Begonia — right here and right now

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This article was published 22/09/2023 (1115 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Begonia is made for the glitz and glamour of a casino.

The flamboyant stage persona of Winnipeg pop singer Alexa Dirks took over the Club Regent Event Centre Friday night for the first of a two-night mini-residency and proved she’s just as at home on the stage as the nostalgia rock and country music acts that often perform there.

The big difference is that Begonia is at the peak of her musical powers.

She entered a stage decorated with giant flowers and through an arch graced with lighting that spelled Begonia, giving the occasion some of the Vegas vibe Dirks was hoping for when she booked the Transcona venue.

The stage wasn’t the only evidence that she went all-in for the casino concerts.

Begonia’s revealing outfit was gauzy, pale-green lingerie, with strategically placed pink hearts, glittery blue elbow-length gloves and pink high heels.

She had two backup singers, a violinist and a cellist join her regular three-piece band, adding to her huge vocals.

Her fans packed the place and the mosh pit and gave Begonia a huge shoutout when she appeared and opened the show with Right Here, the catchy single from her 2023 album Powder Blue.

Begonia doesn’t have the global notoriety of Adele, who can sell out the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace at a moment’s notice, but she belted out songs such as The Light and Married by Elvis to the back of the Club Regent Event Centre as strongly as the British pop sensation does in Vegas.

This weekend’s shows follow Begonia’s performance at the Polaris Music Prize gala in Toronto on Tuesday, where she was one of 10 acts up for the grand prize of $50,000.

She quickly dismissed any disappointment of not winning the honour with a laugh.

“All I got was this CBC water bottle,” she joked of the Toronto event, which wallows in self-importance.

“I don’t look like a loser here.”

Begonia’s got a serious voice, but is graced with a fun personality and doesn’t take herself too seriously, and she used that to her advantage on Friday.

One aspect of that took place when she left the stage, only to return a minute later on a porch swing rolled out by two stagehands.

She sang several songs from there while making fun of her attempts at swinging gracefully, including a lovely duet with old pal Jason Pankratz and a striking rendition of Butterfly, accompanied by the two string players.

She finished her one-hour, 40-minute set with Fear, the searing title track from her 2019 record that shifted her career into high gear, pandemic be damned.

She returned for an encore, The Only One, which wound up another memorable evening of Begonia’s wild week.’

Witch Prophet, the stage name for Torontonian Ayo Leilani, got the party started with a 30-minute set of R&B and hip hop that showcased her three albums, most notably her 2023 LP Gateway Experience.

Prior to playing three tracks from the record, the 2020 Polaris prize shortlister mentioned it is inspired by the feelings she gets from her seizures, which she described as “I’m here but I’m slightly out at the same time.”

She performed Bird’s Eye View from the record, which has a haunting, hypnotic vibe when compared to her earlier, more conventional R&B tracks, and the crowd slowly swayed to the hypnotic groove provided by three backing musicians, including Sun Sun, Witch Prophet’s wife, producer and DJ.

Witch Prophet has roots in Ethiopia and Eritrea and a connection with Begonia too. During her set she sang Memory, a track that features Begonia, but Witch Prophet performed it solo as Dirks put the finishing touches on her costume.

The opening set wrapped up with Idlewild, a bluesy banger that Witch Prophet admitted was inspired by the beat from OutKast’s Idlewild Blues.

Begonia is back at it again Saturday night at the Transcona casino for the final evening of her residency. The Haileys open the show.

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @AlanDSmall