On Saturday, Sept.21, 2024, Royal Wood returned to the Mary Webb Centre in downtown Highgate for his 4th appearance and he was just as well received as in the previous 3 concerts. Accompanied by Steve Zsirai on double bass, it was amazing how good just a keyboard and bass sound together, no doubt due to the talent of both these musicians. It was noted that Steve, who has been to the MWC with other singers, has performed more times there than any other musician. Steve and Royal have been friends since 2007 and have been best man at each other’s wedding.
Royal has a great sense of humour and uses sarcasm throughout his life. He mentioned before singing one of his songs that it had been nominated for a Juno, but he lost out to someone named Sarah Mclachlan. That led to much bantering back and forth with the audience, some of whom were his relatives from Thamesville, his father being from this area.
He wrote a song “I’m so Glad”, the night before his brother’s wedding, after trying to do so for months. Royal had never been a fan of old black and white photos, but when his father passed away, Royal and his siblings were all standing in the front of the funeral parlour. One of his brothers started to laugh. When asked what was so funny, he pointed out one picture and reminded them all of that particular day and soon they were all laughing. It gave a whole new perspective to b/w pictures for Royal which led to the song “Photograph”. His final song “Juliet” was a song that he wrote for his wedding.
As has happened at all of his previous concerts, Royal and Steve received a standing ovation and Royal returned to the stage to sing the Beatles’ song “Yesterday”. Royal asked the audience to join him in singing and it was very moving to hear the whole audience accompany him in song. Before singing it, which he accompanied on a ukulele, Royal talked about how the world has changed since COVID and he hoped that people would stop being so nasty to each other and get back to being nice. It was a wonderful concert.
Special thanks to our sponsor Waltron Trailers from Ridgetown and our great sound technician Joel Morningstar.
l-r: Royal Wood and Steve Zsirai