It was exactly the sort of thing the capacity 16,000-plus crowd was looking for last night at Maple Leaf Gardens. The little extra that isn't on the video, something to reaffirm faith in the live experience.
Hutchence and the men of INXS have been at this game long enough to have its nuances well sussed. So the kickoff with "Suicide Blonde" was a rubber burner even before all the butts were in thier seats.
Opener Soup Dragons had a harder time of it. They were much more on their game than during their Toronto debut last fall, but didn't get much going until they kicked into "I'm free" and that was at the end of the set.
With hair grown to shoulder length and leather to the max in a full-length coat, pants and boots, Hutch was every inch the Morrison-man for the ninties. Except ol' Jimmy never had a voice with the range and sheer seductive intonation of the Aussie frontman.
"New Sensation" and "Original Sin" may have been heard to death but Hutchence handles them with the caressing attention usually reserved for exciting new loves.
Which isn't to say the new songs weren't fussed over. "Disappear" got a note-perfect reading, with the excellent sound, reproduction sending his notes ringing to the rafters.
In marked contrast to previous visits, Hutch seemed relaxed, playing shamelessly to the crowd. The let's-get-loose tone was set by guitarist Tim Farriss, and kirk Pengilly who came on dressed in the red monkey jackets so dear to ushers everywhere. They didn't last long, just long enough to make the point of the band's democratics solidarity with its audience. The plain folks impression was furthered everytime Hutch ventured on to a small platform stage front that enabled him to slap hands with the fans.
The set sort of an industrial stairway to Cleverland meets art nouveau, curved almost entirely around the width of the stage, enabling Hutch to give equal time to all sections of the crowd.
Lag times were few and far between, with only "Know the Difference" of the new material not getting over and oldie "Wild Life" given a rush treatment.
When the lights went up to end proceedings, the crowd was absolutely not ready yo go anywhere. Five minutes of mostly standing ovation was rewarded by the return of the crew, with Hutch in tight white jeans and loose, '60's-style white billowy shirt, for sharply focused miniset of "Original Sin," "Bitter Tears" and "Don't Change."
The latter title summed up the feelings of the crowd as it filed out on to Carlton Street, where winter was fading in the stretch like Ben Johnson at Seville.