Steve Poltz - turf 2015

According to Steve’s latest album he is a folk singer, “fa sho”. I really do not know how to describe Steve Poltz as a person so I will start by describing his music. He plays soulful, seemingly simple, silly folky roots music. However, in a live setting, Steve's music takes a backseat to his completely wack-a-doo stage persona. He also performs what are basically fully improvised songs, adding in things he sees in the crowd and anything about Toronto he could think of. 

Steve Poltz told the craziest story I have ever heard in a live music setting. Apparently in 1995, he made a lot of money by writing a good song, had a great time caught in a drug bust in Mexico, achieved inner peace by chanting, made fine stained glass art in bed... and apparently he met homeless Mit Romney on a beach. Steve is also a huge baseball fan and actually plugged in his phone so that he could play the audio from the Blue Jays winning the World Series in 1993, the crowd actually went nuts, “Go Jays!”

Throughout his set Poltz flirted with the crowd, shouting out things like, "hey white dress I like your smile" or, "look at this guy, I love this guy already!" He seemed to want to jump into the audience, balancing on the edge of the stage for a portion of the show. At one point he actually looked down at me and thanked me for taking such nice pictures (which he obviously had not seen yet) and then proceeded to lift up his pant leg so that I could see his floral patterned socks that he clearly thought would make a fantastic visual stimulant. What I am trying to say is that Steve has a very unique and awkward energy but somehow he channels it into a cartoonish and hilarious stage presence. My favorite moment, which fans of TV show Arrested Development will appreciate, was at one point in the set Steve actually raised his fists in the air and shouted "Steve Holtz"! It was kind of amazing. I think you will know if you like him quite instantly. Check out Steve Poltz here:

poltz.com/ 

​Review and pictures by: Gideon Greenbaum-Shinder
​Edited by: Jesse Kline