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Michael Bolton brought the Christmas edition of The Symphony Sessions to Windsor on Thursday night to the delight of a sold-out Caesars Windsor Colosseum. The show packed in about a dozen Bolton classics and a few seasonal favourites.
The 65-year-old crooner put on what felt like a televised Christmas special like the ones Elvis and Johnny Cash used to do every year. The show was packed with great music, ever great musicians and a grand sense of humour. He playfully batted away proposals of marriage with cute responses like “Have we met?” to an adoring audience dominated by middle-aged women.
The show picked up speed as it progressed and the hits just kept flowing, ever slightly mixed with a couple Christmas songs (all of them from 1993’s This Is the Time: The Christmas Album). It was a good selection of hits from his 20-plus studio albums and the atmosphere was very laid back. He appeared to enjoy just being there with 5,000 of his closest Windsor friends and a small string section composed of local musicians.
Standouts of the night included a series of duets with New York singer Sam Fly. If she looked familiar, that’s because she starred in an Oxygen Network TV docu-series. Fly’s voice was keyed in perfectly with Bolton’s and the duets sounded phenomenal. Another key moment was a musical interlude where we heard a sax and piano solo.
Windsor fans were treated to an extra Christmas song that he hasn’t performed elsewhere on the tour so far – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. He also revealed his plans to release a documentary on the music of Detroit, which he’s expecting to release in the future.
While his long golden locks might be a bit shorter now, his voice was still as majestic as we remember.
Michael Bolton Set List
Caesars Windsor, Dec. 13, 2018
- Soul Provider
- Stand by Me
- To Love Somebody
- (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
- Said I Loved You…but I Lied
- That’s Life
- Silent Night
- How Am I Supposed to Live Without You
- Ain’t No Mountain High Enough
- The Prayer
- Sweet Home Chicago
- When a Man Loves a Woman
- How Can We Be Lovers?
- Steel Bars
Encore:
- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
- Time, Love and Tenderness