Phillyist Reviews... Toby Lightman

As everyone watched Haley Scarnato get her ass kicked off American Idol last night, we were at The Tower Theater watching Toby Lightman's kick-ass show. She was so good we forgot who she was opening for. Oh yeah, Taylor Hicks, the winner of American Idol's fifth season, and better known as The Soul Patrol. Toby Lightman, a native of Cherry Hill, NJ, rocked the house last night showcasing songs from her new album, Bird on the Wire.

Toby opened her show singing her driving, yet lyrical song, "Don't Wake Me." This is also the opening song on her new CD. It's a perfect opening number: it is very catchy, shows off Toby's vocals and gives the audience an idea of who she is: an artist filled with soul, passion, and talent. She played eight songs in total. A good length-set for any opening band. "Devils and Angels," which is her top-selling song on iTunes, was another highlight. Her raspy but strong vocals shined in this song over the screaming electric guitar and drums. I would compare her vocals to Nelly Furtado, Dido and KT Tunstall. She has a bit of all of them, but still continues to find her own voice.

One complaint was the lack of focus on Toby's vocals. This is where she shines and at times the band overshadowed her. Her music was missing the soft edge that her songs encouraged. A different orchestration or arrangement could have easily fixed that problem.

You knew she was good though when you heard her sing "Front Row" acoustically. She stripped the blaring electric guitar, the noisy drums, and repetitive bass guitar. All that was left was her guitar and voice. It worked; she really shined. I wanted more of that.

Overall, it was an awesome set with great energy. Her songs are original, yet singable. Again, we listened to a true artist last night, not a studio-produced disaster that we hear so often on the radio. Unfortunately for Taylor, Toby outshined him in song-writing, vocals and guitar playing. Not an easy feat when you are up against America's idol.

Photo by Carlo Damocles