5. Both Sides Now (Joni Mitchell)
6. Don’t Rain On My Parade (Barbara Streisand)
7. new song by Idina (It was I)
8. Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2) / In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel)
9. Take Me or Leave Me (Rent)
10. No Day But Today (Rent)
11. For Good (Wicked)
12. Defying Gravity
Encore 1. new song “Learn to Live Without” – written for Idina as the first performer
Encore 2. Somewhere (West Side Story)
She was absolutely incredible. Vancouver loves Idina!
I was there Friday night and she was amazing. She was very gracious when she came out and autographed items for people and took pictures with them. I’ll cherish my photo.