MY LOVE IS YOUR LOVE: LIVE
TORONTO SUN REVIEW - 29 JUNE 1999

Whitney's slow to warm up in T.O.

By JANE STEVENSON -- Toronto Sun

TORONTO -- Last night's sudden dip in the temperature clearly didn't sit well with pop diva Whitney Houston.

"It's freezing out here isn't it?" Houston complained about three-quarters of the way through her two-hour show last night at the Molson Amphitheatre.  "And you know how I feel about the cold."

"In case you don't -- Whitney don't sing in cold weather," said Houston, pulling her black turtleneck up around her neck and chin.
"'Cause it will cut my voice off."   But the show, in all it's campy, oddly paced glory, went on despite the chill.

Good thing it did too, seeing as many of the 7,500 in attendance had paid up to a whopping $150 a piece to see Houston perform as part of her first concert tour in five years.

"It's good to be back -- it's been a long time," she said after the lukewarm response to the first three songs of the night, all from her latest multi-platinum album, My Love Is Your Love.  But then Houston insisted the audience clap louder when she mentioned the title of her new release.

"That wasn't enough applause," she pouted, before standing there with her arms and head back waiting for more.

When it came, she pronounced: "That's more like it!" 

And despite her complaints about the cold, the 36-year-old singer's creamy, powerful voice was in great shape, especially during crowd favourites I'm Every Woman, I Wanna Dance With Somebody and How Will I Know  -- those three dance songs actually brought many to their feet -- and the obligatory, set-ending I Will Always Love You.

Still, Houston hit all the right notes technically without providing much emotion. It was like she was saving all her energy for concerts yet to come. Or maybe just a warmer night.

Houston made her initial entrance diva-like, via a chrome silver staircase on the stage that was matched in size only by three large chrome wheels behind her, and an enormous circular lighting rig above.

Patting her heavily made-up face from time to time with a white cloth, she was also flanked by a virtual army of musicians, singers and dancers numbering six, four, and four, respectively.

But not even their presence or her choice of sparkly, mismatched outfits -- with Houston favouring snake-skinned, stiletto heeled boots, brightly coloured flowered pants and coats, and Elvis-like diamond-encrusted hip belts -- could make up for the show's sad lack of soul.  You knew Houston was in trouble when the sight of her cute six-year-old daughter Bobbie Christina, who joined her mother for the new album's title track to chant, "Clap your hands" and bounce on the spot, failed to significantly move the crowd.

"That's my baby," said Houston proudly afterwards. "She's a diva-in-waiting."   Make that diva-in-training. She's got a good teacher.